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I finally got down to Jeff City to see the Robin roost phenomenon. Lots of Grackles, Red-wings, tons of Starlings and a serious abundance of Robins. Saw quite a few Rusty Blackbirds and a flock of Cedar Waxwings also. I was also interested in the number of Hawks in the area, apparently zeroing in on the abundance of potential food-items. I saw Coopers, Kestrels and Red-tails, but most striking was a stunning dark-phase Rough-legged. This bird confused me at the time - I have only seen pale phase Rough-legs in the past and when I saw this bird approaching my first thought was of Zone-tailed. When it turned I saw a bird fitting all the salient points of Sibley's illustration of an adult, male, dark-phase Rough-legged, but I didn't see the uppersurface. I think part of my confusion is that there was also a dark phase Harlan's present, since I also saw a dark-phase Buteo which lacked the broader blackish band near the end of the tail. Not what I would have thought of as typical Rough-legged habitat. Anyway, certainly a spectacle worth viewing. The roosting birds are spread out over a large area, but the biggest concentrations seemed to be just west of 179 on W. Edgewood. There is a small parking lot on the south side of Edgewood at this point. Chris Corben [log in to unmask] www.hoarybat.com __________________________________________________ * Audubon Society of Missouri's * * Wild Bird Discussion Forum * *------------------------------------------------* * To unsubscribe send the message * * SIGNOFF MOBIRDS-L * * to [log in to unmask] * * To subscribe send the message * * SUBSCRIBE MOBIRDS-L your name * * to [log in to unmask] * *------------------------------------------------* * To access the list archives from July 2002 on: * * http://po.missouri.edu/archives/mobirds-l.html * * * * To access the Audubon Society of Missouri Web * * Site: http://www.mobirds.org * ##################################################