Never trust a travel agent!

After spending a good, comfortable winter in central Mexico, the robins (turdus migratorius) called their travel agent four weeks ago to inquire about conditions in Park City, Utah. Not being very sharp, their travel pro told them, “no problem, it's spring already over there, we've even heard of dandelion already spotted on sunny slopes...” Without waiting, the birds packed everything, flew over the border and I saw them arriving in our garden on March 15, ready to refurbishing their nests and laying eggs. Since that time, our weather has reverted back to winter and yesterday, these poor birds were really ticked off, with blizzard ragging, nothing to eat and literally grounded.

We first saw a large flock of them assembling on our backyard aspens and a few moment later, my wife spotted another flock “working” a non-identified tree in our neighbor's garden. Part of them were frantically shaking the branches in all directions, letting some sort of nuts or edible matter down on the snow and taking turn to eat the proceeds. We felt sorry for them all and could only think that next time, instead of relying on a clueless travel agent, they ought to call us first!