I can attest to the enormous flight in southwestern Pennsylvania this morning. Still analyzing recordings but as a preview I am up to just shy of 900 Swainson's Thrush calls in the last 30 minutes before civil twilight, along with 51 Gray-cheeked, 15 Wood Thrush, and <10 Rose-breasted Grosbeak and Scarlet Tanager. Warblers calls in total are at about 90. Still analyzing with a long way to go, which will greatly up the totals of Swainson's and Gray-cheeked judging by what I heard in real time. Later in the morning I had 15 sp. of warbler at a local migration hotspot.
Last night was one of the most impressive flights I've heard here in suburban and often noise-infested Pittsburgh. Geoff Malosh Geoff Malosh | Editor, Pennsylvania Birds 450 Amherst Avenue | Moon Township, PA 15108-2654 | 412.735.3128 [email protected] | http://home.earthlink.net/~pomarine/index.html =========================================================================== Pennsylvania Birds is published by the Pennsylvania Society for Ornithology Preview the latest issue: http://www.pabirds.org/pabirds/pb_sample.html Subscription information: http://www.pabirds.org/PSOJoin.htm From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Rudolph Keller Sent: Friday, September 19, 2014 3:33 PM To: Christopher T. Tessaglia-Hymes; Andrew Albright; CAYUGABIRDS-L; NFC-L Subject: Re: [cayugabirds-l] [nfc-l] Thursday: Night Flight in Northeast 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 <mailto:[email protected]> To: Andrew Albright <mailto:[email protected]> ; CAYUGABIRDS-L <mailto:[email protected]> ; NFC-L <mailto:[email protected]> 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 <[email protected]> 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 <[email protected]> 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" <[email protected]> wrote: Just a heads-up about a potential push of birds into this area overnight tonight... Begin forwarded message: From: "Christopher T. Tessaglia-Hymes" <[email protected]> Subject: [nfc-l] Thursday: Night Flight in Northeast Date: September 18, 2014 at 9:38:18 PM EDT To: NFC-L <[email protected]> Reply-To: "Christopher T. Tessaglia-Hymes" <[email protected]> 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 -- NFC-L List Info: <http://www.northeastbirding.com/NFC_WELCOME> Welcome and Basics <http://www.northeastbirding.com/NFC_RULES> Rules and Information <http://www.northeastbirding.com/NFC-L_SubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm> Subscribe, Configuration and Leave Archives: <http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.html> The Mail Archive <http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NFC-L> Surfbirds <http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NFCL.html> BirdingOnThe.Net Please submit your observations to eBird <http://ebird.org/content/ebird/> ! -- -- Christopher T. Tessaglia-Hymes Field Applications Engineer Bioacoustics Research Program, Cornell Lab of Ornithology 159 Sapsucker Woods Road, Ithaca, New York 14850 W: <tel:607-254-2418> 607-254-2418 M: <tel:607-351-5740> 607-351-5740 F: <tel:607-254-1132> 607-254-1132 http://www.birds.cornell.edu/brp -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: <http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME> Welcome and Basics <http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES> Rules and Information <http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm> Subscribe, Configuration and Leave Archives: <http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.html> The Mail Archive <http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds> Surfbirds <http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html> BirdingOnThe.Net Please submit your observations to eBird <http://ebird.org/content/ebird/> ! -- -- NFC-L List Info: <http://www.northeastbirding.com/NFC_WELCOME> Welcome and Basics <http://www.northeastbirding.com/NFC_RULES> Rules and Information <http://www.northeastbirding.com/NFC-L_SubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm> Subscribe, Configuration and Leave Archives: <http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.html> The Mail Archive <http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NFC-L> Surfbirds <http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NFCL.html> BirdingOnThe.Net Please submit your observations to eBird <http://ebird.org/content/ebird/> ! -- -- Christopher T. Tessaglia-Hymes Field Applications Engineer Bioacoustics Research Program, Cornell Lab of Ornithology 159 Sapsucker Woods Road, Ithaca, New York 14850 W: <tel:607-254-2418> 607-254-2418 M: <tel:607-351-5740> 607-351-5740 F: <tel:607-254-1132> 607-254-1132 http://www.birds.cornell.edu/brp -- NFC-L List Info: <http://www.northeastbirding.com/NFC_WELCOME> Welcome and Basics <http://www.northeastbirding.com/NFC_RULES> Rules and Information <http://www.northeastbirding.com/NFC-L_SubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm> Subscribe, Configuration and Leave Archives: <http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.html> The Mail Archive <http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NFC-L> Surfbirds <http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NFCL.html> BirdingOnThe.Net Please submit your observations to eBird <http://ebird.org/content/ebird/> ! -- Rudy Keller Boyertown, PA Berks County -- NFC-L List Info: <http://www.northeastbirding.com/NFC_WELCOME> Welcome and Basics <http://www.northeastbirding.com/NFC_RULES> Rules and Information <http://www.northeastbirding.com/NFC-L_SubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm> Subscribe, Configuration and Leave Archives: <http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.html> The Mail Archive <http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NFC-L> Surfbirds <http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NFCL.html> BirdingOnThe.Net Please submit your observations to eBird <http://ebird.org/content/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/[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/ --
