After seeing a few robins around on my walk to and from work, I finally managed to get a picture of one! The American Robin has played a part in the stories and mythologies of a few Native American cultures, particularly in the Pacific Northwest, but my favorite reference to it is in Emily Dickinson's I Dreaded That First Robin So:
I DREADED that first robin so,
But he is mastered now,
And I ’m accustomed to him grown,— He hurts a little, though.
I thought if I could only live 5
Till that first shout got by,
Not all pianos in the woods
Had power to mangle me.
I dared not meet the daffodils,
For fear their yellow gown 10
Would pierce me with a fashion
So foreign to my own.
I wished the grass would hurry,
So when ’t was time to see,
He ’d be too tall, the tallest one 15
Could stretch to look at me.
I could not bear the bees should come,
I wished they ’d stay away
In those dim countries where they go:
What word had they for me? 20
They ’re here, though; not a creature failed,
No blossom stayed away
In gentle deference to me,
The Queen of Calvary.
Each one salutes me as he goes, 25
And I my childish plumes
Lift, in bereaved acknowledgment
Of their unthinking drums.
#birds #robin #chicagowildlife 
