I have had a number of inquiries by phone and email regarding the heavy, late snowfall that took place in the Adirondack Mountains over Memorial Day weekend and its implications for Bicknell's Thrush and other neotropical migrants that recently returned. I wrote a blog post with thoughts on this subject, and on severe weather events and climate change (photo by Aaron Kellett, Whiteface Mountain Manager) at:
http://www.adirondackavianexpeditions.com/climate-change/extreme-weather-eve nts-and-climate-change This link, with the photo taken by Aaron Kellett, is also posted to my Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/AdirondackAvian Yesterday, I drove just west of the Adirondacks to the St. Lawrence Valley grasslands and shrublands, which always feels like you've traveled to the Midwest, with a completely different suite of bird species from the mountains! I enjoyed finding Henslow's Sparrows, Grasshopper Sparrows, Bobolinks, Eastern Meadowlarks, and more in the grasslands, and Blue-winged and Golden-winged Warblers in the shrublands among many other species. As I drove back into the Adirondacks later in the day, it was such a bizarre sight to view the snow-capped mountains looking a lot more like typical February rather than almost June! I'll be up on Whiteface again for a dawn tour in a few days and I'll report back on the conditions. Joan Collins Long Lake, NY -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nysbirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NYSB.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
