Recently I have been lamenting the absence of robins in our neighborhood.  About 10 days ago the back yard and parking lot was covered with robins eating either seeds or bugs for at least three days.  And that was the last I had seen any robins at all.  Today the same area is now frequented by what looks like late hatch robins filling themselves on whatever they can find.  My guess is that these ones will soon be long gone as well.  Maybe by some instinct of nature the adult robins were tipped off by the unusual weather patterns caused by hurricane Irene and they escaped early to get to their destination safely and with ample supplies of food along the way.