# Birds in Michigan **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 5, 2015, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/birds-in-michigan/716876 "2015-04-05T14:35:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2015, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/birds-in-michigan/716876/1 "2015-04-05T14:35:01Z")
So I am a very casual bird watcher( I watch the birds flitting around and digging in the grass when I am out in my yard smoking). Normally in Spring there are at least 2 dozen types I see fairly regularly, with some others more occasionally. But this year I am seeing almost entirely Robins. Probably 6 or 7 times more robins than all the other birds combined. Big fat ones. I’m not hearing much song variety either. Here in SE Michigan we have had 2 hard, much colder than average, winters back to back. Is that likely to have had an effect on the others? Killing them off or driving them to look for something warmer? Or is it probably just a territorial thing, and my yard is now the turf for some big mean robin gang? ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2015, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/birds-in-michigan/716876/2 "2015-04-05T15:23:24Z")
Could it be a migration thing? Robins _are_ the state bird. Maybe for a reason? ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2015, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/birds-in-michigan/716876/3 "2015-04-05T15:44:21Z")
the cardinals were singing their fool heads off this morning, and I awoke to the “rat-tat-tat-tat” of an asshole woodpecker hammering away at the rain gutter on my building. ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2015, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/birds-in-michigan/716876/4 "2015-04-06T16:42:39Z")
Robins _are_ an extremely common bird around here, but cardinals and blue jays hang out in our neighborhood as well. ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2015, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/birds-in-michigan/716876/5 "2015-04-06T16:49:27Z")
> [@wolfman](#): > > So I am a very casual bird watcher( I watch the birds flitting around and digging in the grass when I am out in my yard smoking). Normally in Spring there are at least 2 dozen types I see fairly regularly, with some others more occasionally. > > But this year I am seeing almost entirely Robins. … Tell us who else you’re used to seeing, and we might be able to offer better responses. (“Blue Jay numbers are currently in decline because of an increased use of KillALLTheThings ™ brand pesticide.”) ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2015, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/birds-in-michigan/716876/6 "2015-04-06T18:40:56Z")
Just the normal back yard birds. Sparrows, swallows, Starlings, finches, thrushes. More occasionally Jays, woodpeckers, Cardinals, Orioles etc. Don’t seem to see any of them, only Robins this year. And the Canadian shit factories overhead of course. ---
**Author:** ![wevets](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9a140/32.png) [@wevets](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wevets)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2015, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/birds-in-michigan/716876/7 "2015-04-06T19:09:07Z")
> [@wolfman](#): > > But this year I am seeing almost entirely Robins. Probably 6 or 7 times more robins than all the other birds combined. Big fat ones. I’m not hearing much song variety either. It’s not just Michigan - here in northern California, we’ve been seeing unusually large numbers of Robins in groups of hundreds at a time. And a relatively large number of Varied Thrushes too - a closely related bird - but nowhere near as many as the number of Robins. I have no idea what’s different about this year compared to last. Possibly availability of berries and bugs? Not sure of either the cause or how widespread this is, but if anyone’s curious, looking on [ebird](http://ebird.org/content/ebird/) may be helpful.