By Charlie Fineran

Hi Everyone:

Was out and about Dec. 31, 2023 just looking around. First, took a nice slow drive through the mucklands of Allamuchy & Independence Townships focusing my attention into the large drainage ditches and at the same time perusing the farm and sod fields adjacent to same. Looking closely into the tree branches for any movements of small birds. A little later in the day took a ride along the Paulinskill along Sipley Road and then Gwinnup Road. I make these trips periodically as they cover many diverse habitats, meaning possibilities of seeing more types of wildlife. Today’s visits produced some interesting photos of small birds and several squirrel encounters, I know, we all see squirrels, lots of times – BUT, they do give us some cute photos! Another common bird I came across today was the American Robin, BUT, keep in mind, during the winter months in the North, they are not seen as often as during the summer months!! I have copied and pasted the following info explaining the explanation to that statement.

***We do get a lot of questions from people surprised by seeing American Robins in winter. But although some American Robins do migrate, many remain in the same place year-round. Over the past 10 years, robins have been reported in January in every U.S. state, except Hawaii, (see map) and in all of the southern provinces of Canada.  As with many birds, the wintering range of American Robins is affected by weather and natural food supply, but as long as food is available, these birds are able to do well for themselves by staying up north.  One reason why they seem to disappear every winter is that their behavior changes. In winter robins form nomadic flocks, which can consist of hundreds to thousands of birds. Usually these flocks appear where there are plentiful fruits on trees and shrubs, such as crabapples, hawthorns, holly, juniper, and others. 

When spring rolls around, these flocks split up. Suddenly we start seeing American Robins yanking worms out of our yards again, and it’s easy to assume they’ve “returned” from migration. But what we’re seeing is the switch from being nonterritorial in the winter time to aggressively defending a territory in advance of courting and raising chicks. This behavioral switch is quite common in birds***.

Enjoy Your Open Space

Charlie Fineran