Date: 02/15/2009

Number: 1

A large wave of American Robins flying overhead at a fairly high altitude, loosely grouped with 20-30 birds landing in and around my yard. I counted upwards of ten thousand birds from my back yard which was only a fraction of the birds observed. The wave passed overhead without any diminishment in density for 20-30 minutes then tapered off.

I doubted myself at first regarding what species I was observing but after seeing so many birds coming out of the wave I realized that they were Robins. The flight pattern was loosely knit, unlike Starlings which tend to fly together and change direction together in a tight formation. I didn't observe any other birds than Robins coming out of the formation.

As for the numbers, I live on the Rogue River where it flows through the narrowing west end of the Rogue Valley. This gives me good reference points with mountains on the north and south sides. The wave was traveling up the valley in a northwesterly direction. The birds were loosely congregated but consistently spaced. I started by roughly counting the birds in a band from left to right in a specific zone which amounted to approx. 200 birds. I then focused on a specific bird just entering the zone and when I watched the bird leave the zone I would switch to another bird entering the zone and press a hand counter each time I did this. Five clicks equal to one thousand birds. This was how I arrived at the figure of ten thousand.

In all actuality there where many more than I counted due to the fact that I started my observation with the wave already in progress and watched the wave well after I quit counting. The wave lasted for over a half an hour. I felt particularly blessed observing the wave of Robins as this was my first time seeing this fabulous sight.

Grants Pass, OR

Latitude: 42.6 Longitude: -123.6

Observed by: Scott
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