The other day I had an amazing wildlife experience! I was headed home from work when I drove past an area when a bunch of robins were eating. Of course, as I drove by, I disrupted them and off they flew. My first thought was that I wished I had noticed them before driving past and scaring them away, but then I got to wondering if they might just quickly come on back. The road I was on is relatively busy (by rural area standards) and if they were really terribly frightened by traffic, they wouldn’t be there at all. I also know that robins tend to be pretty cheeky birds (know your subject), so I decided to go back. As I suspected, the birds were back down on the ground eating again.

At first, I parked across the road from them, which they didn’t seem to mind at all. I put the telephoto lens on the camera and took quite a few shots of various birds. It was interesting to note the differences in the markings on several of the birds, and the differences in coloration between the males and the females. The other thing I noticed was that unless it was a large, loud truck, the birds didn’t fly off if traffic went by on my side of the road, only on their side of the road. But as soon as the traffic went by, they came right back. I had gotten quite a few photos from the opposite side of the road, so I decided to try to get closer. The next time a vehicle came along and scared them off, I started my truck and drove across and parked near where they had been feeding.

It took them a little bit longer to come back down, but they did, and before long they were eating happily, and pretty much ignoring me. I sat there through numerous cars and trucks going by and the birds taking off, but each time they came back down, they seemed less concerned about me. The longer I quietly sat there, the braver the robins got, and several of them came within a few feet of me and the truck while they hopped around looking for something edible. I could have sat there all afternoon (I did sit there for over an hour), but eventually either the grub (perhaps they were eating grubs!) ran out or the flock leader decided it was time to move on, but suddenly for no apparent reason they all headed off into the woods. I waited for about 15 minutes, but they didn’t come back.

Robins are a migratory species of bird, but in this area we have them all year long. We tend not to see them as much in the winter months, but they are around, and roosting in large groups. I suspect this was a roosting group that was moving through the area when they spotted something good to eat. I’m not sure what they were eating, but they did seem to be enjoying it. I totally enjoyed the experience and I was lucky enough to have my photo gear with me so that I could shoot some pictures!