Red-breasted Nuthatch is an example of a species whose movements are particularly complex and difficult to understand. They breed over a vast area, and variable numbers of birds occupy essentially that entire area during the winter as well. But some birds move south, the proportion of which varies tremendously from year to year, and the distances covered by these migrants can be huge. Feeder watchers are in position to note the actual dates of departure of over-wintering individuals, which provides very useful information. In other similar cases, such as the departures of individual adult Lesser Black-backed Gulls from their wintering sites, our local winter residents seem to move out noticeably earlier than the peak of northbound migration (mid March vs. early April, in this example). My own impression of spring migration of Red-breasted Nuthatches on Long Island is that it occurs during May.
There are multiple possible interpretations for this pattern. For instance, it is possible that the more southerly wintering birds are those that breed the farthest north, and that they migrate later accordingly. Another possibility is that residents that have been faithful to particular sites during the winter leave those sites well before they commence actual migration, perhaps wandering around the regional landscape for a couple of weeks when days lengthen and weather improves. Something of this sort seems to occur with feeder birds because there seems to be a pulse of detections of rare species each year around the March-April period when known over-wintering birds tend to vanish. In other words, rare (and other) birds that have been wintering unreported at feeders and in other favorable sites begin moving around and are more likely to be encountered by birders. On a related topic, I've noticed recently that adult Ring-billed Gulls have vanished from Long Island, and I didn't notice when this happened. My own last large counts were on 1-2 April, and all my recent records have involved SY and TY immatures, in small numbers. My feeling is that the arrival dates of warblers are pretty well covered, but when it comes to the departure dates of age classes of gulls, there's plenty of work to be done! Shai Mitra Bay Shore ________________________________________ From: bounce-121459421-11143...@list.cornell.edu [bounce-121459421-11143...@list.cornell.edu] on behalf of Raina [twinros...@yahoo.com] Sent: Sunday, April 23, 2017 8:35 AM To: Larry Trachtenberg; Orhan Birol Cc: NYSBIRDS-L@cornell.edu Subject: Re: [nysbirds-l] Red breasted Nuthatch We have had an abundance of red breasted nuthatches this year to our yard feeders in Suffolk County. At least 4 individuals continue to visit daily. And then we have the occasional white breasted who visits about twice a week. Far more red breasted this year by us than ever before. On Saturday, April 22, 2017 11:57 PM, Larry Trachtenberg <trachtenb...@amsllp.com> wrote: Not sure if late as its been years since I have had them regularly until this year. But I also saw 1x at our feeders today. Two RB nuthatch (at least one seen) virtually every day I have been around to look since Oct. 19, 2016 which was first day last fall I noticed. L. Trachtenberg Ossining. Sent from my iPhone On Apr 22, 2017, at 10:08 PM, Orhan Birol <orhanbir...@gmail.com<mailto:orhanbir...@gmail.com>> wrote: Still showing at the suet feeder been around since November, rather late?? Orhan Birol Shelter Island -- NYSbirds-L List Info: Welcome and Basics<http://www.northeastbirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME.htm> Rules and Information<http://www.northeastbirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES.htm> Subscribe, Configuration and Leave<http://www.northeastbirding.com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm> Archives: The Mail Archive<http://www.mail-archive.com/nysbirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html> Surfbirds<http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L> ABA<http://birding.aba.org/maillist/NY01> Please submit your observations to eBird<http://ebird.org/content/ebird/>! -- -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME.htm http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES.htm 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://birding.aba.org/maillist/NY01 Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
