To the editor:

For those who doubt climate change: In my back yard I have a Winterberry bush that has beautiful red berries from late Fall through the Winter. I also have pine trees. Every Fall I cut branches from the Winterberry and from the pine trees to decorate a pretty half-size barrel that sits on my back deck.  

I'm in my late 80s and have done this for years. In the Spring I remove the berry and pine branches to plant real flowers. The branches are still full of Winterberries. Last year, for the first time, birds ate all the berries and left just bare branches. I didn't see them but the berries kept disappearing. The berries disappeared from the Winterberry bush also. 

This year I was sitting at my back window the other day and there were four robins just sitting in the tub eating berries until they were all gone. I went out later to rearrange the branches, and there were a few berries left in the soil of the tub. Well, wouldn't you know the next day a robin came by and finished eating the rest of the berries. The berries had all been eaten off the big bush itself too.  

Last year was the first time this has happened. Because I have bird feeders up and have a lot of birds around, I thought the berries were poisonous all this time because no birds ever ate them. I guess because the winters are warmer, the robins no longer fly south for the winter.

Lorraine Conti

Barrington