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Subject:

American Robin flight

From:

Rick Sussman

Reply-To:

Maryland Birds & Birding

Date:

Thu, 30 Dec 2004 07:53:20 EST

Hi all,
 Haven't been birding a lot lately, so I found this of interest, at  least 
locally. I was out this morning with the dog, standing by the little pond  here 
in Ashton, watching an adult Cooper's Hawk which had landed in a nearby  tree. 
I began to hear A. Robins calling overhead, as they were leaving their  
roost. They were coming from the East, where the sun was rising in a rosey glow,  
and headed due West. The flight continued for over the fifteen minutes that I  
was out there, continued as I came home and was well into 4 figures when I 
left.  The birds were in groups from 4-10 and groups from 30-100 or more, flying 
about  60-80 feet up. My best guess would be the "flocks" (loose flocks) 
contained well  over 2000 birds, maybe more. 
 
If I had known when it began how large a spectacle this was, I would have  
kept better count of both the number and duration of the flight. As it was, I  
could just stand in awe, appreciating the large flight of a common bird (though 
 not so common this time of year, as about 2 weeks ago we saw only 1 on my  
section of the Triadelphia CBC in 9 hrs of birding)!
 
Happy New (birding) Year everybody!
 
Rick Sussman
Ashton,MD
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