Last week the sky was black with them over here. It was like a Hitchcock movie. Seems like most of them have moved on, but there are still a bunch hanging around.
I guess they migrate? From where to where, and when?
I guess they migrate? From where to where, and when?
From Canada and New England to here. They'll be around all winter, moving from one fruit crop to the next, dogwood berries, hackberries, hollies and so on. They also forage on the ground for fallen fruits and arthropods that use the warmth of decay to overwinter.
The ones that summer here have moved further south, how far I'm not sure. I think the winter cohort is paler. The breeding cohort is much blacker and has a darker breast too, but it may just be that the breeding season molt is darker, and the difference is just an illusion of timing.
We were just out walking Pupster and there are still hundreds coming thru/hanging around.
The reason for my previous question about migration was that for the past couple of weeks the waves of Robins seem to be coming from the South/South-East going North/North-West, which seems backwards.
The Mrs. has a theory that they are just flying in big circles looking for a stopover to hang out and rest and eat on their journey, and they like our neighborhood.
Jays and cardinals are not migratory. There are degrees of, um, migratoriness, from long, sea-crossing migrations to within-continent migration to elevational migration to nomadic wandering to staying put. Cardinals stay put. Jays are a bit nomadic but have a home turf. Robins are within-continent, but most other thrushes migrate across the Gulf. Winter flocks of robins are nomadic. Examples of elevational migrants that may visit your yard are phoebes and yellow-bellied sapsuckers.
Last week the sky was black with them over here. It was like a Hitchcock movie. Seems like most of them have moved on, but there are still a bunch hanging around.
I guess they migrate? From where to where, and when?
I guess they migrate? From where to where, and when?
From Canada and New England to here. They'll be around all winter, moving from one fruit crop to the next, dogwood berries, hackberries, hollies and so on. They also forage on the ground for fallen fruits and arthropods that use the warmth of decay to overwinter.
The ones that summer here have moved further south, how far I'm not sure. I think the winter cohort is paler. The breeding cohort is much blacker and has a darker breast too, but it may just be that the breeding season molt is darker, and the difference is just an illusion of timing.
We were just out walking Pupster and there are still hundreds coming thru/hanging around.
The reason for my previous question about migration was that for the past couple of weeks the waves of Robins seem to be coming from the South/South-East going North/North-West, which seems backwards.
The Mrs. has a theory that they are just flying in big circles looking for a stopover to hang out and rest and eat on their journey, and they like our neighborhood.
(I don't see many going the other way, though.)
Well, you learn something here every day. I thought Robins weren't migratory. What about Jays and Cardinals, of which I thought the same?
Jays and cardinals are not migratory. There are degrees of, um, migratoriness, from long, sea-crossing migrations to within-continent migration to elevational migration to nomadic wandering to staying put. Cardinals stay put. Jays are a bit nomadic but have a home turf. Robins are within-continent, but most other thrushes migrate across the Gulf. Winter flocks of robins are nomadic. Examples of elevational migrants that may visit your yard are phoebes and yellow-bellied sapsuckers.
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