No Robins?

[V.Kirkwood xplornet.ca]

Last winter, I heard a Robin sporadically throughout the winter.  This winter, I haven't heard any at all.  What's the status of the over-wintering Robin population as far as the rest of you have observed?

Valerie Kirkwood
Acton's Corners

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[URL="http://valerie-kirkwood.fineartamerica.com/"]My Equestrian Art Photography page[/URL]

[Fred Schueler]

Quoting "V.Kirkwood xplornet.ca" <v.kir...@xplornet.ca>:

> Last winter, I heard a Robin sporadically throughout the winter. This
> winter, I haven't heard any at all. What's the status of the
> over-wintering Robin population as far as the rest of you have observed?

* every time I've thought I'd seen a Robin, it's turned out to be a
Blue Jay - maybe there wasn't enough Buckthorn and other fruit set
during the drought to keep them through the winter, or maybe they were
driven south by some of the short cold snaps (my last record was a few
on 25 December).

fred.
------------------------------------------------------------
Frederick W. Schueler & Aleta Karstad
Bishops Mills Natural History Centre - http://pinicola.ca/bmnhc.htm
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on the Smiths Falls Limestone Plain 44* 52'N 75* 42'W
(613)258-3107 <bckcdb at istar.ca> http://pinicola.ca/
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[I Macaulay]

I usually have what I have called my Robin gang here all winter but I have not seen them at all this year.  I have not been out on my trail since that big freeze in January until to-day and there was absolutely no birds of any kind about, no snow fleas either, just rabbit tracks.

I did see what I thought was a redwing on a wire at the road side two days ago but did not report it as I was driving and figured I was visualizing a wish:-)

Ian

 

Experience remains after everything else is gone.
                          Ian Macaulay
Carp, Ontario lat: 45.2397 N long: 76.0991 W Elv 137 M UTM
              Don't Forget to Save the Stamps

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From: V.Kirkwood xplornet.ca <v.kir...@xplornet.ca>
To: natur...@googlegroups.com
Sent: Tuesday, February 12, 2013 11:52 AM
Subject: [NatureList] No Robins?

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[RoseMarie Burke]

Don't be surprised, this just in from the ont.birds list:

 

"2 Red winged Blackbirds @ Rivermead Bus stop.principal st. Aylmer 10:10am"

 

Thought I saw one on my neighbour's feeder, but got closer and it was just a starling.  The only thing unusual about that is that there was just one.

 

This morning, however, I did have 9 Bohemian waxwings in my backyard crabapple tree.  Had a good look with binocs, went to get the camera but then something scared them off.

 

Rose-Marie

[Stew Hamill]

Definitely fewer this winter, but I have observations from December (one
on the ground in my plantation looking sick), from January 4 (number not
recorded), and last Saturday (Feb 9, one bird).
Stew

[Kurt Hennige]

A great way to get the answer you asked below is by going to the Ebird Canada website and under Explore Data click on Range and Point Maps. By entering Robin and the Date range and location you can easily compare the entries from last winter to this winter.

I did this for Eastern Ontario and  there are only about  20% of records entered this year comparing to the same two month last. What is also apparently, when I clicked on individuals checklists, mostly single Robins or vervy low numbers were seen this winter comparing to last winter were groups of 15-20 were regulary recorded.

Ebird is a great website to find answer to bird distribution and so easy to use.

 

Kurt Hennige

 

 

 

From: V.Kirkwood xplornet.ca

Sent: Tuesday, February 12, 2013 11:52 AM

[Stew Hamill]

Unfortunately, Ebird can't accept UTM data and can't convert. I have a
few thousand records which I can't submit. I have therefore ignored Ebird.
Stew