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Yesterday evening around dusk I watched hundreds and hundreds of birds flying over my house. What were they?

Many birds form flocks. Here, European Starlings fly in a flock at dusk. Photo by Ariel Leshinsky via Birdshare.
Many birds form flocks. Here, European Starlings fly in a flock at dusk. Photo by Ariel Leshinsky via Birdshare.

That depends on what they looked like! They could have been blackbirds, grackles, cowbirds, crows, nighthawks, robins, or any other number of species that flock. At the end of summer, when birds finish breeding, many species become more social and join flocks. In the evening, hundreds of them may travel toward roosts and spend the night together.

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American Kestrel by Blair Dudeck / Macaulay Library