Spring 2001 Table of Contents

Record Robins Eat Surplus Red Delicious

A record high number of robins were observed during the last annual Christmas bird count of the Yakima Valley chapter of the Aubudon Society, likely due to two factors.

First, the Yakima area enjoyed an unusually mild winter, perhaps enticing more robins to stay around rather than migrating further south.

But the other reason may be the clincher. A market surplus of Red delicious apples were left unpicked on commercial orchard trees and the robins were gorging themselves on the fruit! A steady food source is more often what draws or keeps animals in any given area, and the all-you-can-eat buffet of unwanted apples was probably a better bet for the robins than moving south.

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