Journey North Robin Migration

American Robin

FINAL NEWS FROM THE NORTHERN OBSERVATION POSTS:
May 6, 2008

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Prediction Logsheet >>

Kris Owens: Homer, AK
No robins as of May 2, but on the weekend (May 3 and 4) I heard a robin singing. They are definitely here!

Stan White: Homer, AK
May 3: On my morning walk, I heard a lone robin singing, not very eloquently. . .seemingly just getting his act together, but very definitely the first robin song!

It's been a cool spring; so far the temperatures have been below freezing every night. Most days have been overcast, with temperatures struggling to get into the 50's. But I'm sure we've turned the corner now, and the robin's song is all the proof I need. Now we will look forward to the chorus daily increasing in number and filling our mornings and evenings with their songs. It's been great following the migration on the robin maps right up to the point that we hear them outside our windows; that's one of the nice things about being at the end of the road. Oh, and I also saw a large flock of Canada Geese (about 300) flying toward the north this morning. Happy spring!

Diane Sickles: Anchorage, AK
I would LOVE to tell you the robins are singing and bop-bop-bopping around Anchorage, but if you’ve read the news, you would know that April was the snowiest on record and April 26 we had another record breaking snowfall of 10-24 inches, depending on where you live in town! I spent the week of April 18-26 on a wonderful camping trip with my husband and friends from Austria in southern Utah and northern Arizona. The robins were everywhere in the campground at Zion National Park and singing up a storm! Here in Anchorage it was fairly nice, warm, and much of the snow melted. But then the storm started in and what a dump of snow we had! We’ve had some days above freezing this week, so at this point the snow is just about gone on the flat areas, leaving the usual piles. I haven’t seen or heard a robin yet—if they are smart, they stopped off somewhere warmer for a couple more weeks. The chickadees and redpoles have been feasting at my birdfeeder at home.

Shirley Bell: Winnipeg, MB, Canada
For the last fortnight the temperature has been sub-zero Celius every night and even some days. I think the robins departed for houses with thick spruce trees and feeders,because they weren't going to get a worm out of the ground around here. To make matters worse, we only had 3mm. of rain all April and an average temp of -3 C. A glimmer of hope came on Sunday, we had wet snow/rain and a cheerful sight of approximately 40 redwinged blackbirds rustling through the snow finding old seeds.

Margot Hervieux: Grande Prairie, AB
As of May 2, I still haven't heard a robin despite the warm weekend that finally melted all the new snow. I'll keep listening.

Bruce Bennett, Whitehorse, YT
I saw my first robin of the year May 1 in Carcross (about 40 miles south of Whitehorse). It was also the first day that Jukka (the fellow that does all our bird counts in the southern Yukon – and spends everyday all day bird-watching) saw his first Yukon robin of the year and also heard it singing. So I would put yesterday as the wave and the first song.

I heard a robin singing in my yard this on May 2 and saw another. I haven’t heard about flocks of robins yet (some years flocks of 300 or more may be reported on spring migration) but now that much of the snow is gone from the valley bottom, birds are beginning to spread out. The lakes are still frozen and the hills and mountains are still covered in snow except for the south-facing slopes, but it is only starting to get dark at 11 pm and starting to get light at 5 am so I suspect the snow will start disappearing quickly.