Date: Thu, 27 Feb 2003 10:44:21 -0500 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: "Speicher, James (NIH/NIAID)" Subject: Re: American Robins MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="ISO-8859-1" In a CBC of three years ago in WASH CO in MD, we observed a flock seemingly without end of Robins flying above the C & O from MD toward WVA. So this would support the association of winter Robins with woodlands. The winter that year in my memory was "normal" with the only the snow cover on the ground being what had fallen that day amounting to appx 4 to 5 inches. What hasn't been commented on that i am aware of is the "human factor" in this and in the postings on singing birds. Robins and bird song are usually associated with the imminent arrival of SPRING. If one is the type of person who i will term "winter adverse" there may be a tendency to be alert to "signs" of the end of winter. So i'm suggesting that you have to ask yourself what you bring to the equation and how that might influence your observations. If we were having a winter like any of the last 3 or 4 would the Robins or the "early" bird song have been noteworthy? Just a thought... Jim Speicher jspeicher@niaid.nih.gov Bethesda @work:( FRED Co @home:) ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================