Walter Bruce, president of the Spokane Bird Club, wrote an article describing how robins, contrary to popular belief, are not really harbingers of spring in the Spokane region.
Some robins from the “dismal north” actually migrate in winter down to Spokane in large numbers, he said. He noted that a number of other species also arrive from the north in winter, “driven south in search of food by inclement weather and deep snows.”
Spokane birdwatchers had seen robins, golden-crowned kinglets, redpolls, tree sparrows, waxwings and a species he identified as the “Alaska ground thrush.”
Another species he called the “Alaska longspur” (perhaps the one today called the Lapland longspur)
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