I also think that many of these redpolls are still actively moving. These birds may have come in, fed briefly and then taken off for some place a hundred miles away. While we often think of migration being in May and September, there probably isn't a single month of the year where at least some individuals of a few species are moving. I've certainly noticed actively migrating redpolls in the last week or so. I've seen flocks of redpolls still moving south along the North Shore of Lake Superior in February, while other species were moving north.
Chris Wood eBird & Neotropical Birds Project Leader Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York http://ebird.org http://neotropical.birds.cornell.edu On Wed, Jan 9, 2013 at 9:52 AM, Geo Kloppel <geoklop...@gmail.com> wrote: > Hi Laura, > > When gathered in large flocks they actually strike me as being _more_ > skittish; perhaps it's a compounding effect. Makes sense in a way. There may > be no predator around at the moment, but they know that by concentrating at > a rich food source in a landscape of scarcity they create a magnet for any > predators in the area. > > -Geo > > On Jan 9, 2013, at 9:14 AM, Laura Stenzler <l...@cornell.edu> wrote: > > Hi, > This morning there was a flock of at least 100 Redpolls in the trees near > our feeders. A few were at the feeders, but after sticking around for a few > minutes they alldisappeared. Here’s a question – why would they leave a > rich food source? Our feeders are full, there are 7 to choose from, and > they clearly are happy when they decide to land. I’ve seen this happen > before, when there is no obvious evidence (to me) of predators in the area. > Other birds keep happily visiting the feeders – chickadees, woodpeckers, > nuthatches, etc. There are other feeders at neighbors’ houses, close by. > > Any thoughts? > L > > -- > Cayugabirds-L List Info: > Welcome and Basics > Rules and Information > Subscribe, Configuration and Leave > Archives: > The Mail Archive > Surfbirds > BirdingOnThe.Net > Please submit your observations to eBird! > -- -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
