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Re: Robins as ariel acrobats/meteor shower



Folks,

I was entertained by a flock of robins along the Eno River towards the back of Penny's Bend Preserve yesterday. They were flying back and forth to the river onto some floating debris and getting drinks from the river. The typical habit was to land in the trees 30-40 foot above and trade places with other robins as they limb hopped towards the water then repeat the entire process over several times.

Also watched the meteor shower yesterday day morning it was a pretty good one. I have an account of the same shower, but a great deal more intense from November 13, 1833 by my great great great great great great uncle James Emmitt if anyone would be interested in reading it. Its from the book "Life and Reminiscences of the Hon. James Emmitt" .


Randy Emmitt Rougemont, NC

At 11:18 PM 11/20/02 -0500, Mike wrote:

For the past two evenings, I've been amazed by huge swirling flocks of
birds that rarely stay still flying in weird, very fast flights over the
MetroSport parking lot in Durham. When I first saw them from a distance I
thought maybe they were starlings, but they were flying almost like swifts.
Their flight patterns are very fast, varied in tempo, and seemingly
nonsensical. Perhaps most nonsensical is that I realized that they're
common American Robins. For somebody used to perceiving "Turdus Migratoris"
as ubiquitous, fat- bodied lawn ornaments, it was quite amusing to see
hundreds and hundreds of them cavorting at high speed in loopy, zooming,
random flights from tree to tree. Sometimes they change trees seemingly all
at once, and sometimes lone birds zoom around like rockets. If you know how
a cat acts around catnip, well these robins are acting like they've found
birdnip. It looked like a scene right straight out of Hitchcock's "The
Birds". I wondered if they were catching airborne insects like martins, but
think they're probably just having fun or responding to some unfathomable
robin instinct.

Speaking of downtown Durham bird sightings, I've been routinely seeing
Kestrels along the power lines by the Durham Freeway. And last week a
red-shouldered hawk rested on top of one of the shiny newer Duke research
buildings long enough for a friend to get a grainy digital shot of it. All
this just goes to show that it pays to be alert even when coming and going
to work. While none of these might be remarkable, their settings and their
antics make them fun.

Mike Swaim
Duke, by way of western Orange Co., NC




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Randy Emmitt Rougemont, NC

Randy Emmitt Photography
http://www.rlephoto.com
Carolina Butterfly Society webmaster
http://www.carolinabutterflysociety.org/