🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <785ouh$baa$1@clarknet.clark.net>, MrKablooey� wrote:
>Driving home on the BW parkway (295 South) near Cheverly/Bladensburg exit
>(rt 202) there are thousands, if not tens of thousands, of BIRDS flying
>overhead and sitting in the trees.  Alfred Hitchcock would be PROUD (if not
>outright frightened) by the amount of birds that can be seen.  It's usually
>around 5:30PM that I pass them.  They made a recent reappearance and I
>haven't seen them since last year but they're there every year.  Anybody
>have a clue as to WHY they pick that particular area to congregate?  It's
>right before the exit that takes you to the Safeway in Cheverly.


I think they are starlings, and I enjoyed the spectacle myself
when I used to drive that way home from work. I'm crossposting
this to rec.birds to see if we can get further enlightenment.
(The location mentioned is in the Washington, D.C. suburbs.)

I recall reading an article in the science section of the NY
Times once in which an ornithologist was quoted as saying
that these massings were, in effect, a sort of avian cocktail
party.

-- 
packer@clark.net
http://www.clark.net/pub/whatnews/whatnews.html