Yesterday while I was on the way to Regenstein Library, a little flock of birds twittering around a little tree caught my attention. With a few exceptions, they were American robins, fluttering on and off the tree’s tiny branches and trying to hop around in the several inches of snow that remained after last week’s storms.

I thought about how seldom I see robins flock, even in this modest way.

And how magical that one of the first signs of spring would appear unexpectedly among the cold, wet vestiges of a harsh winter. In early February.

I hope they have enough to eat to keep warm.