What's a flock of robins doing in Minnesota

[question everything]

on a snowy cold - below 0 - day in February?

We don't have robins in the spring, barely one sighting. I wonder whether they are intimidated by all the squirrels and the chipmunks, the blue jays and the cardinals that are roaming the yard and, yes, are well fed. And there are plenty of wriggly worms in our flower bed.

In the winter we have a heated water bath that everyone comes to drink - more than to splash. But imagine my surprise when I just saw about six robins all sipping from the water.

We finally warmed up to 0 now, and it has been snowing, lightly, all morning. Where do they come from?

[vireo]

1. They may be few and far between, but they're still around

I found a small flock in central Madison on Saturday. Typically they can be found feeding on crabapples or some fruit-bearing shrub which has retained its berries. Open water is also an attractant.

Here is a snippet from Minnesota's Christmas Bird Count of 2005-06 to show you their relative abundance. Note that they outnumbered Red-breasted Nuthatches. Number of counts found on is followed by total number of birds.

Horned Lark 36 3,902
Black-capped Chickadee 68 17,389
Boreal Chickadee 6 42
Tufted Titmouse 4 19
Red-breasted Nuthatch 52 2,341
White-breasted Nuthatch 68 3,184
Brown Creeper 42 138
Carolina Wren 5 5
Golden-crowned Kinglet 8 16
Eastern Bluebird 10 59
Townsend’s Solitaire 2 0
Hermit Thrush 2 2
American Robin 40 2,366
Varied Thrush 8 7
Gray Catbird 1 1
European Starling 64 25,844
http://www.rohair.com/CBC/ref/mn/mn_CY106.pdf

[question everything]

2. Thank you. Interesting

now, if they will also hand around during the spring...

[vireo]

3. I saw a flock of about a dozen during a blizzard on Friday

But this report from a few miles further north is mind boggling:

Subject: HUGE number of robins yesterday - Dane Co.
From: Madison Audubon Society <masoffice AT mailbag.com>
Date: Mon, 05 Mar 2007 15:41:32 -0600

A HUGE number of robins was reported to our office today by Everett
Yost, who lives in far NW Dane County in the town of Roxbury. He and his
grandkids were out sledding an hour before dusk last night when they
noticed what looked to them at first like bats flying and darting near
treetop level. As they continued to watch, the low sun lit and
intensified the birds' orange breasts as more and more came in to roost
along the creek, and they realized they were robins.

Mr. Yost estimated the numbers of robins to be in the TENS OF THOUSANDS,
similar to the large flocks of blackbirds he was more familiar with. The
birds were all coming from the west into the vegetation along a small
creek to roost for the night.
http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/WISC.html#1173130353