Hi Everyone, While commuting to Ocean City, Maryland on Sunday, 9/30, we made a stop in Easton, Maryland (Eastern Shore) at 3:40 a.m. to pick up a friend. While standing on the street and noting warblers passing overhead, I heard a call I recognized and immediately called it Eastern Meadowlark. This would be my first called in nocturnal flight, so, as whenever this is the case, I found myself hesitant. By coincidence, while driving home from work on Monday, I heard the same call I'd heard the previous night. Crazy? Maybe. My iPod is nearly always on random shuffle across all music and audio recordings. One of the ways I feel calibrated is when I consistently make correct calls without context on my iPod shuffle (e.g., long-term success rate on BLGR vs. DICK). So, I hit pause and sure enough - Eastern Meadowlark. I decided I was going to claim it.
So, my question is how unusual are EAME NFCs? Anything I'm not thinking of that is possible and extremely similar (besides WEME)? The Evans/O'Brien CD summarizes, "Primarily a nocturnal migrant but engages in limited resumed migration. Gives flight call regularly while perched and in flight during the day. Rarely gives flight call in nocturnal migration." We do, in fact, hear this call regularly from migrant meadowlarks on Assateague Island, and it is getting to be that time. The vast majority of my records on the island are from October and November. The other possible explanation, of course, is that local birds move around pre-dawn. While listening very late/early this spring, I'd hear local bluebirds calling overhead that I didn't end up thinking were actually migrating. Very interested in any thoughts. Thanks! Bill Bill Hubick Pasadena, Maryland [email protected] http://www.billhubick.com http://www.marylandbiodiversity.com -- 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/[email protected]/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/ --
