[Tweeters] Wintering vs. Migrants

[Robert O'Brien]

And another observation..  Spotted Towhees are common here year-round.  A
few years ago, sadly I forgot the month, we had a flock of 10-25 Spotted
Towhees all around our bird feeder in an area of about 1000 sq. feet.  They
seemed to be attracted by the other activity because they were not getting
any food directly from the feeder.  Again, all males.  The Robins
observations/migrants are annual.  But I've only seen the Spotted Towhee
flock this one time in 50 years.  Has anyone else had such a towhee
experience?
Bob OBrien  Carver OR


On Sun, Mar 19, 2023 at 9:10 AM Robert O'Brien <baro at pdx.edu> wrote:


> Here is another way to tell.  A couple of weeks ago, after

> intermittent snowfall, we had a flock of 15-20 American Robins in a field

> where patches of the snow had melted.  They were all males in high breeding

> plumage, with their black heads and full, bright, off-red breasts.  Clearly

> these were migrants, although none were singing.

> Bob OBrien  Portland

>

>

> On Sun, Mar 19, 2023 at 1:56 AM Michael Price <loblollyboy at gmail.com>

> wrote:

>

>> This time of year there's always the same problem: are the birds you're

>> seeing the first northbound migrants or the wintering population?

>>

>> Crude rule of thumb:

>> silent - wintering

>> singing - northbound migrant males (northbound males usually precede

>> northbound females in order to secure territory ahead of rival males).

>>

>> Back East, in London ON, during the winter months we'd have winter

>> robins, Turdus migratorius, race nigrideus, always silent but for calls,

>> but we could always know when our Eastern Robin T.m migratorius, our

>> breeding species arrived about March 9, singing.

>>

>> best, m

>>

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