Tuesday, March 09, 2004
8:45 AM
Twitchers watch robin served rare
Sparrow hawks hunt insects, mammals, birds and reptiles
Birdwatchers from all over Britain who gathered in Grimsby to catch sight o=
f
a rare American robin were horrified to see her eaten by a passing
sparrowhawk.
They were still setting up their cameras when the predator swooped down fro=
m
a row of drab factories and warehouses on an industrial estate.
The young bird, from the southern US, "didn't really live to enjoy her
moment of fame," a twitcher told the Guardian.
The robin's vivid red breast made her an obvious candidate for a lunch date=
.
"It was a terrible moment," Graham Appleton, of the British Trust for
Ornithology, which had spread news of the bird's arrival, told the
newspaper.
Long-distance travels
But the trust's migration watch organiser Dawn Balmer was more
philosophical.
AMERICAN ROBIN
Scientific name: Turdus migratorius
Average size: 21.5 cm
Lives: Southern, central and eastern US
Eats: Insects, fruit, worms
"Most of these rare visitors eventually succumb anyway to cold weather or a
lack of food, if not predation," she told the paper.
The robin, whose scientific name Turdus migratorius derives from its
long-distance travels within America was probably blown across the Atlantic
after being "caught up in a jetstream", Mr Appleton added.
A member of the thrush family, with oily-black wings and tail, American
robin are as big as British blackbirds.
Pasted from <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/3545679.stm>
I thought you would find this interesting!
Martyn
Redmond
Washington
http://www.naturesound.org
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