The birds sounded different. A light rain had been falling for a while and the din began to rise as the morning progressed. Soon it was loud enough to drag me outside in the chilling wind. Robins were EVERYWHERE.
I grabbed my binoculars from the car and scanned the end of the street. Hundreds of Robins filled an oak tree. Then another. Then all of them. Scanning closer to our yard I discovered dozens of Cedar Waxwings, first from the yard this year, staying just out of the craze of feeding Robins.
Our street has numerous Camphor trees scattered about and the birds were making fast work of the berries still hanging in most of them. The ground underneath these trees was also being carefully attended by Robins gathering up the fallen bounty.
They moved into our backyard and began the berry picking process there. I managed a few OK shots of the birds in the close trees but the true spectacle is hard to catch on film, digital or otherwise, as they are obscured by branches or diving through the trees so fast they become a blur.
The noise chased the Goldfinches and Mourning Doves to cover as the Robins barely noticed me stepping out onto the deck just feet away. At one point a bird appeared on the roof 3 feet from my face before it saw me and quickly hopped toward the Cherry Laurels. I was concerned about all of the berries still on the trees as they had begun to bloom again already.
Situation fixed. Very few berries remain on any of our trees. By 10:30 AM, 2 hours after the frenzy began, the Robins moved on. Probably in search of a new feeding table.
The only more interesting sight was that of a pair of Wood Ducks that braved the swirl of Robins to land in the neighbor's oak tree. The female seemed to be trying to grab something from the tree and then flew to the next oak to join her mate.
Now things should be about ready for the Goldfinches to arrive in larger numbers.
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