Expert: Roger Lederer - 1/18/2012

Question
Hello,

I am not a bird person, so I was wondering if it is possible that birds have a flight path on their way south for the winter.  I am in an apartment and every few days a large group of birds, of different types per group (I don't know what kind, some groups are large birds, some small) seem to fly toward my apartment and then over it.  

They are all going in the same direction. Southward.  And on their way, they all stop on this particular tree in front of my window across the street.  I don't know why.  There are other trees that they could pick, others that seem equally as nice, but they always congregate on this particular tree.

Once they finish with this tree, perhaps for conversation or just to rest, they then fly over my building.  I have never seem anything like this in my life.  It looks like I am on a major bird highway and I get to see their flight path every few days or so.

Does this make sense?

Answer
This is typical behavior. They are not migrating this time of year. They are just "roosting." They flock together in the winter for the purposes of finding food and protection from predators. They establish a bit of a routine by hanging out in a particular tree or bunch of trees and stay there for several hours or overnight. The next day they do it again. Crows, blackbirds, starlings, pigeons commonly show this behavior in cities and suburbs. Once migration season starts they will break up these groups and migrate (in those that do migrate) and won't be in such large groups until next fall.