I bet you can sing these words and their familiar melody right now. This ditty, written by Harry Woods around 1926, has been sung by countless musicians including Louis Armstrong, Bing Crosby, Bob Crosby, Doris Day, Dion & the Belmonts, Tennessee Ernie Ford, Susan Hayward, Al Jolson, Dean Martin, Sir Yehudi Menuhin, Mitch Miller, Jo Stafford, and Mel Tormé among others. Every time I hear this song, I picture a robin in my backyard.

Even still, the most common repetition for me has not been the song but rather the saying "I just saw a robin; spring must be just around the corner!" From the time I was young I heard this adage from my grandmother, mother, and many other housewives in my neighborhood. Today I, too, find I say it even though it is not entirely true. Most of our robins (American Robin-Turdus migratorius) are here all year around. You can spot them in the trees all winter. They especially like trees that bear and hold fruit: chokecherries, hawthorns, dogwoods, junipers, and ornamental pear trees. You can see robins that do not migrate shaking branches of trees, often competing with cedar waxwings for the same fruits.

American Robins are quite common in Broad Ripple. The dark gray-winged birds with orange breasts can be seen hopping around yards. Another stereotypical image of robins pictures them pulling a worm out of the ground. You may have wondered how they find one small wiggle worm under the grass. Upon close observation, you can see them staring motionless at the ground. They will turn their head to one side as if listening for a worm to move. Silly! How loud do you think a worm would be and what sound do you think it would make? No, most experts say robins find worms by sight, observing signs of their movement.

There's another aspect of robins that heralds spring for me. I love to search the garden and yard looking for the first plants to surface. (This year, I spotted my hellebores or Lenten rose blooming early, the third week of January). In doing so, I watch for remnants of robins' blue egg shells from freshly hatched chicks. The beautiful color and the thin shell strike me as miraculous. I have been known to pick up these discarded treasures of nature to share their wonder with a neighbor child.

Finally the robins' songs seems to announce spring. Check out noted birder Lange Elliot at learner.org/jnorth/tm/robin/Dictionary.html to hear audio samples of six common robin calls, including the typical lilting song, dawn song, peek and tut call, whinny call, high seeeeee call, and zeeeeup call. He explains what each of these is telling its mate and other birds. You may want to try memorizing the sounds so you can recognize when there is a robin in your yard.

This spring listen for robins and sing your own song. Spring is the season of hope and renewal. The plants and tree will bud and flower. Your yard's wildlife will awaken and begin again.