These cool birds enjoy berries for breakfast, lunch and dinner

The marble-sized blueberry rolled across the bare concrete and came to a stop in a thin layer of snow.

It didn’t remain there for long.

In a flash, an intrepid robin fluttered down from a nearby crabapple tree and plucked up the plump berry.

This was Wednesday morning in a busy commercial parking lot in West Des Moines. The thermostat on the car read 2°F outside but inside I was toasty, warm and enjoying a freshly made crepe topped with strawberries and blueberries.

Watching a pair of robins scour each branch of the small fruit tree for any remnant produce from last year’s growing season, I couldn’t help myself from offering a store-bought berry from my breakfast. Their willingness to stay put in close proximity to so many cars and individuals coming and going was testament to their steadfastness in not relinquishing their hold on what had become a spartan food source.

A look around the parking lot revealed that a dozen trees or more had been nearly completely stripped of their previous stores of frozen fruit. These two robins, and a small growing flock of their kind, were cold and voraciously hungry.

For many Iowans, the thought of American robins persisting through a Midwest winter and remaining here well into mid-winter is noteworthy if not unimaginable. Yet, every year, small flocks of the orange-breasted thrushes eke out their survival by locating and subsisting on the frozen berries proffered from crabapple and other fruit-producing trees. In recent decades, as climate changes, more and more robins are seen toughening it out through the colder and bleaker months of the year.

Late-winter and early-spring severe snow or ice storms notwithstanding, most of these birds should survive until nesting season as long as they can continue to find adequate food sources.

You can certainly help out robins and other backyard birds by feeding them high-quality, nutritious foods that include dried mealworms, dried fruit, nuts, sunflower seeds and suet. Add in a heated water source and you may not be able to get these cheery robins to leave your backyard, snow or no snow.