RE: [nfc-l] major migration in Eastern Pennsylvania

[Marshall Iliff]

NFC-L,

eBird Team (Steve Kelling, Brian Suillivan, Chris Wood, Marshall Iliff) was in 
North Dakota last night (7-8 Sep) enjoying a substantial nocturnal movement 
under clear skies and light N winds. About 8-15 calls/min. From 8:25-9:45 
approximate totals (and in some cases, approximate IDs) have been:

Great Blue Heron - 5, seen migrating at dusk
Upland Sandpiper - 4
Killdeer - 1
Yellow Warbler - 75
Swainson's Thrush - ~20
Veery - ~2
Bobolink - ~10
Clay-colored Sparrow - ~200
Savannah Sparrow - ~120
Grasshopper Sparrow - ~20
Lincoln's Sparrow - 1
Song? Sparrow - 4
Lazuli/Indigo Bunting - 1

Certainly lots of unidentifiable calls, but nothing that fell well outside of 
these groups. 

This composition matches well with what we had on the ground today in a full 
day of very intensive birding (e.g., 200 Clay-colored, 75 Yellow Warblers, 60 
Savannah, 8 Swainson's, 3 Veery). I don’t think any of us feel fully 
comfortable with Wilson's Warbler flight call, but there were 10-15 seen in 
today's birding. Chipping Sparrow was common by day and should have been 
identifiable in tonight's flight, but we didn’t hear any.

A very enjoyable flight. Thrushes and Grasshopper Sparrows seemed to increase 
over the 90 minutes of listening; Yellow Warbler seemed to decrease.

10 minutes of moonwatching at about 10:10-10:20 revealed a rate of about 3 
birds/min--all moving very fast.

Best,

Marshall Iliff
Miliff AT aol.com


--

--
NFC-L List Info:
http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_WELCOME
http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_RULES

http://www.mail-archive.com/nfc-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html
--

[nfc-l] Brief recap of workshop: "Frontiers of Field Ornithology: Nocturnal Migration in the West"

[Ted Floyd]

Hi, all.

Nathan Pieplow and I just wrapped up our ABA IFO (Institute for Field
Ornithology) workshop on nocturnal migration in the West, visiting
various sites in Colorado. Despite a basically southerly windflow during
the entirety of the workshop, we nonetheless had some nice nights
afield. Workshop participants heard zero Catharus thrushes, but we did
hear a lot of sparrows and warblers. (Corey Husic, I'll trade you a few
of our Chipping Sparrows and Wilson's Warblers for a few thousand of
your thrushes.)

Micro-highlights from the workshop: http://twitter.com/NightBirding

Click on the links to get daily trip reports.

All the best,
Ted Floyd

Lafayette, Boulder County, Colorado







---

Ted Floyd
Editor, Birding

---

Please support the American Birding Association: Click on
http://www.goodsearch.com/?charityid=884482 to search the internet.

Check out the American Birding Association on FaceBook:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=22934255714

Check out the American Birding Association on Twitter:
http://twitter.com/abaoutreach

Please visit the website of the American Birding Association:
http://www.aba.org

--
NFC-L List Info:
http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_WELCOME
http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_RULES

http://www.mail-archive.com/nfc-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html
--

[nfc-l] [Fwd: night birding]

[Chris Tessaglia-Hymes]

Ken asked me to forward this to the list.

Sincerely,
Chris T-H

 Original Message 
Subject:night birding
Date:   Mon, 7 Sep 2009 16:34:38 -0400
From:   Ken Rosenberg 
Reply-To:   Ken Rosenberg 
To: cayugabird...@cornell.edu



Hi all,

I haven't had much time for day-time birding these past few days, but 
I've been out every night listening to the sky from my yard. I had 
large flights of migrants on Friday and Saturday night (around 
midnight both nights), but last night with SW winds I only heard a 
few warblers.

On Friday and Saturday night I heard large numbers of VEERYs and 
ROSE-BREASTED GROSBEAKS (over 100 calls in 30 minutes), and I'm 
pretty sure I heard my first SWAINSON'S THRUSHES on Saturday -- I 
find early September the trickiest time to i.d. flight calls, as 
grosbeaks (and probably some tanagers and others mixed in) can 
overlap the thrushes, at least to me.

Another highlight, on Saturday night, I had a LEAST BITTERN fly low 
over my house, calling at least 4 times very clearly - like a 
miniature night-heron "wark"  It was so low, I thought I might see 
the silhouette against the fullish moon, but no luck.

KEN
-- 

Ken Rosenberg
Director, Conservation Science Program
Cornell Lab of Ornithology
159 Sapsucker Woods Rd,
Ithaca, NY 14850
(607) 254-2412
k...@cornell.edu


-- 
Cayugabirds-L List Info:
http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME
http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES

Temporary archive:
http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html

Please submit your observations to eBird:
http://ebird.org/content/ebird/
--


Chris Tessaglia-Hymes
Listowner, NFC-L
Ithaca, New York
c...@cornell.edu
http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_WELCOME
http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_RULES


--
NFC-L List Info:
http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_WELCOME
http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_RULES

http://www.mail-archive.com/nfc-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html
--

Re: [nfc-l] Night flight call (unknown)

[Meena Madhav Haribal]

A possibility that it was a tern. but did not sound like Caspian Tern may
be other terns. The call was not as raspy as Caspians, but who know they
may have something different too. I will also check out Willet as
suggested by Bill later in the evening sometimes.

Meena.



> Meena,Could it have been a Caspian Tern?  I heard several adults giving
> repetitive calls over my house last night, and I live about a mile from
> you
> (in Ithaca).
> Tom
>
> On Tue, Sep 8, 2009 at 6:40 AM, Meena Haribal  wrote:
>
>>  Hi all,
>> Today morning I heard a  call at 5.55 am, it was something like "Kyawan
>> Kyawan Kyarrr" three note call repeated three times with gaps of a
>> second or
>> more.  The first two notes were very insistent as if trying to make some
>> statements. The bird seemed fairly low, could hear from bed room window.
>> If
>> any body has any idea as to what it could be could be I would love to
>> hear.
>> I feel it was some kind of heron family bird, but may be wrong.
>>
>> Yesterday morning I had my recorder in pause mode, ready to record if I
>> heard anything interesting but heard very few distant calls of
>> Swainson's
>> thrushes (spring peepers) and a few zips (between 4.45 am to 5.30 am).
>> Today  I think may it was a bit early  time for birds to come down.
>>
>> But today the calls were louder and between 5.30 to 6.-00 am, I heard
>> many
>> calls, including the above mentioned call. Some of them were Swainson's
>> Thrushes and some may have been Rose -breasted Grosbeaks and many
>> unfamiliar
>> call notes.  Unfortunately, my recorder was not next to me at my window.
>> So
>> I just listened today.
>>
>> I am glad my bedroom window is open and can hear birds without even
>> getting
>> out!
>>
>> Cheers
>> Meena
>>
>>
>>  Meena Haribal
>> Ithaca NY 14850
>> webpage:
>>
>>
>> http://meenaharibal.blogspot.com/
>>
>>
>> http://www.geocities.com/asiootusloe/http://www.geocities.com/asiootusloe/mothsofithaca.html
>> http://haribal.wikispaces.com/space/showimage/wildwest+trip+August+2007+.pdf
>> Current Loc: 42o 25' 44.48" N, 76o 28' 16.90" W Elev 816 ft or 248.7 m
>> Formerly: 19o 0' 41,65" N, 72o 51' 13.02" E Elev 33 ft or 10m
>>
>>
>
>
> --
> Thomas Brodie Johnson
> Ithaca, NY
> t...@cornell.edu
> mobile:  717.991.5727
>
> --
> NFC-L List Info:
> http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_WELCOME
> http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_RULES
>
> http://www.mail-archive.com/nfc-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html
> --


-- 
Dr. Meena Haribal
Ithaca NY 14850
Phone: 607-254-2148, 607-254-4958, 607-254-1258
Fax: 607-254-2104, 607-254-1242


--
NFC-L List Info:
http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_WELCOME
http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_RULES

http://www.mail-archive.com/nfc-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html
--

Re: [nfc-l] moonwatch volume

[David Mozurkewich]

On Tue, 2009-09-08 at 06:49 -0700, Jeff Wells wrote:
> I'll bet that this question has been answered in the moonwatching
> literature or someone out there has done the calculations but as I was
> moonwatching last week and over an hour counted about a hundred birds,
> it occurred to me that based on this sample I could roughly calculate
> how many birds may have flown over me in that hour. I guessed that the
> part of the sky I sampled (i.e. the disk of the moon) may have been
> something like a thousandth of the area from horizon to horizon (just
> very rough guess-estimate by eye) and if the part of the sky I was
> watching was a fair representation of the number of birds passing over
> all parts of the sky above me, then that would mean that roughly 100,000
> birds passed over me during that hour. 

Jeff,

I am not familiar with the literature but would use the somewhat lower
multiplier of 200 rather than 1000.  The actual value you should use
depends on what you are trying to calculate.  I am interested in
estimating the migrant flight density and in comparing that rate to one
determined from nocturnal flight calls.  By looking at the moon you
sample a strip across the sky that stretches from horizon to horizon in
the direction of flight and a half degree wide in the perpendicular
direction.  The important assumption is how close to the horizon can a
bird be and you can still claim it passed by?  I argue for using 45
degrees.  Below that, you have to start worrying about obstructions, at
least for some observation sites.  Also, geometric effects start to
become more important; for example, the distance to the bird starts to
increase rapidly with lower angle (closer to the horizon)  At 45
degrees, the birds are about 1.4 times further away than they are when
directly overhead -- that's a factor of two in the amount of moon light
the bird blocks and a factor of two in the volume of its call.  Less
than a factor of two probably doesn't affect detectability while a
number significantly greater surely does.

So I would claim you had more like 20,000 birds pass by.  That still
seems like a big number but you are sampling a large area so the density
of birds is not all that high.  To go further, we need to know the
height of birds and their speed.  I will assume 30 miles per hour and a
height of about 5000 feet.  Both are guesses on my part but seem roughly
consistent with what I think I know.

With these assumptions, a bird flies 2640 feet per minute.  The
half-degree moon subtends a distance of 43 feet at that altitude.  This
works out to one bird per 115,000 square feet or one bird every 2.5
acres.  If the birds simply dropped to the ground at sunrise without
concentrating into flocks, a flight this large would be difficult to
detect.

We can also compare this density to the number of detected nocturnal
flight calls.  A bird remains overhead for about 230 seconds (10,000
feet, twice their altitude, divided by 2640 feet per minute).  One bird
passing the moon per minute corresponds to about 750 birds within
hearing range all the time.  Detecting one call per second (is this
reasonable?) means the average bird calls about once every 750 seconds.
One bird in three is detected.

These numbers strike me as a bit inconsistent.  That rate of calling
seems too slow if the purpose of the calls is to keep the migrants in
touch with each other.  Contact calls in a diurnal feeding flock are
more than an order of magnitude faster.  Am I wrong about that?  Is my
estimate of detectable calls way to low?  Do the calls serve some other
purpose?  Are my assumptions about the height and speed of the birds
wrong?  Did I mess up the math?

-- 
David Mozurkewich
Seabrook, MD


--
NFC-L List Info:
http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_WELCOME
http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_RULES

http://www.mail-archive.com/nfc-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html
--

[nfc-l] Moonwatching 9/4/2009

[Martin Piorkowski]

Hello all:

Just wanted to send off my results of a Moonwatching day on 4 September 
2009.  There were two of us completing Moonwatches independently while 
recording NFCs that night.
Conditions were:  Sky: Clear, Wind: 1-3mph from NE, Location: Cornell Track 
Field, Ithaca, NY


We used Zeiss Monarch 10X42 binoculars (could certainly have used a 30X 
scope, but we used what we had).


Time: 12:44-12:54am  Observer #1: 2 silhouettes
Time: 12:54-1:00am  Observer #2:  1 silhouette
Time: 1:01-1:26am  Observer #1: 4 silhouettes, Observer #2: 2 silhouettes
Time: 1:28-1:44am  Observer #1: 1 silhouette, Observer #2: 2 silhouettes

I'm learning new software and will be able to get back to you on what we 
were able to record.  So far I had 91 identified sparrow and warbler calls 
and 15 thrush calls in exactly 1 hour (12:44am - 1:44am)


Enjoy the night sky!

Marty Piorkowski




--
NFC-L List Info:
http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_WELCOME
http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_RULES

http://www.mail-archive.com/nfc-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html
--

RE: [nfc-l] Night flight calls - listening inside out

[Richard Guthrie]

That was my thoughts also - a tern sp.

 

BTW:

 

Some years ago, I came up with the idea to place a baby room monitor outside
with the "mommy" part inside.

 

With that setup you can hear lots of stuff going on outside with the windows
closed (good for winter days & nights).

 

I've even put three around the house  so now I get "surround sound". I can
pretty well tell which way the hawk is coming from.

 

Good fun and interesting to hear snow geese going over after dark for
example.

 

Rich Guthrie

New Baltimore*,

The Greene County,

New York

(~1/3 NYC<--*--->Montreal)

gael...@capital.net

http://blog.timesunion.com/birding

 

 

  _  

From: bounce-4265624-10071...@list.cornell.edu
[mailto:bounce-4265624-10071...@list.cornell.edu] On Behalf Of Meena Haribal
Sent: Tuesday, September 08, 2009 6:40 AM
To: nfc-l@cornell.edu; cayugabirds-l-cornell.edu
Subject: [nfc-l] Night flight call (unknown)

 

Hi all, 
Today morning I heard a  call at 5.55 am, it was something like "Kyawan
Kyawan Kyarrr" three note call repeated three times with gaps of a second or
more.  The first two notes were very insistent as if trying to make some
statements. The bird seemed fairly low, could hear from bed room window. If
any body has any idea as to what it could be could be I would love to hear.
I feel it was some kind of heron family bird, but may be wrong. 

Yesterday morning I had my recorder in pause mode, ready to record if I
heard anything interesting but heard very few distant calls of Swainson's
thrushes (spring peepers) and a few zips (between 4.45 am to 5.30 am). Today
I think may it was a bit early  time for birds to come down. 

But today the calls were louder and between 5.30 to 6.-00 am, I heard many
calls, including the above mentioned call. Some of them were Swainson's
Thrushes and some may have been Rose -breasted Grosbeaks and many unfamiliar
call notes.  Unfortunately, my recorder was not next to me at my window. So
I just listened today.

I am glad my bedroom window is open and can hear birds without even getting
out!

Cheers
Meena





Meena Haribal
Ithaca NY 14850
webpage:

  
http://meenaharibal.blogspot.com/
   
 

http://www.geocities.com/asiootusloe/http://www.geocities.com/asiootusloe/mo
thsofithaca.html

http://haribal.wikispaces.com/space/showimage/wildwest+trip+August+2007+.pdf

Current Loc: 42o 25' 44.48" N, 76o 28' 16.90" W Elev 816 ft or 248.7 m
Formerly: 19o 0' 41,65" N, 72o 51' 13.02" E Elev 33 ft or 10m


--
NFC-L List Info:
http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_WELCOME
http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_RULES

http://www.mail-archive.com/nfc-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html
--

[nfc-l] moonwatch volume

[Jeff Wells]

I'll bet that this question has been answered in the moonwatching
literature or someone out there has done the calculations but as I was
moonwatching last week and over an hour counted about a hundred birds,
it occurred to me that based on this sample I could roughly calculate
how many birds may have flown over me in that hour. I guessed that the
part of the sky I sampled (i.e. the disk of the moon) may have been
something like a thousandth of the area from horizon to horizon (just
very rough guess-estimate by eye) and if the part of the sky I was
watching was a fair representation of the number of birds passing over
all parts of the sky above me, then that would mean that roughly 100,000
birds passed over me during that hour. 

I am sure that there are a lot of caveats related to angles of sight,
etc., etc., and probably there is some sophisticated model for
estimating total volume of birds from a moon watch sample but even if
the number I came up with was anywhere close to the magnitude of total
number of birds then I can't help but be impressed.

Moonwatch experts, please give us the scoop!

Jeff



-Original Message-
From: bounce-4254153-9874...@list.cornell.edu
[mailto:bounce-4254153-9874...@list.cornell.edu] On Behalf Of Chase
Schiefer
Sent: Friday, September 04, 2009 10:39 PM
To: nfc-l@cornell.edu
Subject: [nfc-l] 5 minute moonwatch

A five minute session of moonwatching yielded an average of a bird a
minute. The surrounding clouds were bright enough as to be able to
follow birds till they reached darkness. Quite beautiful!

-- 
Sent from my mobile device

"Adventure is for the adventurous.
My face is set.
I go to make my destiny.
May many another youth be by me inspired to leave the snug safety of his
rut,
and follow fortune to other lands." Everett Ruess

Chase Schiefer
Bachmans' Ivory
Hazlet, New Jersey

--
NFC-L List Info:
http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_WELCOME
http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_RULES

http://www.mail-archive.com/nfc-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html
--

--
NFC-L List Info:
http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_WELCOME
http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_RULES

http://www.mail-archive.com/nfc-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html
--

Re: [nfc-l] Night flight call (unknown)

[Tom Johnson]

Meena,Could it have been a Caspian Tern?  I heard several adults giving
repetitive calls over my house last night, and I live about a mile from you
(in Ithaca).
Tom

On Tue, Sep 8, 2009 at 6:40 AM, Meena Haribal  wrote:

>  Hi all,
> Today morning I heard a  call at 5.55 am, it was something like "Kyawan
> Kyawan Kyarrr" three note call repeated three times with gaps of a second or
> more.  The first two notes were very insistent as if trying to make some
> statements. The bird seemed fairly low, could hear from bed room window. If
> any body has any idea as to what it could be could be I would love to hear.
> I feel it was some kind of heron family bird, but may be wrong.
>
> Yesterday morning I had my recorder in pause mode, ready to record if I
> heard anything interesting but heard very few distant calls of Swainson's
> thrushes (spring peepers) and a few zips (between 4.45 am to 5.30 am).
> Today  I think may it was a bit early  time for birds to come down.
>
> But today the calls were louder and between 5.30 to 6.-00 am, I heard many
> calls, including the above mentioned call. Some of them were Swainson's
> Thrushes and some may have been Rose -breasted Grosbeaks and many unfamiliar
> call notes.  Unfortunately, my recorder was not next to me at my window. So
> I just listened today.
>
> I am glad my bedroom window is open and can hear birds without even getting
> out!
>
> Cheers
> Meena
>
>
>  Meena Haribal
> Ithaca NY 14850
> webpage:
>
>
> http://meenaharibal.blogspot.com/
>
>
> http://www.geocities.com/asiootusloe/http://www.geocities.com/asiootusloe/mothsofithaca.html
> http://haribal.wikispaces.com/space/showimage/wildwest+trip+August+2007+.pdf
> Current Loc: 42o 25' 44.48" N, 76o 28' 16.90" W Elev 816 ft or 248.7 m
> Formerly: 19o 0' 41,65" N, 72o 51' 13.02" E Elev 33 ft or 10m
>
>


-- 
Thomas Brodie Johnson
Ithaca, NY
t...@cornell.edu
mobile:  717.991.5727

--
NFC-L List Info:
http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_WELCOME
http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_RULES

http://www.mail-archive.com/nfc-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html
--

[nfc-l] Night flight call (unknown)

[Meena Haribal]

Hi all,
Today morning I heard a  call at 5.55 am, it was something like "Kyawan 
Kyawan Kyarrr" three note call repeated three times with gaps of a second 
or more.  The first two notes were very insistent as if trying to make some 
statements. The bird seemed fairly low, could hear from bed room window. If 
any body has any idea as to what it could be could be I would love to hear. 
I feel it was some kind of heron family bird, but may be wrong.

Yesterday morning I had my recorder in pause mode, ready to record if I 
heard anything interesting but heard very few distant calls of Swainson's 
thrushes (spring peepers) and a few zips (between 4.45 am to 5.30 am). 
Today  I think may it was a bit early  time for birds to come down.

But today the calls were louder and between 5.30 to 6.-00 am, I heard many 
calls, including the above mentioned call. Some of them were Swainson's 
Thrushes and some may have been Rose -breasted Grosbeaks and many 
unfamiliar call notes.  Unfortunately, my recorder was not next to me at my 
window. So I just listened today.

I am glad my bedroom window is open and can hear birds without even getting 
out!

Cheers
Meena



Meena Haribal
Ithaca NY 14850
webpage:
http://meenaharibal.blogspot.com/

http://www.geocities.com/asiootusloe/http://www.geocities.com/asiootusloe/mothsofithaca.htmlhttp://haribal.wikispaces.com/space/showimage/wildwest+trip+August+2007+.pdf
 

Current Loc: 42o 25' 44.48" N, 76o 28' 16.90" W Elev 816 ft or 248.7 m
Formerly: 19o 0' 41,65" N, 72o 51' 13.02" E Elev 33 ft or 10m

--
NFC-L List Info:
http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_WELCOME
http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_RULES

http://www.mail-archive.com/nfc-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html
--