Dispatch: Robin sightings in southern Minnesota

"We have robins here, but we've had a flock of maybe 1,000 robins that wintered in the area this year. You can see a gazillion robins most days down in the banana belt already. I ski by the [Root River] most days, so I can see that the river is opening up. The hatches are coming off. And I've actually seen robins feeding on the hatches."

Joe Deden, executive director, Eagle Bluff Environmental Learning Center in Lanesboro, Minn.