Have never seen a Fieldfare before, either here in Perthshire or any time when we were living in SW England.

A couple of days ago was walking up to the nature reserve at the back of us and there was this incredible bird noise, with clouds of birds swooping round. Worked out they were after the Rowan berries – the trees have a huge amount of fruit on them this year. Identified them as Fieldfares through by bins when they descended on the Rowan tree in our garden. I reckon there must have been several thousand Fieldfares on the reserve, and a hundred or more on our one tree. They have now stripped all the available fruit and disappeared – took a bit less than a day.

Is this behaviour normal? Never seen it before – it was just like a locust attack

They are migratory and have probably just arrived from further north, bloody hungry.

http://www.rspb.org.uk/wildlife/birdguide/name/f/fieldfare/index.aspx

Thanks geoffj – so kind of normal except for the sheer numbers and the fact that I have never seen this in the 3 years we have been up here

Yeah, that's pretty normal behaviour, although 100+ on a single rowan is a lot- it must be a pretty big one. They're not uncommon to see at this time of year, moving south from the northern continent, especially if there's a cold snap.

Whilst the ornothologists are here, perhaps you could answer a simple question; what are the birds of prey that 'hover' mostly seen above motorways and big roads, as opposed to the one's that can't hover? Hope that makes sense, and no one mention helicoptors btw! 😉

Sorry for slight hijack OP

AFAIK the only birds that can "hover" are kestrels

Now, back to the Fieldfares – anyone else seen these kinds of numbers in one place, and how do they all know to descend on this one small area a couple of hundred metres square

Kestrels – cool, thanks capt – now I don't have to ask whoever I'm in the car with, every time I see that, I can be smug instead and tell them! 😉

Captain, they flock naturally. Chances are they haven't actively targetted that area, they are just looking for somewhere to roost and eat. They'll move on to somewhere else once the berries are gone.

Lots of birds can hover, but the ones you tend to see are kestrels and buzzards in that situation.

Are Kes

We usually get masses of fieldfares in the field behind out house but this year there is sugar beet in the field so we probably won't see them. They periodically come in and strip our crab apple tree.

It's apparently a bumper year for fieldfares and redwings coming over from Scandinavia. Seen a few large flocks of the latter but no fieldfares yet.

Lots of birds can hover, but the ones you tend to see are kestrels and buzzards in that situation

Sorry have to disagree. Kestrels have the ability to hover over a fixed spot with rapid wing beating. Other raptors and corvids can glide or ride thermals without wing beats, but not without movement through the air

anyone else seen these kinds of numbers in one place, and how do they all know to descend on this one small area a couple of hundred metres square

Migrating birds normally travel the same route each year. One possibility for more in this one spot being unusual is strong winds. If a largish flock has been blown a little off course they will still go for food. Maybe there wasn't much of a choice around so all went to the one smaller area and so looked like a much bigger flock as they were not so spread out.
This is speculation but does happen sometimes.

Captain, I asked 'what is the same size as a buzzard but hovers' to a colleague who works for RSPB in Edinburgh. Her response was ' a buzzard!'

that's good enough for me.

geoffj, don't know what she does at the RSPB, but if she's seen a buzzard hover I've seen pigs fly. Circle yes, hover no. To quote the Raptor Foundation website

The Kestrel is a true falcon, but it is unusual in its flying style & prey. Like most birds of prey, its preferred method of finding prey is still-hunting, when hunting in flight it is unique in being the only bird of prey to be able to hover. Kestrels "hover" facing into the wind, so they are moving through the air, but staying stationary with respect to the ground, this is called "wind-hovering

I think I know where geoffj is coming from on this, I've seen buzzards and hen harriers use strong headwinds to very briefly give the appearance of hovering for a few seconds- nowhere as near as elegant or refined as a kestrel but actually quite impressive in bigger birds.