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What are your largest flocks? (1 Viewer)

J

JeffMoh

Well-known member
I was wondering which are the largest flocks/groups of birds that you have seen.

My largest was 10,000 American Avocets at Bolivar, Texas, this March.

Other large flocks I've seen over the years:
3,000+ Snow Geese (Anahuac & Brazoria, Texas)
1,000+ Sandhill Cranes (Woodbridge Road, California)
600+ Cedar Waxwings (Pittsburg, California)
400+ Blue-winged Teal (Brazoria, Texas)
300-400 White Pelicans (Brazoria, Texas).

Jeff
 
I don't remember how many, nor did I count but most of North Norfolk's Pink-footed Geese crisscrossing the sky at sunset in Novemeber 95 was something I won't forget in a hurry.
 
Several million Starlings at Westhay Moor in Somerset is absolutely staggering.

Flock after flock estimated at 20000-plus rolls in and joins the mass orbiting the reedbeds, from every direction. At one point in addition to the main mass we could see thirty flocks coming in, each another 20K at least, rolling across the ground like big balls of smoke, looking thicker as they passed each other at different distances.... totally incredible.

Sparrowhawks, Merlins and even Buzzards trying to get a late takeaway were mere pinpricks to the numbers of Starlings. And the sound..... a massive rushing every time a flock comes near, and as they start to go down to roost that is enhanced by a crescendo of Starling conversation and a new incredible sight as bushes fur up with Starling bodies like iron filings sucked onto a magnet!

If you haven't been, go this winter.

John
 
500+ neotropical cormorants in the Amazon, all in the water
Purple martins in interior SP state (don't know how much)
 
nickderry said:
I don't remember how many, nor did I count but most of North Norfolk's Pink-footed Geese crisscrossing the sky at sunset in Novemeber 95 was something I won't forget in a hurry.
Click to expand...

hi there

The most I have seen are lots of Pink feet and Grey Lag Geese moving around, and feeding in the farmer's fields in Stirling and Aberdeen, Scotland. o:)

I also remember seeing a very large flock of Yellow Hammers one day, while out walking in the farming area in Falkirk, Scotland, Much more unusual, and it was something else :t:

Regards
Kathy
 
Seen 25,000 Cranes coming into roost in Hungary ,that was amazing sight to see and hear them calling ,when they were coming in low over the farmland certainly wont forget that.
 
I've seen three very large flocks, +/- 7,000 Snowgeese at Bosque del Apache, 3,000 Black-bellied Whistling Ducks coming in to "roost" (on the water) in Puerta Vallarta, and about 10,000 Oil Birds - those these were in smaller groups of hundreds leaving the cave in Venezuela - took several hours! All very memorable.
 
I like a good gull roost myself, I think as a spectacle they're really underrated. 15,000+ birds filling a relatively small water like Ogston Reservoir, becoming white blobs bobbing on the surface as the final light fades away is quite a wonderful peaceful thing to behold.
 
I have observed over one million Red-winged Blackbirds in the morning leaving their night-time roost in the cattails at Squaw Creek National Wildlife Refuge. It was a steady stream of birds flying out, the duration was perhaps fifteen (15) minutes.

Also, at Squaw Creek I have witnessed massive, clamoring flocks of Snow Geese on their stop-overs at the refuge. The number of geese I estimated at times was 400,000.

Another time in a havested corn field I saw about 150 Eastern Kingbirds feeding on the ground in the stubble. There must have been numerous food items that brought them together in such a numbers.
 
The Raven roost at Newborough on Anglesey is amazing as well, the winter I went there were about 2000 using the forest and to be close up to that many Ravens was just incredible.

John
 
Some that stand out.

Perhaps 10,000 or so mixed ducks flying in a tornadic cone (no, I'm not high) after being kicked up in Gray Lodge NWR by screaming kids in a school bus. They all flew in one direction and eventually landed.

A "Full Sky" of mixed geese and ducks at Sac NWR when eagles attack or everything is arriving or leaving. I've seen the sun darken from it.

1000 - 1500 Frigates off Biak Island at sunset.

150 or so insane Rufous Hummers at the only feeder in town inside a National Park in SE Alaska

One last. As a kid in NJ - during the fall - Red Winged Black Birds, Starlings, Common Grackles, and Crows would fly in a "Current" perhaps 50 feet wide over our house (heading south) for a full day.
 
I'm nearly sure that the Brazos Bend State Park CBC, in Texas, has listed ~1,000,000 individuals under the "blackbird species" listing in some years.

The liftoff of grackles, Starlings, blackbirds, and cowbirds in the morning at Brazos Bend in the winter is truly something to behold. The birds stream out of the trees in an ecstacy of noise, nearly constantly for up to an hour at times.

The nesting cliffs of Least, Crested, and Parakeet Auklets and puffins on St. Lawrence Island, Alaska is a real spectacle as well. A visit to other nesting islands in the northwest, full of Glaucous-winged Gulls, Black-legged Kittiwakes, Pelagic and Red-faced Cormorants, and Horned and Tufted Puffins is a really wonderful experience as well.

Steve in Houston
 
December 07: about 500'000 Bramblings in the forest nearby
February 99: about 5'000'000 Bramblings at Frick near Basel
In Hungary: an estimated 30'000 Cranes coming to their roost site

All very impressive sights. Also (not birds of course) on Borneo several 1'000'000 bats leaving a big cave in dawn. Black clouds like smoke leaving the cave (and being hunted by Peregrine and Bat Hawk).
 
Just seen the first of the big winter flocks of eurasian siskins, about 200 odd in the silver birch tree in my garden.
Have seen around 10,000 Common Cranes in lac d'Orient in France with the added attraction of a female wild boar and her 4 piglets in the middle of the squawking cranes.
 
One morning at Cape May there was a massive migration of American Robins. The CMBO estimated there were 1.25 million, though of course i didn't see them all.

I had a flock of 40,000 or so snow geese at Middle Creek in central PA. It sounded like freeway traffic.
 
I was asked this question by my grandson while watching thousands of waders swirling over the estuary at southport, 'why don't the birds bump into each other?'' said i would find out, any suggestions:smoke:
 
54rogan43, you might click here for one explanation which I found while "googling" collision avoidance (of) flocking birds.

Here is a quote from another article I found while "googling".

the article said:
Perhaps most puzzling is the strong impression of intentional, centralized control. Yet all evidence indicates that flock motion must be merely the aggregate result of the actions of individual animals, each acting solely on the basis of its own local perception of the world.
Click to expand...
From "Flocks, Herds and Schools" by Craig W. Reynolds

Here is one more excerpt from this article: http://creativelatitude.com/dots_market/dot_1105a.html
1. Homogeneity: Every bird in flock has same behavior model. The flock moves without a leader, even though temporary leaders seem to appear.
2. Locality: The motion of each bird is only influenced by its nearest flockmates. Vision is considered to be the most important senses for flock organization.
What this means is that the groups are homogeneous and they are local and therefore, three simple rules borrowed from nature observations are applied, the three "Flocking Rules":
1. Collision Avoidance: Avoid collision with nearby flockmates.
2. Velocity Matching: Attempt to match velocity with nearby flockmates.
3. Flock Centering: Attempt to stay close to nearby flockmates.
Applying the above rules to a group of similar birds (or fish), you can get behavior for the whole group.
• The bird will match velocity with neighboring birds
• The bird will move toward center of group of neighboring birds
 
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