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roosting kinglets



This evening I went looking for the wintering Pacific slope Flycatcher
just as it was getting dark and the Western horizon was beginning to look
leaden and wintry. No luck with the empid (I've seen them often in
California) but I did see a heart-warming sight. I was looking up in a
smallish (dogwood?) tree which had lots of tangled, dead twigs in it. As I
watched three or four tiny birds flew in and without any ceremony lined
themselves up in the thickest, darkest part of the dead matter. It ws dark
enough by now that it was very hard to make out any details, but the
high-pitched trilling, and small sze made them seem like Golden Crowned
Kinglets. Once settled, they refused to budge. I examined the huddled
group from every corner, and they were close enough that if I had jumped I
could have touched them. But they had hunkered down for the night, their
feathers fluffed. Eventually I did see the golden crown on one of them. 
	I have heard of communal roosting, and it makes much sense that
small land-birds should do this to take advantage of each others' bodies
to get through winter nights, but I had never actually seen small birds
fly in and arrange themselves into a roosting formation and then become
oblivious to the world as they fall asleep. It was marvellous. Does anyone
know if all small landbirds roost in groups, huddling against each other,
or only some species? 

*****************************************************
SHANTANU PHUKAN
Lecturer in Urdu-Hindi & Indian Literature
University of N. Carolina, Chapel Hill
Curriculum in Asian Studies
Alumni Hall 413C
Chapel Hill, N.C. 27599

phukan@email.unc.edu
919-962-6825
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