19 February—Putting Donald Trump aside for today, the most common collective noun for robins is blush and there’s a blush of a few dozen robins in the meadow who appear to be trying to peck holes in the unusually thick crust of ice that formed over the snow when Monday’s rain froze over. Most of the birds are foraging under the big crab apple trees that look like they just dropped the frozen little fruits that survived the autumn along with a few branches overwhelmed by heavy ice.

Some robins are perched high in the maples right outside the window, watching their cousins’ futile foraging. They look rather chubby. So could the robins in the trees be relaxing because they’ve been eating well? But it turns out the fat robins are merely having erections. Yes, robins have erections.

But, like most birds, robins have only ptiloerections. Ptil- comes from the Greek meaning feather. Ptiloerections thus are simply when birds fluff up their feathers. And birds fluff their feathers primarily to regulate their body temperature by trapping air between the feathers, thus creating extra insulation to keep them warm in cold weather. And the weather of late, except for rainy Monday, certainly has been cold. So the robins in the trees aren’t fat at all, just trying to keep warm.

(Don’t confuse ptiloerections with piloerections, by the way. Pil- comes from the Latin meaning hair. Piloerections occur when hairs [or quills, as on porcupines, hedgehogs, and echidnas] stand on end in response to cold temperature, fear, or danger. They’re also known as goosebumps. Piloerection is also known as horripilation, from the Latin verb for bristle—as in being horrified—and, of course, the noun for hair.)

Back to the foraging robins, then, it seems the birds can’t keep hold of the relatively few crab apples and berries they’re able to find on the snow crust. They pick up the little fruits and immediately drop them. And again and again. It must have something to do with the little fruits being frozen solid. But the robins don’t give up.

The berries and crab apples are round. So they roll and the little birds chase them around on the ice, desperately trying to capture and hold the frozen prizes. And other little birds, seizing the opportunity, either scamper or fly in to intercept the uncooperative little fruits. But they can’t hold the frozen berries either.

It’s kind of like a soccer or hockey game. But without body contact. And no violence at all. It’s cute to watch. But then you realize the freezing robins aren’t playing a game but trying to survive . . .