Songbirds- weird

[polishchickens111]

I was free ranging the chickies today and heard a great squeaking noise. I looked up and saw hundreds of birds flying around in this huge ivy-covered tree in my yard. It was NUTS. They would all fly in together, and then more would come, and they would flap around in the leaves, doing who-knows-what, and then a great bunch would fly away and land in my neighbor's tree, which has no leaves, and once they left it looked like the tree was deserted, but then an even bigger bunch would fly away. Then they came back and repeated the process. Eventually they all ended up in my neighbor's tree. I mean it when I say HUNDREDS. I get songbirds but usually not this many. And not in winter. Now, after half an hour, they are ALL GONE.



Weird, huh?

They were black, but not making crow noises, and not that big. Blackbirds or starlings or grackels (sp?) , maybe.

 

[Ole and Lena]

that's how they migrate. Red winged blackbirds, and Grackles, sometimes mixed fly in swirling flocks like that to confuse predators. I live near marshland and it's not uncommon to see THOUSANDS at once in a big swirling flock. Looks like smoke on the horizon and sounds like a brass band when they get close.

Sparrows, starlings and other non-migratory small birds will also do this in winter traveling from concentrated food sources such as feedlots or crop residue to roosting areas in heavy cover or abandoned buildings.

 

[annageckos]

Grackles, starlings and red winged blackbirds will travel like that. I have seen hundreds of grackle this year going from tree to tree at the edge of the woods. Once I had to stop the car in the middle of the road because there was a flock of thousands of red winged blackbirds. We were in farm/wooded area. They flew low across the road going from one field to another. We couldn't see a thing though them there were so many. It was really neat to see so many at once.

 

[itsy]

Reminds me of this amazing video!!!! These are starlings in a murmuration.

 

[polishchickens111]

Quote:

Oh wow! That is AMAZING! Thanks for the info everyone.