Each spring, I listen and look for three little command performances by nature, and when they happen I know spring has finally sprung.

They are peepers peeping in the ponds; red-winged blackbirds singing their strident konk-a-lee songs in the marshes, and the robins, appearing in my back yard, hunting worms.

I’ve always liked robins.

There’s something about them that’s comforting. Maybe it’s the robin’s reliability, or simply their presence in my yard that I find so pleasing. For many, they are the quintessential harbingers of spring.

Indeed, the American robin (Turdus migratorius) is so common, we hardly notice them. Yet this humble bird, the largest in the thrush family, has some impressive accolades.

For example, robins are the state bird of Connecticut, Wisconsin and Michigan. According to The Cornell Lab of Ornithology, robins are “America’s most popular songbird,” and they are Great Britain’s national bird.

Robins do something else that I like.

In the early evening hours, robins sing one of the prettiest lullabys in the neighborhood. It’s a beautiful, lilting melody. And for me, there’s no better calming medicine than to sit on my deck, with a drink in hand, and listen to them chirrup.

Audubon’s view

John James Audubon also was a fan of robins. “The gentle and lively disposition of the robin … and the simplicity of his song, render him a special favorite,” Audubon wrote in 1829, after completing his third painting of robins.

When robins run across our lawns, pause and occasionally tilt their heads, are they listening for worms? Apparently not. Scientists now believe robins hunt and locate worms by sight.

In the winter, some robins stick around and switch from eating worms to fruits and berries, subsisting on chokecherries, hawthorn, dogwood, sumac fruits and juniper berries.

Robins are prolific breeders, too. Once the breeding season starts (May-August), robins can raise up to three families per year. Most birds raise one per year, and the female robin is a creative nest-builder.

They “build the nest from the inside out, pressing dead grass and twigs into a cup shape using the wrist of one wing,” according to the website All About Birds.com. “Once the cup is formed, she reinforces the nest, using soft mud gathered from worm castings to make a heavy, sturdy nest,” the site said.

But the female robin’s real masterpiece are those beautiful sky-blue eggs that she lays. Have you ever peered into a nest and seen them? Sometimes, we see the discarded egg shells lying about in our yards.

Lastly, when robins appear in my back yard, I’m reminded it’s time to dust off my tools, tune up my lawnmower and get ready for another season of gardening. Enjoy!

Bill Hobbs is a resident of Stonington and a lifelong wildlife enthusiast. For comments, he can be reached at whobbs246@gmail.com.