Geese Wheeling Prior To Settling In For The Evening

Victor Borge

Victor Borge

born 03 January 1909

the below youtube shows him playing Happy Birthday in various styles:

https://youtu.be/hkkHz8xq7lE

Robin - Turdus migratorius in the past ten years or so this migratory bird has become a year round resident in flocks of 50 or more in the winter

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

American robin
Male
Conservation status
Least Concern (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Passeriformes
Family:	Turdidae
Genus:	Turdus
Species:	T. migratorius
Binomial name
Turdus migratorius Linnaeus, 1766
Breeding range     Year-round range     Wintering range
Synonyms
Merula migratoria Planesticus migratorius

Play media

Male sings

The American robin (Turdus migratorius) is a migratory songbird of the thrush family. It is named after the European robin^[2] because of its reddish-orange breast, though the two species are not closely related, with the European robin belonging to the Old World flycatcher family. The American robin is widely distributed throughout North America, wintering from southern Canada to central Mexico and along the Pacific Coast. It is the state bird of Connecticut, Michigan, and Wisconsin.^[3] According to some sources, the American robin ranks behind only the red-winged blackbird (and just ahead of the introduced European starling and the not-always-naturally-occurring house finch) as the most abundant extant land bird in North America.^[4] It has seven subspecies, but only T. m. confinis of Baja California Sur is particularly distinctive, with pale gray-brown underparts.
The American robin is active mostly during the day and assembles in large flocks at night. Its diet consists of invertebrates (such as beetle grubs, earthworms, and caterpillars), fruits, and berries. It is one of the earliest bird species to lay eggs, beginning to breed shortly after returning to its summer range from its winter range. Its nest consists of long coarse grass, twigs, paper, and feathers, and is smeared with mud and often cushioned with grass or other soft materials. It is among the first birds to sing at dawn, and its song consists of several discrete units that are repeated.
The adult robin is preyed upon by hawks, cats, and snakes, but when feeding in flocks, it can be vigilant and watch other birds for reactions to predators. Brown-headed cowbirds lay eggs in robin nests (see brood parasite), but robins usually reject the cowbird eggs.

Wikipedia 

please contribute to wikipedia one of the few major sites with no advertising and in general good information in a heart beat -  my previous post about the Tuffed Titmouse (bird) contained some interesting general information about this cheery little bird - and in repayment I am giving this gratuitous bit of spreading the gospel.

Tuffed Titmouse - Baeolophus bicolour

The tufted titmouse (Baeolophus bicolor) is a small songbird from North America, a species in the tit and chickadee family (Paridae). The black-crested titmouse, found from central and southern Texas southwards, was included as a subspecies but is now considered a separate species B. atricristatus.
These birds have grey upperparts and white underparts with a white face, a grey crest, a dark forehead and a short stout bill; they have rufous-coloured flanks. The song is usually described as a whistled peter-peter-peter. They make a variety of different sounds, most having a similar tone quality.
The habitat is deciduous and mixed woods as well as gardens, parks and shrubland^[2] in the eastern United States; they barely range into southeastern Canada in the Great Lakes region. They are all-year residents in the area effectively circumscribed by the Great Plains, the Great Lakes, the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean. The range is expanding northwards, possibly due to increased availability of winter food at bird feeders. The birds are nowadays resident all year even in rural Ohio where there are few bird feeders, while it was noted around 1905 that many birds from these areas migrated south in winter.^[2][3]
They forage actively on branches, sometimes on the ground, mainly eating insects, especially caterpillars, but also seeds, nuts and berries. They will store food for later use. They tend to be curious about their human neighbors and can sometimes be spotted on window ledges peering into the windows to watch what's going on inside. They are more shy when seen at bird feeders; their normal pattern there is to scout the feeder from the cover of trees or bushes, fly to the feeder, take a seed, and fly back to cover to eat it.
Tufted titmice nest in a hole in a tree, either a natural cavity, a man-made nest box, or sometimes an old woodpecker nest. They line the nest with soft materials, sometimes plucking hair from a live animal such as a dog.^[4] If they find shed snake skin, they will try to incorporate pieces of it in their nest.^[5] Their eggs are under an inch long and are white or cream-colored with brownish or purplish spots. Sometimes, a bird born the year before remains to help its parents raise the next year's young. The pair may remain together and defend their territory year-round. These birds are permanent residents and often join small mixed flocks in winter.