Regarding night roosts, early one October morning many years ago I arrived
at a young forest plantation in the west Cascades that apparently had been
the roost site of robins the night before, thousands of them. When I got
out of the pickup the sound was deafening. I could hear no other birds.
This was, I assumed, a large migrant group that had "landed" for the night.
If I recall correctly there were also lots of elderberries in the stand,
which may have been what attracted the robins initially the day before.
In past years here in the Umpqua Valleys, we have had huge flocks in the
fields/pastures (those grazed very short or plowed to dirt), usually after
extensive rain that brings bugs and worms up. That happens to some degree
most winters in local spots, when the ground is not frozen.
Happy New Robin,
Matt
On Tue, Jan 3, 2017 at 5:49 AM, Keith Phifer <plfer9381@xxxxxxx> wrote:
I too live off Oak Hill rd in the Wilbur area. And I would chime in too
to say the robins are an unusual and prolonged event this year. I would
say for about the past 6 weeks just after dawn and before dusk thousands of
robins swirl over heads. These robins head into the hills at night where
it is mostly roseburg forest products tree farm and then out again in the
am. As I have described to others it reminds me of the pictures of those
bats in some huge cave colony streaming out of the cave. Here I have
observed no waxwings in those flocks although there are some starlings. I
believe this is their winter roosting site, and wonder from how far they
come. It has not been like this the other 2 winters I have lived hear so
maybe they are coming back in from feeding on madrone berries in other
areas. Initially however when they go out in the morning they seem to
flock to the farms and fields around. Maybe they need a nice earthworm for
some protein for breakfast before heading ou
t for their berries.
Keith
Sent from my iPod
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