Cuckoo numbers in east-central Iowa have seemed pretty normal to me this year - I've seen 15 Yellow-billed (with a high of 5 at one Cedar County site) and 1 Black-billed, which is fairly typical for me.
Chris Edwards Solon, IA _____ From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Dinsmore, Stephen J [NREM] Sent: Friday, August 09, 2013 5:41 PM To: IA-BIRD Subject: [ia-bird] Black-necked Stilts. Danny Stark and I stopped at the wetland along County Road D15 east of Iowa Falls this afternoon. It was completely dry and we didn't see the stilt family. We then drove to Pintail Wetland and, surprisingly, the stilt family (male, female, and chick) were present. This is about 1.7 miles from the D15 wetland in a direct line. We saw a few tracks in the dried wetland along D15 and wondered if someone had captured and moved the chick, or if the family indeed dispersed to Pintail on their own. Either way, the chick now has a decent chance of survival because Pintail has plenty of water and is unlikely to dry up soon. Other birds at Pintail included a Baird's Sandpiper and 2 Wilson's Phalaropes (among 13 shorebird species) plus 3 Black Terns. On a related note, have others noticed a dearth of cuckoos this summer? This year, I have seen a grand total of just 4 cuckoos, all Yellow-billed. This compares to 29 in 2012 and 30 in 2011 by this date. I've noticed a similar pattern for Blue-gray Gnatcatchers, which I attribute to the early May snow, but the cuckoos must have some other explanation because they weren't in Iowa at the time of the early May snowfall. Steve ********** Stephen J. Dinsmore Department of Natural Resource Ecology & Management Iowa State University 203 Science II Ames, IA 50011 Phone: 515-294-1348 E-mail: [email protected] Web: http://www.public.iastate.edu/~cootjr/ --- Please contribute your sightings to our list; it is only as good as members make it! --- Birding channel recommendation for FRS/GMRS radio use: Primary selection; channel 5/0 , alternate selection; channel 6/0 --- This mailing list is sponsored by the Iowa Ornithologists' Union. Membership available on-line at http://www.iowabirds.org/iou/PayDues.aspx. ----- You are currently subscribed to ia-bird as: [email protected] --- Please contribute your sightings to our list; it is only as good as members make it! --- Birding channel recommendation for FRS/GMRS radio use: Primary selection; channel 5/0 , alternate selection; channel 6/0 --- This mailing list is sponsored by the Iowa Ornithologists' Union. Membership available on-line at http://www.iowabirds.org/iou/PayDues.aspx. ----- You are currently subscribed to ia-bird as: [email protected]
