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Robins Flock By Millions To Old Tampa Bay

Tribune photo by JAY NOLAN

Dave Kandz and other birdwatchers climbed to the top of the Mercury Insurance building in Clearwater to watch hundreds of thousands of robins leave their winter roost.

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By YVETTE C. HAMMETT

yhammett@tampatrib.com

Published: February 23, 2009

CLEARWATER - A low, dense mangrove forest tickling the western edge of Old Tampa Bay hides what could be the nation's most populated winter roost for spring's icon - the American robin.

Just as the sun began to peek over the eastern horizon on a recent brisk morning, hundreds of thousands of dark dots peppered the air, wrapping around the nine-story Mercury Insurance building on Ulmerton Road.

For 20 minutes or more, the red-breasted birds poured out of their winter snuggling ground, heading north and south for yet another day of berry gorging.

"You don't really get a sense of the immensity of this until you get up here with the birds all around you," said birder Dave Kandz, looking through binoculars from the Mercury Insurance rooftop.

"These are protected coastal wetlands providing a winter haven for robins from all over the country," said Kandz, conservation committee chairman for the St. Petersburg Audubon Society. "So, not only are they protecting our shoreline for us, they are providing a home for the entire nation's robins. Without them, people might wake up in spring and find the robins are gone."

Local birders first documented the massive roost during the Great Backyard Bird Count in 2007, when they estimated nearly 2 million robins had crowded into a corner of the Weedon Island Preserve, owned by the state of Florida and managed by Pinellas County.

The robins descend into the mangrove forest each year as winter turns nasty up north. While they disperse during the day, they congregate in the roost at night to keep warm, said St. Petersburg birder and environmental activist Lorraine Margeson, who regularly participates in the bird counts.

Weather and food supply typically determine where American robins winter, said Rob Fergus, senior scientist for the National Audubon Society's Urban Bird Conservation Division near Philadelphia.

This year's backyard bird count, during which birders pick a particular area in their communities to count every type of bird they see, took place Feb. 13 to 16.

Margeson's husband, Don, estimated some 300,000 robins flew from Weedon Island during the count - and at least twice that many when he watched them fill the sky around the Mercury building Friday. The great food source is a likely reason, at least this year, Fergus said.

GREAT BACKYARD BIRD COUNT

To find out which birds are hanging out where this winter, go to

www.birds.cornell.edu and click on "The Great Backyard Bird Count."

Reporter Yvette C. Hammett can be reached at (813) 657-4532.

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