This is a great excuse to plug eBird's great new mapping interface: http://ebird.org/ebird/map/pinsis?neg=true&env.minX=&env.minY=&env.maxX=&env.maxY=&zh=false&gp=false&mr=on&bmo=10&emo=10&yr=1900-2011&byr=1900&eyr=2011
A quick check of this map shows that it's not unusual for Pine Siskins reports in our area in early to mid October and it's also not unusual for single individuals to be reported. What a great eBird tool--much better than digging through old Cayugabirds messages! Matt Medler Ithaca ________________________________ From: Wesley M Hochachka <w...@cornell.edu> To: CAYUGABIRDS-L <cayugabird...@list.cornell.edu> Sent: Thursday, October 6, 2011 4:16 PM Subject: [cayugabirds-l] Pine Siskins are like potato chips...except in Sapsucker Woods today Hi everyone, On my way in to work this morning, I was surprised to see a single PINE SISKIN sitting atop one of the snags on the west end of the main pond in Sapsucker Woods…surprised for two reasons: (1) It seemed rather early for siskins to appear, although there was a little burst of eBird records in mid-September with none between then and now, and (2) In my experience “siskins” is almost invariably plural…like potato chips. I was puzzled as to how a single Pine Siskin could end up so early and so alone…and apparently with no other reports in the immediate area and date range. I think I know what happened now, thanks to Dave Bonter pointing out today’s blog entry from Braddock Bay: roughly 350 Pine Siskins hit the nets in Braddock Bay yesterday without any warning of a lead-up trickle over the previous days. So, it appears that there was a big movement of siskins into this general region, and I presume that the lone bird that I saw was either navigationally or socially challenged and overshot the main movement. Wesley Hochachka -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: Welcome and Basics Rules and Information Subscribe, Configuration and Leave Archives: The Mail Archive Surfbirds BirdingOnThe.Net Please submit your observations to eBird! -- -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
