I don’t care what anyone says—spring is here, y’all!

Over the past week, I’ve seen all the telltale signs: daffodils stretching toward the sun, warmer days, longer evenings, redbuds in bloom, and robins flitting through the trees.

Technically, that last one is an old wives’ tale—robins live in North Carolina year-round. But I rarely see them in our cul-de-sac during the dead of winter. They always seem to reappear once the worst of the cold has passed as if to say, It’s safe to come out now.

There’s a good reason for that.

In winter, American robins shift their habits. Instead of hopping across lawns hunting for worms, they switch to a fruit-based diet and gather in large flocks, often hidden in wooded areas. It’s also the season when they focus on raising their families. So, while they never truly leave, they’re much harder to spot until spring starts knocking.

Because of their association with spring, robins are associated with new beginnings and good fortune. And like cardinals, sometimes they’re believed to be messengers from the spiritual world.

And that’s not the only folklore surrounding these harbingers of spring. Here are a couple more:

• It’s bad luck to harm robin eggs.
• It’s good luck to find a hatched robin egg. (I even have one displayed in my dining room!)
• Their red breasts? According to legend, they earned them by flying down to hell each day, carrying water in their beaks to quench the flames. The heat scorched their feathers as a reward for their efforts.
• Others believe their redbreasts came from when the robin tried to ease Christ’s pain on the cross by pulling the thorns from his crown. In the process, their breast was stained with his blood.
• Killing a robin will result in lifelong misfortune.
• If a robin taps on a window, it’s believed to be a sign of impending death.
• A robin redbreast in a cage puts all of Heaven in a rage.

Are these old superstitions true? Who’s to say? I don’t tempt fate. But I do take my cues from the robins—spring is here.