Dear Tom,
I don’t recall ever seeing robins in February, but we’ve got quite a few here in Lake County (Ill.). Is our fickle weather confusing the migration dates?
Jeannine Aull
Dear Jeannine,
The presence of robins here during the winter is not unusual. The “February robins” that you have seen might have been Canadian robins wintering here, or “locals” that stay. Robins populate most of North America in the summer, even the Arctic reaches of Alaska and northern Canada. However, those northern robins winter in the United States (or the relatively mild Pacific coastal strip of Canada).
Surprisingly, much of the northern United States, including the Midwest, is wintering territory for some Canadian robins. Locally, most of our summer robins head south for the winter, but some will remain if they are able to find berries, seeds and dormant insects.
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Tom Skilling is chief meteorologist at WGN-TV. His forecasts can be seen Monday through Friday on WGN-TV News at noon and 9 p.m.
Write to: ASK TOM WHY, 2501 Bradley Pl., Chicago, IL 60618 or asktomwhy@wgntv.com (Mail volume precludes personal response.)
WGN-TV meteorologists Steve Kahn, Richard Koeneman and Paul Dailey plus weather producer Bill Snyder contribute to this page.
