There is a substantial (and still increasing) breeding population of Swallow-tailed Kites in the western Gulf states that were not sampled by the Zimmermann thesis. These seem to be circus-Gulf migrants, at least in part. All reports of STKI from Texas so far this spring have been from Galveston eastward and would seem to be trans-Gulf migrants. The circus-Gulf movement comes a bit later and continues into May.
John C. Arvin Research Associate Gulf Coast Bird Observatory 103 West Hwy 332 Lake Jackson, TX 77566 jar...@gcbo.org www.gcbo.org Austin, Texas ---------------------------------------- From: "Christopher T. Tessaglia-Hymes" <c...@cornell.edu> Sent: Monday, March 05, 2012 8:45 AM To: "jar...@gcbo.org" <jar...@gcbo.org>, "Kenneth Victor Rosenberg" <k...@cornell.edu>, "Benjamin Van Doren" <bmvando...@gmail.com> Subject: RE: [nfc-l] Night Migrating Raptors Of note, all of the platforms are along the TX, LA, MS, AL. There are none in the Gulf-side offshore waters of Florida. Any trans-Gulf spring migrant Swallow-tailed Kites moving from the Yucatan to Florida would likely go unnoticed, especially if transiting entirely at night. Sincerely, Chris T-H -- Christopher T. Tessaglia-Hymes TARU Product Line Manager and 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 From: John Arvin [mailto:jar...@gcbo.org] Sent: Friday, March 02, 2012 10:59 AM To: Kenneth Victor Rosenberg; Benjamin Van Doren Cc: Michael O'Brien; Christopher T. Tessaglia-Hymes; NFC-L Subject: Re: [nfc-l] Night Migrating Raptors Ken, I don't think there were any nighttime observations of raptors on the platform study per se, but some of the observers (not me unfortunately) did record small kettles of Missippii Kites which would have had to have been flying part of the distance in the dark just, as you say, because of the distance involved. All platforms had various falcons but these may have been coastwise rather than trans-gulf migrants. John C. Arvin Research Associate Gulf Coast Bird Observatory 103 West Hwy 332 Lake Jackson, TX 77566 jar...@gcbo.org www.gcbo.org Austin, Texas ---------------------------------------- From: "Kenneth Victor Rosenberg" <k...@cornell.edu> Sent: Friday, March 02, 2012 9:05 AM To: "Benjamin Van Doren" <bmvando...@gmail.com> Subject: Re: [nfc-l] Night Migrating Raptors I would suspect that the nocturnal movements by raptors will turn out to be primarily over water -- where the total flight range involved necessitates a partly nocturnal crossing. Are there any other night-time records from the Gulf oil platform work a while back? Satellite tracking data may shed some light (or darkness) as well. KEN Ken Rosenberg Conservation Science Program Cornell Lab of Ornithology 607-254-2412 607-342-4594 (cell) k...@cornell.edu On Mar 1, 2012, at 10:24 PM, Benjamin Van Doren wrote: Awesome pictures, Chris. Michael, I recorded a calling Osprey on 4/16/11 at about midnight. However, I'm not completely convinced it's of an overflying migrant because it sounds relatively close to the microphone and there are nesting Ospreys close by. Still, it's the only Osprey vocalization I've found from that microphone (again, with nesting Ospreys very near) so I'm not exactly sure what to make of it. Does anyone know about the amount of vocalizing territorial Ospreys do at night? I've attached the recording. Benjamin On Thu, Mar 1, 2012 at 9:26 PM, Michael O'Brien <tsw...@comcast.net> wrote: Chris, Those photos are amazing! And they brings up an interesting general question about nocturnal migration by raptors. How much do they move at night? In Cape May I see plenty of evidence of at least limited nocturnal movement. We regularly see American Kestrels, Sharp-shinned Hawks, and Northern Harriers present in numbers (sometimes already high overhead) at first light when they were not present the day before. Also I have seen Osprey and Peregrine head out in apparent migration flight over Delaware Bay well after sunset. But the only nocturnal flight call I have heard from a raptor was from an Osprey which gave acouple of "tew" calls overhead a good two hours before sunrise. I wonder if others have seen or heard evidence of nocturnal migration by raptors. thanks, Michael Michael O'Brien Victor Emanuel Nature Tours www.ventbird.com ---------------------------------------- From: "Christopher T. Tessaglia-Hymes" <c...@cornell.edu> To: "NFC-L" <nf...@list.cornell.edu> Sent: Thursday, March 1, 2012 4:01:22 PM Subject: Re: [nfc-l] Night Migrating Raptors Below is a link of a few pictures I managed to capture of a couple of the individuals. Unfortunately, due to our operations, I was not able to take time for extensive documentation. It was a very neat spectacle to have witnessed. Some details are at right of the album at the link, below. https://picasaweb.google.com/112522159565855378380/NightMigratingRaptors Sincerely, Chris T-H Currently at sea in the Gulf of Mexico, aboard the M/V Emily Bordelon. On Mar 1, 2012, at 4:41 AM, Christopher T. Tessaglia-Hymes wrote: Although these birds weren't making vocalizations, but it has been really cool to witness. I'm on the M/V Emily Bordelon about 150 miles WNW of Tampa, FL, working on recovering oceanographic research instruments. We're conducting 24-hour operations with deck lights blazing. from approximately 07:10 to 07:25 GMT (02:10 to 02:25 AM EST) the deck crew and I observed at least three simultaneous SWALLOW-TAILED KITES, 1 Laughing Gull, and a single OSPREY approach the vessel during an extended full-stop drifts. This was at about N28 26.491 by W85 27.459. I managed to get some half-decent photos of the Kites as they drifted over the vessel. At another point, from approximately 08:40 to 09:20 GMT (02:40 to 03:20 AM EST) we were visited by at least two more night migrating SWALLOW-TAILED KITES. I did not obtain photos of those birds. This was at about N28 17.256 by W85 32.837. I imagine there are several birds in migration across the Eastern Gulf of Mexico at this point and we should expect to have more observations at the next couple of nighttime stations. Good birding! Sincerely, Chris T-H -- Christopher T. Tessaglia-Hymes TARU Product Line Manager and 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 -- NFC-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! -- -- Christopher T. Tessaglia-Hymes TARU Product Line Manager and 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 -- NFC-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! -- -- NFC-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! -- -- NFC-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! -- <Osprey_20110416.003252.wav> -- NFC-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! -- -- NFC-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_WELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_RULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC-L_SubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nfc-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NFC-L 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NFCL.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
