When the Red, Red Robin….

When the red, red robin goes bob-bob-bobbin’ along, my family is right behind it with telephone in hand. Not that the robin has to make any calls, but we do! The first robin is the first sign of spring, and the first person to see this robin is the ultimate winner. Not, mind you, that we are competitive in any way. Oh, no, this is a friendly ‘competition’.

The first robin reported to the family was from my daughter, who lives near Boston. After a few conference calls and some quick thinking on my part, the rest of the family declared that sighting null and void. From now on, we decided, the first robin had to be spotted in New York to actually count. My sister mentioned the time I lived in Kentucky and called long distance to announce the first sighting. On reflection, I decided that the sighting in Kentucky counted and the one in Boston didn’t. No one else agreed, but what do they know?

My parents were driving home from town one lovely afternoon, and my mother spotted what she was sure was a robin. My father quizzed her—did it have a red breast? Yellow beak? Was she sure it was a robin? Because, he continued, he thought it was a wild turkey. There is some validity in this statement. Wild turkeys and robins look amazingly alike. Why, one Thanksgiving I cooked what I thought was a turkey, and it turned out to be a robin. Boy, was my face red!

A few days later, my Dad spotted one. He was alone in the car at the time. My mother and I inquired politely as to whether it was a turkey or a robin. He says we’re just jealous, and insists repeatedly that he is the first to spot the robin.

Last week I spotted something I had never seen before. On the ice on our pond, a beautiful Bald Eagle methodically ripped into a fish. My son and I watched it in awe. I’m sure there are people to whom a Bald Eagle sighting is ho-hum, but we were excited to witness it. When I called my father and told him, there was a silence on the line. Then he said, ‘a Bald Eagle? Are you sure it wasn’t a robin?’