I live in Rochester and have seen many flocks of robins this winter, more than I have every seen. We have had a flock of around 25 or so in the neighborhood this week. WE have a heated birdbath, but they have also been up on the south side of roof drinking from eave troughs and maybe finding something to eat there as well. Our neighborhood has mature trees with several apple trees and some berry bushes. I know some robins stay through the winter, but thought this winter would drive them further south, but there seem to be more than ever.
----- Original Message ----- From: "Bill Tefft" <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Tuesday, February 11, 2014 7:48:50 AM Subject: Re: [mou-net] thirsty robins I live in Ely and we have single-digit robins most every winter that eat mountain ash, crab apple and probably some buckthorn fruit during winter. On Sunday, February 9 I was driving south on Hwy 63 from Zumbro Falls to Rochester at about 5:00 p.m. and saw three separate flocks of robins fly over the roadway from ese to nw as though each was moving towards an evening roost site. It seemed much like crows or ravens heading for an evening roost. I was wondering how common these flocks of robins are in southern Minnesota and whether or not they are seen in daytime feeding locations and what they find as a main winter food. - maybe buckthorn. Are there other preferred foods like possibly crab apples, known to people? I probably subconsciously hope that there winter world has not developed around the "dark side" of buckthorn. On Mon, Feb 10, 2014 at 5:46 PM, Bernard P. Friel <[email protected]> wrote: > I had the same circumstance three years ago with robins at my heated bird > bath. At times the entire perimeter of the bird bath was wing to wing > robins...mine were feeding on flowering crab apples so I had a red ring > around the perimeter of the bird bath > -- > Bernard P. Friel > Motivational Program: > A Change of Heart-Taking Charge of Your Health > Member: > North American Nature Photography Association > International Society of Aviation Photography > The Explorers Club MN¹ 10 > Grand Canyon River Guides > Web Pages: > http://www.wampy.com > > > > > > From: Tom Bell <[email protected]> > > Reply-To: Tom Bell <[email protected]> > > Date: Mon, 10 Feb 2014 16:50:57 -0600 > > To: <[email protected]> > > Subject: [mou-net] thirsty robins > > > > Eleven American Robins have invaded our heated bird bath and I have never > > experienced such thirsty birds. They crowd around the bird bath and stay > there > > dipping, sipping and pooping. I counted 20 dips by one bird before it > caught > > movement and flew off. Granted, they do not take in a large quantity of > water > > each time they dip into the water, lift their heads to swallow, but they > take > > in enough so that the bird bath has to filled twice a day. The birds just > > continue to return to the water source. From their discharge, it looks > like > > they are eating buckthorn, so I wonder if that is a contributing factor. > > > > Tom Bell > > Grey Cloud Island > > 5868 Pioneer Rd. S. > > St. Paul Park, MN 55071 > > 651-459-4150 > > > > ---- > > Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net > > Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html > > ---- > Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net > Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html > -- *Bill [email protected] <[email protected]>218-235-8078* ---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html ---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
