The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1956-02-02
Robins Winter In
The Blue Ridge

towns and farms in winter, conse-
quently it is commonly assumed
that these birds spend the cold
months in the South. Possibly some
do go south when they disappear
in the fall, but a great number in
the latitude of northern Virginia
evidently retire to dense forests
and swamps to feed on wild ber-
ries and are not seen again on our
lawns and fields until warm
weather brings earth worms to the
surface
The above conclusion is based
on the following personal observa-
tions.
While on a hunting trip in the
latter part of December, 1910, on
Shaffer Mountain, near Aurora, w.
Va, hundreds of robins were seen
in a swampy thicket at an eleva-
ton of around 5000 feet.
During January Oh 1905 and also
in the past few weeks have seen
robins feeding on wild grapes in
dense woods on the west flank of
the Blue Ridge mountains.
On January 81, 1855, hundreds
of robins appeared for an hour or
so in the fields about our house
in the Blue Ridge and then disap-
peared and were not seen again
until the end of February
At about shutdown on December
%, 1855, | was astonished to see
enormous flocks of robins flying
in a northerly direction high over
our farm. After watching the
flights for a few evenings, | began
to make observations in different
parts of the Blue Ridge to locate
where the robins spent the night
and to determine the extent of the
area from which they came. The
gist of my observation is that the
robins roost in a loW-lying, densely
wooded tract on the west slope Of
the Blue Ridge, AZ miles southwest
Of Mt. Weather. On January 20
observed them flying southwark in
to their roosting center from my
station north of il. They came by
the thousands On the following
evening | took up vantage point
south of the center and close
enough to see the robins light in
the trees. Between 500 and $50
they came in from a southcrly di-
rection arriving in loose flocks of
50 to 500 at intervals of Is to 30
seconds. | estimated the number
coming in from the south to be at
least 10000 The total number, con-
sequently, roosting in the locality
must be approximately 10000. On
following evenings | observed that
they came from points as far as
Route Z, six miles north of the cen
ter and for many miles south of
Route 50. However, l later dis
covered that they do not come
from south of Route So, ten miles
to the south. for on the evening of
January q. robins by the hundreds
were seen flying to the southwest
a few miles east of Front Royal
Evidently there is another roosting
center somewhere south of Front
Royal and no doubt others to the
north and south of the one OBJ
served
At daybreak the robins scatter
to their feeding grounds and are
rarely seen on farms east and west
of the Blue Ridge However, on two
warm mornings, January 81 and %,
they were feeding by the hundreds
in our pastures in the central part
of the Blue Ridge.
Whether robins in such great
numbers as above noted spend each
winter in the Blue Ridge is a qucs-
ton That many did so last winter
can be inferred from their appear
ance in our fields one warm day
last January At any rate, the
chances are that the first robins
that you sec this spring have not
flown up from the sunny South, but
have spent the winter in some
nearby mountain or swamp.
Frank Reeves,
Paris, Va.
NH~HF TIC