Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire I just about 50 robins in my backyard

It is way to early for robins to come this far North .

You might be amazed to learn that robins may not migrate. They gather in flocks during the winter, which is how I see them here in Utah. Had a big one just two weeks ago - I guessed at somewhere between 75 and 100 birds.

They never left

Hundreds, if not thousands, in my immediate area this winter.

Mild winter and an abundance of juniper berries. No snow for weeks now, hardly been freezing at night so they can even get worms and bugs that are overwintering in the grass and thatch.

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It's about the feed.
If there are a lot of holly berries to be had, they stick around here, even in freezing weather.

They were eating apples in our flowering crabapple tree.

Yup. They eat all those things plus new tree buds in winter.

That’s funny Denny literally 5 min before I read yer post here I was hanging out w/ Samuel on the WMU campus and saw a huge flock of them. They were all over the ground and in crabapple trees.

I was trippin.

BFD. Ol' Mike saw a flock in the BILLIONS!!

https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/topics/19061507/1

I walked about 6 miles yesterday-there were many hundreds still flying west bound. Although the flocks are much smaller now, about three months and counting.

I suspect that you’re right, or right about what some do. I see them here all winter, on days when they’re able to feed on their favored earthworms. I have a lot of fruit-bearing trees, vines, and bushes in my yard, and they hit those pretty hard, both aloft where they’re not easily seen, and also on the fallen fruit while it lasts. My idea is that some may migrate far enough South to where the ground is unfrozen, and some may tough it out and live off soft mast and possibly body fat between thaws. 100 miles South of here, the ground is seldom frozen, and not for long. Wouldn't take them long to travel to where the earth is soft, or to return.

My sister who lives in downstate NY just texted me the other day about how many robins were around way early.

Birds wear down vests 24/7 and their cranked up metabolism inside that vest means cold isn’t usually a big problem.

As posted, food is the limiting factor, without it they burn out quick and can starve to death in just three or four days.

Speaking in generalities; robins are territorial bug and earthworm eaters in summer, winter they become fruit and berry eaters that travel in flocks. You’ll find them gathering in numbers where the food is, which differs from one year to the next.

Haven’t seen one Robin here this winter. Usually they show up in November.