Apparently there was a very large flight involving thousands of mostly thrush
calls over western PA last night and around dawn. I think it was much lighter
over eastern PA, as seems often to be the case. At Hawk Mt. in SE PA, a NE wind
of 5-8 mph was enough to rustle leaves and mask calls (only 20 or so heard
around 6 am), but I rarely hear many calls on windy nights even if there are no
trees to rustle. The calm night of 9/17 was much better at Hawk Mt., with over
500 calls in 20 minutes starting at 6 am, most Swainson's & Wood Thrushes (also
lots of Wood Thrushes calling in the woods after daylight), with 13 Gray-cheek
calls thrown in. I also rarely hear warblers in the dawn descent period, even
when I find good numbers of them in the area after daylight.
Rudy Keller
----- Original Message -----
From: Christopher T. Tessaglia-Hymes
To: Andrew Albright ; CAYUGABIRDS-L ; NFC-L
Sent: Friday, September 19, 2014 11:12 AM
Subject: Re: [cayugabirds-l] [nfc-l] Thursday: Night Flight in Northeast
Andrew, et. al.,
I haven’t gone through all of my recording data from last night, but I have
certainly observed what you are mentioning: significant thrush vocalizations in
the minutes immediately leading up to the start of civil twilight. Often, after
midnight, there are very few warbler calls and equally few during the thrush
descent. Herons and bitterns seem to be vocal in the first three or four hours
of the night, and then wane after that. I’m not sure what the cause or purpose
is for this decrease in vocal activity in warblers after midnight.
Last night, there were hundreds of Swainson’s Thrushes and Rose-breasted
Grosbeaks calling, tens of Gray-cheeked Thrushes with a single potential
Bicknell’s Thrush candidate, a good handful of Wood Thrushes and Veeries in the
mix. No Hermit Thrushes. A couple of Scarlet Tanager candidates. At least one
American Bittern, two probable Least Bitterns (I’d like to discuss this later
on NFC-L) and several Green Herons. Two American Woodcocks flew by shortly
after the start of civil twilight, one stopping the wing twittering long enough
to utter some very soft and gentle buzzy squeaks that I’ve never heard before,
then continuing with the wing twittering.
Also heard overnight were Ovenbirds, Black-throated Blue Warbler,
Chestnut-sided Warblers, Savannah Sparrows, and many many unidentified
interesting calls requiring much time I don’t have right now to compare and
evaluate. Great Horned Owl and a local rooster were calling early this morning.
A couple nights ago, I saw one of our Flying Squirrels feeding on the squirrel
seed cakes out front, after returning home late from work.
Last night was one of the more notable nights this migration season.
Good night listening and birding!
Sincerely,
Chris T-H
On Sep 19, 2014, at 10:33 AM, Andrew Albright <andrew.albri...@gmail.com>
wrote:
Chris and Ken - thanks for the heads up. In upstate NY do you get more
thrush calls in the 1-2 hrs before day break? We seem to down in the
Mid-Atlantic (and fewer warblers).
Here's my ebird report from listening this morning (29 minutes starting at
5:38). Is this the type of distribution you heard?
Anyone else have data from last night/this morning?
2 Veery
6 Gray-cheeked Thrush
46 Swainson's Thrush
11 Wood Thrush
2 thrush sp.
6 warbler sp.
2 Chipping Sparrow
1 Swamp Sparrow
On Fri, Sep 19, 2014 at 12:23 AM, Kenneth V. Rosenberg <k...@cornell.edu>
wrote:
Just had about 200 thrushes (mostly Swainsons but also many Gray-cheeked
and Wood Thrush) over my house in Northeast Ithaca in a 45 min count - also 12
Green Herons and an Am Bittern
Ken
Sent from my iPhone
On Sep 18, 2014, at 9:41 PM, "Christopher T. Tessaglia-Hymes"
<c...@cornell.edu> wrote:
Just a heads-up about a potential push of birds into this area
overnight tonight...
Begin forwarded message:
From: "Christopher T. Tessaglia-Hymes" <c...@cornell.edu>
Subject: [nfc-l] Thursday: Night Flight in Northeast
Date: September 18, 2014 at 9:38:18 PM EDT
To: NFC-L <nf...@list.cornell.edu>
Reply-To: "Christopher T. Tessaglia-Hymes" <c...@cornell.edu>
There is currently a fairly heavy liftoff going on in the Northeast
and surrounding regions. The high pressure system situated North of Lake
Ontario could make for a good push of birds down into the Northeast overnight
tonight.
If you can, keep your ears skyward!
Sincerely,
Chris T-H
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Christopher T. Tessaglia-Hymes
Field Applications Engineer
Bioacoustics Research Program, Cornell Lab of Ornithology
159 Sapsucker Woods Road, Ithaca, New York 14850
W: 607-254-2418 M: 607-351-5740 F: 607-254-1132
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Christopher T. Tessaglia-Hymes
Field Applications Engineer
Bioacoustics Research Program, Cornell Lab of Ornithology
159 Sapsucker Woods Road, Ithaca, New York 14850
W: 607-254-2418 M: 607-351-5740 F: 607-254-1132
http://www.birds.cornell.edu/brp
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Rudy Keller
Boyertown, PA
Berks County
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