Welcome HOME

First signs of spring are legendary, particularly in places blanketed in snow for much of winter. Where I grew up, near Washington, DC, we eagerly awaited the American robins’ arrival. They usually appeared in March, whistling a hearty tune: “Cheer up, cheer up, cheerily, cheer up!” The sight of Mama Robin bearing twigs for a secret nest was enough to carry us through the last weeks of winter and into spring.

Maybe it was my family’s aversion to the cold, or our crazed school-year schedule that prevented us from realizing that robins don’t migrate. In fact, most robins, as well as many other native birds, butterflies and