Large Flock of Robins Lands in Backyard - Real Snowbirds

Video of Hundreds of Robins Descending on our Backyard Birdbath

We're ready for Screech Owl season, but in the meantime we have other feathered friends to entertain us. The second Large flock of Robins arrived on January 11th - very thirsty and hot they hit the birdbaths in waves - literally drinking and splashing the water down a few inches. Hundreds of Robins were in the trees, but I couldn't get a good video shot of that spectacle. Got a lot of video action at the birdbath. It is quite unusual for that many birds to share the water, however I think these flocks just hit town and needed hydration! We've had many days with temperatures in the low 80s lately - very warm in Florida so far this winter. This is the first time hundreds of Robins have descended on our backyard in winter. In fact, we rarely ever see Robins at all!  A flock of Brown-headed cowbirds and common Grackles arrived about the same time as the Robins and take over the birdbath toward the end of the video.

I'm not sure what the impact of the unusual warm weather will have on the Screech Owl breeding timing if any. Anecdotal experience is that they nested about 3 to 4 weeks earlier in early February during the cold winter of 2010-11 than last years warm winter in which they nested the second week of March. We'll see.