Why so many robins?

It's probably a bit of confirmation bias, you saw a group of robins and now you are noticing them everywhere. Of course, the robin is the harbinger of spring and spring is definitely breaking out around here. Unfortunately, I sustained a pretty serious foot injury playing tennis and can't get out in the yard for a while.

How'd you do that? Yikes.

I'm just noticing them in my yard in the past week there is always a dozen of them there.

There's a huge cultural difference right there. Our Robin is not the same bird at all. I remember newsreport a some years back about an American Robin that had been blown over the Atlantic to a park somewhere in England. Real excitement amongst birdwatchers, many of whom got there just in time to see it getting ripped apart by a buzzard.

That's where grim reality cuts across the romanticised notion of a small bird braving the Atlantic like that.

Anyway, our Robin is solitary, it viciously defends its territory, you would never see a group of them. Either a courting pair or two birds fighting it out is the most you would see, but most of the time it's just the one.

Robins are associated with Christmas, and even appear on Christmas cards. At first I thought it was because they are non migratory, and one of the few birds you see throughout winter but I was wrong.

Robin was an early nickname given to postal workers which came about at the same time as sending Christmas cards became popular, hence the connection.

In our back garden we get a lot of pigeons, magpies and the occasional blackbird.

Maybe they know we haven't put any pesticides in our lawn so they can feast on lots of worms.

Ball coming to my left, pushed off with my right, a big pop and down I go. Surgery was a couple of weeks ago to fix it, just got the cast off but it will be a few more weeks until I'm walking without crutches.

Ok now there is a ton in the backyard and none in the front ...I think they are trying to drive me crazy.

It's common to see larger flocks of robins at this time of year. The birds, which are highly territorial the rest of the year, in winter find advantages in grouping together for vigilance against enemies and expanded chances for finding sources of food.

In Dallas we normally have hundreds or even thousands of robins that stop by on their way North. They feast on the ligustrum berries, and last year there were so many that the ground turned black from their droppings. This winter there weren't any.

I think last February decimated them.

Something changed their habit this year. You think there would be some if not a lot. The area I'm talking about is a wild area near my house overgrown with Ligustrum where I walk every day. I kept on looking for them, but they never appeared.