I also appreciate the posting of these and other common bird phenomena. not all of us get to get out and bird everyday, so knowing there is a wave of birds coming through, regardless of what they are, is very interesting to me. And we'd never learn the extent to which these phenomenon are happening if it weren't for enthusiastic birders posting all their sightings. In fact i appreciate knowing this sort of information much more so than the odd rarity that I'd have to drive 3 hours to chase. And as for scientific value from cobirds and other list serves, there is much more to be gained from posting of common species than of rare ones. Of course it's more difficult to get people to do that regularly (myself included). Along these same lines, the postings from the various RMBO (and other) bird banders from around the state is perhaps the most interesting to me, as they help keep a pulse on what's going on in the bird world in a single location over time. So I don't see any purpose in discouraging ANY posts, so long as they conform to the rules of the list serve. So keep posting your sightings -- regardless of what they are.
I know I will be out on my deck this evening, looking and listening for Sandhills, as I usually get some flights by my place, but missed them last night. thanks for the heads up! Arvind Panjabi 5700' feet, Larimer County, CO On the north slope of Milner Mtn Mountain mahogany shrubland and grassland ________________________________ From: "[email protected]" <[email protected]> To: [email protected]; [email protected] Sent: Monday, September 28, 2009 11:18:32 AM Subject: [cobirds] Re: Reports of Sandhill Cranes; more, please For what it’s worth, I thought I would enter the Sandhill Crane discussion. I know I have certainly enjoyed reading the reports of the Sandhill flocks. Regardless of whether the reports are scientifically worthy of reporting, they have no doubt added to my personal enjoyment and knowledge of the birds, which is probably why I and many others are on co-birds in the first place, so I want to say thank you everyone for posting these. Just out of curiosity, I used the reports of the N. Boulder flock spotted at 6:30 and, assuming this could be the same flock spotted in Colorado Springs at 9:00, calculated their flight speed. The two locations are approximately 85 miles apart as the crow flies, or in this case as the cranes fly, spotted 2.5 hours later, gives a flight speed of 34 mph. This is definitely in the correct range (25 - 35 mph) as I have later researched, so very well could indeed be the same flock. Maybe this adds nothing of scientific value, but it is fun to ponder and adds to my knowledge. I know I will now be on the lookout for cranes tonight. Tony Wilk0A Longmont, CO -----Original Message----- From: Nick Komar <[email protected]> To: cobirds <[email protected]> Sent: Mon, Sep 28, 2009 9:57 am Subject: [cobirds] Re: Reports of Sandhill Cranes; more, please Ted Floyd wrote: "The phenomenon [of large crane flights over Front Range cities] is eminently worthy of further study, formal documentation, and, most of all, enthusiastic sharing here on COBirds." OK, in the interest of "Discussion", I ask how do these reports provide new knowledge? According to Colorado Birds, 1992, by Andrews and Righter (p. 104), Sandhill Crane is an "irregular" migrant on the Eastern plains, "often locally abundant in fall". An abundance chart indicates their status as "uncommon to fairly common" on the Eastern Plains from mid-Septemer through October. A range map shows normal occurrence along the rivers and along sections of the Front Range area although not the entire eastern plains, probably indicating the region(s) where observers frequently find these birds roosting/feeding, rather than flying over. I would venture that the lack of reports from the Front Range during certain years simply reflects that the flocks passed over a slightly different20path, where fewer cities (and thus observers) were located. Because of the non-random, skewed distribution of observers, these casual reports of passive observations would not provide any useful survey data, but rather, suggest misleading population trends for the species. Perhaps someone could offer to receive all the observations (E-bird could serve this function) and then offer some kind of summary remark or analysis (Seasonal Reports in Colorado Birds serves this function), rather than invite myriad postings to a group of 850 people. Earlier this fall (last month actually), numerous reports of migrating Upland Sandpipers over Front Range cities appeared on Cobirds. Those reports indicated that migration status (very rare) provided in Colorado Birds (p. 120) was either wrong or had changed or that 2009 was an anomaly for Upland Sandpiper migration. I welcomed such reports in my Inbox. I'll stay silent on this topic at this point and leave further discussion to others. Nick Komar Fort Collins CO --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Colorado Field Ornithologists: http://www.cfo-link.org/ Colorado County Birding: http://www.coloradocountybirding.com/ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Colorado Birds" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.as/group/cobirds?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
