I spent most of several days outdoors last week and I don't remember seeing any robins. I saw blue jays, crows, turtle doves, ringnecked doves and all the little flocking birds, but no robins. Are they gone for the winter?
They disappeared early this year. I am worried about this coming winter...I've not noticed them being gone as early before as they are this year...Normally, I'm seeing robins all the way up to the beginning of October...they've been gone for about 3 to 4 weeks already.
Catwoman, they are leaving ahead of the election.
Avoiding the hot winds, are they?
Quote from: Wilma on October 06, 2008, 04:30:57 PM
Avoiding the hot winds, are they?
Wilma, you are wise beyond your years, and have a good sense of humor as well.
I haven't seen robins here for a while.....but, it was just a day or two ago that I saw some hummingbirds.
I know the robins won't go to far........just deeper into the south. They are usually back before winter is over.
I am enjoying all the changes in foliage and the different flowers that are all in full bloom.
I still see things green and lush in my daily walks.......they are changing, but still full of growth.
Yes, I know it won't last......and just last week I saw MY first black woolie caterpillar and know we are closer to freeze than
we would like.
Just get out and enjoy it while you can.......even sitting in a window you see so much.
God bless
Judy
Wilma you got me thinking, I have not seen Robins around here(San Francisco Bay Area) lately either. So I thought I would use my trusty Google skills and see if I could find out why. Not sure if this will help you answer your question but I found a really interesting site on Robins where they track their yearly migration. Tons of info and it has an ask the expert section too.
http://www.learner.org/jnorth/robin/index.html
David
Our robins are still here. The hummer family left yesterday, but we'll still have a few that will migrate through. The wrens have gone also and I haven't seen the cat birds for a few days either.
Come to think of it, I haven't seen or heard a wren either or a cat bird or a titmouse. I think the titmouse stays all winter. I haven't seen any cardinals for awhile but I know they will be here.
We noticed the swallows flocked early this year and have been gone for some time.
Myrna
Signs of an early winter?
The geese are moving in droves.. honking and the lead bird switching out and changing positions..
I love to watch them. How free it must feel to be able to fly so high above the earth..seeing everything with all your friends and family in respectable formation. As soon as I cross over into spirit once again.. and after I rest awhile.. I am going to fly and glide ..just to let the wind blow across my soul.
The birds are massing to move south...in droves! I have a bad, bad feeling about this coming winter.
Quote from: Catwoman on October 10, 2008, 08:05:33 PM
The birds are massing to move south...in droves! I have a bad, bad feeling about this coming winter.
Catwoman on the website I posted earlier it said that temperature was not as much of a migration factor as food source. Maybe the winter "fruit" and other food sources are low this year.
We'll hope so...because this particular cat enjoys small amounts of cold and snow but nothing like what I'm afraid this winter is going to end up being...and being a cat, will have to retreat to the inner sanctum to curl up for warmth with a hot cup of cocoa...tea just won't due under these circumstances!
BIRDLOVERS, Help.
There are two robins hanging around here. This morning they are hanging around an old robin's nest in one of my trees. My theory is that they are young robins that failed to go with the flock and now are hanging around their old home wondering where everyone is.
If they stay around, what should they be fed?
Robins are meat eaters for the most part; they eat insects. Baby robins will eat hamburger,(I raised a nest full of them that way when I was a kid). Adults will eat grain when nothing else can be found. Robins can be found here in nice weather, going back and forth to the areas that are having nice weather. It is common to see robins in February gleaning the thawed patches of fields for bugs that the sunshine has awakened. I wouldn't worry too much about them, Mother Nature has equipped most critters to care for themselves handily.
I wish that I had trees in my yard so Wilma and sixdogs could teach me about birds. I always admired the barn swallows that live in our tractor shed. No matter how many times Billy knocks down their nests they just keep coming back.
Maybe I should buy a bird feeder. What kind should I get? And what would I put in it? I do have several hummingbird feeders (they're of course put away now), and we always have tons of little hummingbirds.
Be careful what you wish for, you feed them, and they will come.
If you don't care what type of birds you get, you can always get sparrows and the
lesser birds..............anything that grows like sunflower seeds, and thistle
a nice mixed bag of bird seed.............and another thing...........you hang a feeder where
you put your hummingbird feeders and they will come.
But, as long as there is food around......meaning snow isn't covering the ground and the seeds are
still easy to get to you will mainly get sparrows.........which bring the other birds.
I have been known to feed left over cereal, stale bread and most left over veggies...........course, you need to
keep your 4 footed creatures away .............and that means coons, possoms, cats and coyote, etc.
Can't beat a birdfeeder for entertainment and just knowing that you are feeding the least of God's creature,
is a good thing.
Good luck with your project.
God Bless
Of course, I like to help anyone with anything that I can. You can google almost any question and find zillions of answers from folks more leaned than myself. P.S. sunflower seed is about the best all round feed for winter birds, but I am especially attatched to the goldfinches that come in the winter to eat niger thistle seed. The seed you buy won't grow, therefore it cannot become a pest in the yard, and the goldfinches love it! A source of water is attractive to birds also when the weather is cold. I keep a tub under the exhaust from our outdoor furnace, the exhaust is enough to keep the tub from freezing; a popular place for the birds all winter. I also have a few goldfish in that tub and a small fountain.
I think you can really get into the bird feeding and bird house hobby. I know that if you feed certain types of food and have certain types of bird houses, they will attract different birds. Some birds will eat mosquitos during the summer and you can have an insect-free backyard without nasty sprays. Some birds will keep the yucky sparrows out of your barns without making a mess themselves. Yes, the type of house matters. I think sparrows will make a nest in anything, so you have to keep them knocked out of the houses first, and then the other beneficial birds will come and move in.
Quoteso you have to keep them knocked out of the houses first
Wow, Tobina...you've never struck me as the kind of person who would go around roughing up defenseless little sparrows! :laugh:
There's a place just north of town that has about a dozen blue martin houses (the ones that look like apartments) on poles. It makes me think of a bird's version of New York City. I wonder if they actually get many blue martins to live there.
We still have several robins way over here on the southeast side, so they must be taking their time heading to warmer climes. Haven't seen many crows yet, so they too are a little late about coming to the big town for winter.
Thanks, Indy, blue martins were what I was thinking of to keep the mosquitos down and they live in the apartment houses. My grandpa used to have them in his backyard and he would spend so much time getting them ready in the spring. I think once you've got them established they continue to come back to the same place to live. But I remember it took a bit to keep the other birds out before the blue martins would move in.
Oh, when it comes to birds making nests on my house, I get pretty violent. If I can battle them for about a month in the spring, they finally find somewhere else to nest, but it takes all I can do during that month. It's amazing how fast they can build a nest. While I'm in here tapping away on my keyboard, they are swooping around re-building their nest. Back out I go and down it comes... back an couple hours later to the same thing! And if I'm gone for a couple days... oh, they get such a good head start!
I think you are refering to purple martins which are suppose to eat a lot of mosquitos, I have at least two houses up for them and are getting more pairs every year. Last year we had about a dozen pairs of them in the houses and we don,t have any mosquito problem.
In a recent issue of Birds and Blooms Magazine they had and item whether Robins fly South for the winter. They stated" If there is sufficent food on their breeding grounds, American Robins, Bluebirds, and a host of Finches and Owls remain inthe area where they spent the summer.
Myrna and I had been noticing lots of robins are still in the area.
Duh, PURPLE martins! Finally, someone on here with real expertise! So, what's the trick to getting purple martins to reside? Do they really prefer the apartment building houses? How long does it take for them to become "established"?
Purple Martins are a group nesting bird they want to be together in their apartments. I have never had any problem getting them to come to my houses, and they seem to be more each year. The house I ever put up that they didn,t built in was a plastic one, I have a wood one that I built and a metal one, they seem to perfer the wood. Purple Martins want their nesting house out in the open but close to building and people.
Some of the mixed bird seed will come up after it is knocked to the ground. If you will put in in a microwave for a short time and then let it cool, it won't germinate.
Myrna
We have had good luck with plastic gourd houses for purple martins. They are great birds to have around and require no feeders since they feed on insects. There should be a water source in the area, however, but it doesn't have to be in your yard. A pond or stream in the area works for them. We have the gourds suspended on a telescoping pole and can lower it to observe the activity of the new families in their nests. They really like human interaction. We number each house and monitor each one, keeping a running log throughout the summer. The martins arrive in Oklahoma about March 15 (probably a bit later in Kansas) and we try to have everything cleaned out and set up for the first scouts to check things out by that time. We have always had martins return. There is a lot of information on the internet for anyone interested in attracting purple martins.
:-[ :-[
I typed blue when I meant purple! I was so concerned about spelling martin correctly (did you know a marten is a member of the weasel family? I didn't, so I'm glad I checked Webster's for the spelling!) that I completely blew over the blue..... :-[ :-[
Hey! What if we (the town of Howard) were to adopt the purple martin as our "official bird" and the entire community could install aviary apartments, then we could advertise ourselves as "Howard -- The Mosquito Free Town." Even our new light posts in the business district could include some of the birdhouses. Now THAT would be an attractive selling point to those considering a move to a smaller town, dont'cha think?
Purple martin "apartments" were on sale at Orschelen's yesterday. They're pretty expensive in the spring. I bought a few feeders yesterday and I'm so excited to hang them up today. Thanks for all your help!
It was such a pretty day today that I had the back door propped open most of the day. The 'kids' love running in and out and the freedom to come and go as they please. The older ones spent a lot of their day out laying in the sun, and running inside every once in awhile to make certain that they weren't missing anything. We had a pair of Carolina Wrens here most of the day, cleaning the tree trunks. They will spend a little time here and continue on south later this winter. I had a pair that would roost each November in a basket I had hung on the front porch. I wonder what they thought when they showed up and their basket was gone after I moved away? They have a very loud and pretty call. I will be happy to see the Chicadees recover from their near extinction from West Nile virus. We had only one here last winter, opposed to the many we saw every year before the epidemic. I am not seeing the numbers of house finches that we used to have. Does anyone know what the story is there?
I know you are not going to believe this, but, I swear I haven't started on the eggnog yet. I had a bluebird at my bird feeder. Then I saw it fly into the neighbor's tree. Robins and bluebirds? What's going on here?
Weather is a-changing...........stormy weather around and you are a safe-haven.
Enjoy... I kind of think the bluebirds will stick around if the weather is fairly mild
robins kind of travel........but will be around too.
I have had quite a few red cardinals in my trees the last few days! Such a pretty sight next to the dull, brown branches! And yes, I think I've seen at least 1 bluebird, too, maybe more. I'm not a bird-watcher... is it uncommon for bluebirds to be around in the winter?
Yes, it is uncommon for bluebirds to stick around for the winter. I think it is gone now and we haven't seen the robins for a couple of days, either.