Little Robins and the Guardian Patrol

"The Guardian Patrol" The Illustrated Fairy Gazette, ©FrancesTyrrell

The robins are back and busy with nestlings.  It's the time of year for finding broken shells of beautiful robin's egg blue in the garden.  For "daring fledglings who test their wings too soon" Guardian Patrol fairies will come to the rescue with "stretchers of twigs and last year's spiders' webs", according to (who else) Dr. Flora Fauna of (what else?)  The Illustrated Fairy Gazettes, Spring edition.

There is a beautiful Saskatoon Berry tree in my parents' back yard and a nest with robins nearby.  They have taken to nesting over the back door and come back every year. Here is one of them, part of a demo piece from my watercolour classes.

Robin, watercolour, Frances Tyrrell ©2016

"A blessed and enchanted Spring to fairies everywhere"

Third Day of Advent - Robin Redbreast

Third day of Advent

A detail from a larger Christmas painting, this little robin defies conventional wisdom that North American robins always fly south for the winter. Here is a page about robins that stay. I like the description of their song as "chip chip cheerio, jam on toast!"