WINTERING ROBINS AND STARLINGS

     It is exciting to me to see flocks of beautiful American robins and starlings eating berries or fruits from deciduous trees, shrubs and vines in suburban areas in winter.  Though these lovely species are not related, they have some characteristics in common, which brings them together in shared habitats, at times.  Both kinds are adaptable, therefore successful in human-made habitats, making them more interesting.  Both kinds are about the same size, and attractive.  Both feed on berries and fruits in winter and spend winter nights in densely-needled coniferous trees, including those planted on lawns.  Those trees protect the birds from predators and cold wind.  But, some of each species are preyed on by Cooper's hawks, sharp-shinned hawks and house cats.  

     We enjoy the combined beauties and activities of robins and starlings in mixed groups only when they are feeding together on berries, and the fruits of crab apples and Bradford pears in suburbs in winter.  Then they are another bit of nature in abundance, right at home. 

     Wintering gangs of robins and starlings also ingest berries and fruits they find fermenting slightly on the ground.  Birds of both kinds move across the ground, eating until full.  Then they fly into trees to rest and digest, or they drink and bathe in puddles of rain or melted snow, when and where available.

     Flocks of robins and starlings also move across short-grass lawns, when they are snow-free, in search of invertebrates and seeds among the grasses.  But when those lawns are again covered by snow, the birds go back to consuming berries and fruits.  

     New Holland, Pennsylvania, where I live, has up to a hundred American robins wintering in it, every year, because of the abundantly planted berry and fruit-bearing plants, and planted evergreen trees.  Late in the afternoon each day, after feeding all that day, the robins perch high in certain deciduous trees.  But just before sunset, like clockwork, they plunge swiftly into the depths of rows and clumps of conifers where they will be relatively warm and safe all night.           

    Starlings, too, spend winter nights in coniferous trees.  Spectacular flocks of starlings circle over their needled beds, time after time, and several starlings drop into the conifers with each pass over them until all those birds are snuggled deep among needled boughs.  

    Winter gatherings of the attractive robins and starlings are exciting to experience on suburban lawns in winter.  They bring a bit of the wild close to home.

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