Date: Thu, 27 Feb 2003 09:41:57 -0500 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Janet Millenson Subject: Re: American Robins MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit The number of robins around here this winter may -- according to Gail Mackiernan -- or may not -- according to Dave Mozurkewich -- be larger than usual. Like Dave, in winter I often come across flocks of up to several hundred robins, but those birds have almost always been in the woods. What seems undeniably different this year is that people are noticing large numbers of robins in suburban areas that typically remain fairly robin-free until late March. Even a non-birding friend in Bethesda recently phoned me to ask about the amazing number of robins she was seeing ("Is this normal?"). Has anyone noticed FEWER robins in the woods? If so, then perhaps the weather or some other circumstance is driving the usual birds to seek food in unusual foraging areas. If the woodland numbers seem normal, then perhaps these suburban robins do indeed represent an irruption from the north, as Gail suggests. Janet Millenson Potomac, MD (Montgomery County) janet@twocrows.com ------------------------------------------------------------------ "Look at the birds!" -- Pascal the parrot ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================