American Robin Announcing the 10th Annual Winter Robin Round-Up! February 4 - 18, 2003 Yum Yum! This robin is enjoying tasty mealworms! Calling All Robins! Where do robins spend the winter, anyway? Let's find out! Before the spring migration begins this year, we'd like to know if you have robins over-wintering in your town. We hope you'll help with Journey North's Annual Winter Robin Round-Up! (See instructions below.) We've been receiving reports for weeks from astonished observers saying they've never seen so many robins. This year, cold dry conditions in the upper midwest and east may have sent some robins farther south--and in greater numbers--than normal. Here's a sample of what you're telling us: After a cold spell in late January, our friend Harlan Aschen wrote from Victoria, Texas, "Hundreds, thousands, millions of robins have been mentioned in some of the eye-witness accounts the past few days. Someone reported the most in two decades. Someone likened it to stories they had heard about the "rivers" of Passenger Pigeons a hundred years ago." He added, "It has been suggested by experienced birders that the drought in the midwest over to the northeast and southeast drove more robins southwestward to central Texas this winter." In Nashville, TN on January 25, Jeff saw "robins filling the trees everywhere!" A California reader reported "thousands of robins settled upon the trees, fields and lawns of my rural neighborhood. They appear to be arriving from the northwest." A Virgina reader reported "robins everywhere!" A Florida reader who hadn't seen a robin all winter suddenly "saw and heard at least hundreds in my oak trees and in the surrounding oaks in the neighborhood." On January 13, some Houston students saw well over 100 robins moving through their schoolyard. On January 19, after a freezing night in Orlando, Florida, Journey North's science writer Laura Erickson found hundreds of robins pigging out in fruit trees at Disney World. Now we need to hear from YOU, too. Join the fun and get on the map of our Winter Robin Round-Up! How to Participate 1. Today: Go outside and look for robins. Ask your neighbors if they have seen robins. Contact your friends and relatives in other parts of North America. Ask everybody you know to help you look for robins! Report Your Winter Robin Sightings to Journey North! 2. February 4-18: When you spot a robin, report your observations to Journey North. Important: Our goal is to show where robins are present in early February. This means that ANY robin seen during this time is considered a "winter" sighting. We will add your robin observations to the winter map whether they're seen alone (FIRST Robin) in groups (WAVE of Robins) singing (FIRST song), or OTHER Robin observations. Remember, you have until February 18th, 2003 to collect your sightings! 3. On February 18th: We'll post a map to show where robins are found spending the winter of 2003. We'll also give you a data summary so you can make your own map. 4. After February 18: Continue to watch for robins and help us track their spring migration. Here's how: Report the First Robin You SEE Report the First Robin You HEAR SINGING Report WAVES of Migrating Robins Report Your First EARTHWORM Report OTHER Robin Behaviors You Observe Thank you for your help! Try This! Journaling Question How do you think robins survive, stay warm, and find food when the ground and the air are frozen? How do you think they adapt when it gets cold in the south? Facebook Pinterest Twitter © 1997 – 2024 Journey North. All rights reserved.