Might be an abundance of grass seed due to the sporadic rains triggering fast
growth and the accompanying insect life. From what I read they gather down on
the Texas coastal areas when the weather gets cold.
They love Milo apparently and there’s lots of that right now out in the county.
Perhaps they’re fattening up for the migration and this area represents an
“oasis” of food and surface water as well as their preferred nightly roosting
areas of tall marshy grass.
-Len
On Aug 27, 2022, at 8:10 PM, Anthony Hewetson <fattonybirds@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Greetings All:
On Thursday morning (8/25/2022) I saw a fairly large number of Bronzed
Cowbirds foraging on the lawn, below a decent canopy of liveoaks, at
the quad on the TTU HSC Campus in Lubbock - I tallied 28 birds during
a single scan. Slightly later in the day all of the birds assembled
(I can't think of a better word) along the edge of one of the roofs
and then flew off to the southwest. I have back-up binoculars in my
office and was able to confirm the identification, to species, of each
bird and there were an astonishing 42 - all male - Bronzed Cowbirds
lined up along the edge of the roof before they flew off..
We have grown accustomed to largeish groups of all male Bronzed
Cowbirds in grassy areas in Lubbock (the edges of Lake Six, the TTU
Campus, the TTU HSC Campus, Maxey Park, and probably some sites I am
overlooking) over the last few months (a newish phenomenon for our
region) but this is a remarkable number for a single sighting in the
region and seems, to me to be an unusual behavior.
Now to get to my questions. Is this number or behavior consistent
with what has gone on in other parts of Texas? It reminds me of the
migratory assemblages of other species in the region which makes me
wonder if this could merely represent a migratory assemblage?
Regards; Anthony Hewetson; Lubbock
