No robins here

I went for a bike ride yesterday and I did not see any robins.  That may be good news or it may be bad news.  Let me explain. While that big rat in Pennsylvania is said to be the predictor of the end of winter, in upstate New York it is the appearance of robins that is the first real sign that spring has actually arrived.  Here in southeast Texas see only see robins for a few weeks in late winter.  They must spend the winter farther south.  They pass through this area on their way north.  So far this year I have yet to see a single bird.  That means I either missed them, even though I have been looking for them, and they have left this area to continue north.  That would be good news to those who have suffered this past winter.  Or it means they have yet to even arrive here.  That would mean winter is not over which would certainly be bad news.  I think it is the first.  They are typically long gone from here by early March.  So to Sue, my sister, and all in the northeast, even though the forecast for the next week may look like winter, rest assured, spring is on the way.