Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!rutgers!uwvax!dogie!uwmcsd1!ig!agate!ucbvax!hplabs!decwrl!labrea!navajo!baxter
From: baxter@navajo.UUCP (Ray Baxter)
Newsgroups: rec.birds
Subject: Re: robins and springtime
Message-ID: <2051@navajo.UUCP>
Date: 11 Feb 88 23:28:11 GMT
References: <1988Feb8.104125.20279@utzoo.uucp> <1150@inuxd.UUCP>
Reply-To: baxter@navajo.UUCP (Ray Baxter)
Distribution: na
Organization: Biological Sciences, Stanford University
Lines: 21

In article <1150@inuxd.UUCP> jla@inuxd.UUCP (Joyce Andrews) writes:
>> Actually, the robin is a poor harbinger of spring in the northeast
>I saw a big flock of robins hanging out south of Miami in the
>Homestead area Tuesday.  I have never seen them in a flock
>before.  I assume they were getting together for the trip home.

Correct me if I am wrong, but I seem to recall reading that adult and
young male robins return to their nesting sites before the females.
These birds hangout together, at first in a jocular manner but later
becoming more competetive.  When the females finally arrrive some males
have managed to obtain desirable territories, and the rest are out of
luck until next year.

When I noticed flocks of robins last spring I assumed that it was
composed of these males.  If your flock is similar, it would mean that
they are home.

By the way, I also seem to recall that not all robins are migratory in 
the sense of going south in the winter and north in the spring.  The
flocks of males can assemble from the local population of overwintering
birds.