Date: 02/17/2004

Number: 1

I am seeing thousands. I was in the Cocoa area, just west of I-95 where I found literally thousands of robins eating every berry they could get their beaks on. Not being a plant person I cannot tell you what the berries were, except to say they were red! They were so interested in eating I could walk among them and not disturb them.

Large flocks have been flying over my house. Two weeks ago they came and stripped my bayberry trees of every single berry. They were like drunken soldiers flying into the trees and grabbing at anything they could cling to to get to berries. Sometimes they were upside down. It didn't matter as long as they could get to the berries.

The flocks fly south and north and sometimes west so I don't believe they are migrating north just yet. I think they are just flying around to find every available berry there is. The count taken on Dec 28 as compared to last years Christmas bird count was down several hundred for our specific 15 mile radius in Daytona. But, the first cold front of the season didn't come through until January and that is when I noticed a huge difference in the numbers. The flocks flying over my house usually consist of 3 or 400 birds at a time. We are chilly here but thus far we have not had the record colds originally predicted for Florida.

When the skies are devoid of robins I will know spring is officially started here. I will let you know.

Ormond Beach, FL

Latitude: 29.3 Longitude: -81.2

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