Bird Spotting: Catching sight of this gray bird with a brick-red belly usually signifies the start of spring.

Nesting: Robins are great architects when it comes to their nests. Using grass and twigs, the diligent parents create a sturdy cuplike nest lined with softer grass for their eggs. Nests can be found in trees or along a ledge or windowsill. The robin couple usually lay three to five blue-green eggs two to three times a season.

Bird Bite: Robins can live to be 14 years old. However, because of the high rate of chick mortality, the entire population turns over an average of every six years.

Backyard Tip: Good nest trees for the American robin are sugar maples, crab apples, scarlet elders and flowering dogwoods. In the winter months the small fruit of the snowberry shrub provides food.