The Canadian geese fly in
every direction here in the fall! I think they are much more focused on following the grain harvest
north. Then they are everywhere thru the winter, it seems.
marshallsmyth said:
In Montana when I lived there, at the University I used to see a Robin that was different than all Robins I've ever seen. This one had an almost black brown breast instead of that normal orangish red. None of the other Robins seemed to notice the difference though. Other than that it was a normal Robin.
Here we have some that stay all winter, but the numbers do increase about now, and are.
Marshall, you must have had the Townsend's Solitaire in the Montana mountains. They seem like such a special bird to me - maybe just because they act like their much more common cousins, the robins. But, the Townsend's Solitaire is kind of a ghost gray and, tho' I don't remember ever seeing them other than in pairs, they are very much a
hidden forest bird. Here is what "All About Birds" says about them:
"A long-tailed gray bird of the high western mountains, the Townsend's Solitaire descends in the winter to lower elevations where it feeds almost exclusively on juniper berries."
I didn't know that was what they were doing in the juniper forests of the high desert. I guess I'd never hung out there long enuf to figure out they were eating berries. Also, the birds probably weren't interested in
hanging out with me long enuf for me to figure out what was on their menu
.
There are other thrushes, also. Of course, the bluebirds
. I have seen the Varied Thrush around. Now there is one strange looking "robin!"
Steve
