Re:[cayugabirds-l] [nfc-l] migrating cuckoos

[Karen Edelstein]

This is why, in the southern US, cuckoos are known as "rain crows". I
hadn't made the connection to the "cow-row" call as part of the possible
derivation of that name before!

>"On the evening of July 11-a pitch-dark evening with a thundershower
lowering,-they were remarkably noisy, both sitting in trees and flying high
in air."

--

Cayugabirds-L List Info:
http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME
http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES
http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm

ARCHIVES:
1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html
2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds
3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html

Please submit your observations to eBird:
http://ebird.org/content/ebird/

--

Re:[cayugabirds-l] [nfc-l] migrating cuckoos

[Kenneth Victor Rosenberg]

Hi all,

I just heard a YELLOW-BILLED CI|UCKOO high over my house at 10:50 this evening 
-- giving the long "K'OW K'OW" call series.

thanks for all the info and anecdotes on mid-summer calling in cuckoos, I am 
aware of the odd mid-summer calling and I have heard (mostly BBCU} on warm 
summer nights. I also hear a scattering of calls from both cuckoos, along with 
few thrushes and other migrants) consistently through the first week of June. 
The birds I heard were high in the sky and appeared to be moving (but it is 
certainly possible that I m wrong.

KEN.


Ken Rosenberg
Conservation Science Program
Cornell Lab of Ornithology
607-254-2412
607-342-4594 (cell)
k...@cornell.edu

On Jun 7, 2012, at 5:57 AM, Bill Evans wrote:

There’s a delightful old paper by Gerald Thayer describing "the mid-summer, 
mid-night, mid-sky gyrations of the Black-billed Cuckoo, as noted by my father 
and me for three consecutive seasons in the southwestern corner of New 
Hampshire":

”Several years before we discovered the nocturnal-flight phenomenon, we began 
to be puzzled by the extreme frequency of Cuckoo calls on summer nights. 
***They uttered both the cow-row notes and the rolling guttural call; but the 
guttural was much the commoner of the two, except on dark, foggy nights, when 
the case was usually reversed. ***The birds were often so far up as to be only 
faintly audible when directly overhead, with no obstructions interposed; and 
this on a still night would seem to mean an elevation of at least a hundred and 
fifty yards. They sometimes flew lower, however, and on cloudy nights often 
moved about barely above the tree-tops.”
“On the evening of July 11-a pitch-dark evening with a thundershower 
lowering,-they were remarkably noisy, both sitting in trees and flying high in 
air. The seated ones, of which I heard only two, made the Cowcow notes, while 
all the flying ones made the liquid gurgle. I heard this note overhead between 
thirty and forty times in the course of about three hours, during half of which 
time I was afoot on the road.”

-- Thayer, G. H. 1903. The Mystery of the Black-billed Cuckoo. Bird Lore 
5:143-145.

In a big nocturnal flight I heard moving up the St. Croix River (MN/WI) in late 
May of 1985, I estimated a rate of passage of Black-billed Cuckoos in the range 
of 100 per hour for at least a few hours in the middle of the night. This was 
not a call total but a rate of vocal birds estimated by following multiple 
calls from apparently the same individual, and it was clear that these birds 
were migrants heading northbound. In 1988-1990 I began recording nocturnal 
flight calls each fall migration period in early July around Ithaca, NY and was 
surprised that in each season the highest rate of BBCU calling was in July 
through early August. There seemed to be a lot of variability in the number of 
calls I recorded between proximal nights, which could be a function of 
weather/wind and microphone pickup dynamics or that the birds tended to prefer 
some nights over others. In the big passerine push from mid –August through 
mid-September across central NY, BBCU flight calls are less common than one 
might expect. Using a Sennheiser shotgun mic back in those days, my rates of 
BBCU nocturnal flight call detection in the latter half of August were in the 
1-2 per hour range (averaged over whole night). In the first half of September 
rates dropped to the range of one call every four hours. Whereas in July 
through early August it was common to record sustained rate through the night 
of 4-5 per hour. But as I mentioned there was a lot of variability from night 
to night.

I haven’t recorded much in June in central NY, but my impression has been that 
the breeding ground flight calling,  the “mid-summer, mid-night, mid-sky, 
gyrations”,  is a phenomenon that increases in July.

Bill E



--

Cayugabirds-L List Info:
http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME
http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES
http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm

ARCHIVES:
1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html
2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds
3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html

Please submit your observations to eBird:
http://ebird.org/content/ebird/

--

Re:[cayugabirds-l] [nfc-l] migrating cuckoos

[Christopher Wood]

While a different species, the British Trust for Ornithology has done
some fascinating work on Common Cuckoo migration. Individuals were
already moving south in the first half of June (a month earlier than
anticipated). Take a look at the link below.

http://www.bto.org/science/migration/tracking-studies/cuckoo-tracking

Certainly there are different life history traits, but I expect that
Black-billed and Yellow-billed Cuckoos in North America will shatter
conventional wisdom of what they do here. The speed at which cuckoos
fledge is astonishing and I would not be at all surprised if many do
not linger very long in any location. But I'll be the first to admit
that I haven't a clue what cuckoos do, why they do it or when they do
it!

As technology develops I expect we will see more and more individuals
of a variety of species (perhaps particularly first-year males?) move
throughout the "breeding season". Perhaps these "summer" "breeding
season" nocturnal flights and vocalizations are a way that that fairly
low-density species with ephemeral habitat/food encounter each other
and good habitat (either for that year or for a following year)?
Perhaps this is another reason why Sora, Virginia Rail are recorded
with fairly high regularity as calling flyovers in summer in areas
where they are otherwise generally uncommon (i.e. Tompkins County,
NY). They breed in habitats that change from year to year so a bit of
wanderlust could be advantageous for the following breeding season. I
think cuckoos face similar ephemeral challenges, but based on food
availability.

Fascinating stuff.

Chris Wood

eBird & Neotropical Birds Project Leader
Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York
http://ebird.org
http://neotropical.birds.cornell.edu


On Thu, Jun 7, 2012 at 5:57 AM, Bill Evans  wrote:
> There’s a delightful old paper by Gerald Thayer describing "the mid-summer,
> mid-night, mid-sky gyrations of the Black-billed Cuckoo, as noted by my
> father and me for three consecutive seasons in the southwestern corner of
> New Hampshire":
>
> ”Several years before we discovered the nocturnal-flight phenomenon, we
> began to be puzzled by the extreme frequency of Cuckoo calls on summer
> nights. ***They uttered both the cow-row notes and the rolling guttural
> call; but the guttural was much the commoner of the two, except on dark,
> foggy nights, when the case was usually reversed. ***The birds were often so
> far up as to be only faintly audible when directly overhead, with no
> obstructions interposed; and this on a still night would seem to mean an
> elevation of at least a hundred and fifty yards. They sometimes flew lower,
> however, and on cloudy nights often moved about barely above the tree-tops.”
> “On the evening of July 11-a pitch-dark evening with a thundershower
> lowering,-they were remarkably noisy, both sitting in trees and flying high
> in air. The seated ones, of which I heard only two, made the Cowcow notes,
> while all the flying ones made the liquid gurgle. I heard this note overhead
> between thirty and forty times in the course of about three hours, during
> half of which time I was afoot on the road.”
>
> -- Thayer, G. H. 1903. The Mystery of the Black-billed Cuckoo. Bird Lore
> 5:143-145.
>
> In a big nocturnal flight I heard moving up the St. Croix River (MN/WI) in
> late May of 1985, I estimated a rate of passage of Black-billed Cuckoos in
> the range of 100 per hour for at least a few hours in the middle of the
> night. This was not a call total but a rate of vocal birds estimated by
> following multiple calls from apparently the same individual, and it was
> clear that these birds were migrants heading northbound. In 1988-1990 I
> began recording nocturnal flight calls each fall migration period in early
> July around Ithaca, NY and was surprised that in each season the highest
> rate of BBCU calling was in July through early August. There seemed to be a
> lot of variability in the number of calls I recorded between proximal
> nights, which could be a function of weather/wind and microphone pickup
> dynamics or that the birds tended to prefer some nights over others. In the
> big passerine push from mid –August through mid-September across central NY,
> BBCU flight calls are less common than one might expect. Using a Sennheiser
> shotgun mic back in those days, my rates of BBCU nocturnal flight call
> detection in the latter half of August were in the 1-2 per hour range
> (averaged over whole night). In the first half of September rates dropped to
> the range of one call every four hours. Whereas in July through early August
> it was common to record sustained rate through the night of 4-5 per hour.
> But as I mentioned there was a lot of variability from night to night.
>
> I haven’t recorded much in June in central NY, but my impression has been
> that the breeding ground flight calling,  the “mid-summer, mid-night,
> mid-sky, gyrations”,  is a phenomenon that increases in July.
>
> Bill E
>
> --
> N

Re:[cayugabirds-l] [nfc-l] migrating cuckoos

[Bill Evans]

There’s a delightful old paper by Gerald Thayer describing "the mid-summer, 
mid-night, mid-sky gyrations of the Black-billed Cuckoo, as noted by my father 
and me for three consecutive seasons in the southwestern corner of New 
Hampshire":

”Several years before we discovered the nocturnal-flight phenomenon, we began 
to be puzzled by the extreme frequency of Cuckoo calls on summer nights. 
***They uttered both the cow-row notes and the rolling guttural call; but the 
guttural was much the commoner of the two, except on dark, foggy nights, when 
the case was usually reversed. ***The birds were often so far up as to be only 
faintly audible when directly overhead, with no obstructions interposed; and 
this on a still night would seem to mean an elevation of at least a hundred and 
fifty yards. They sometimes flew lower, however, and on cloudy nights often 
moved about barely above the tree-tops.”

“On the evening of July 11-a pitch-dark evening with a thundershower 
lowering,-they were remarkably noisy, both sitting in trees and flying high in 
air. The seated ones, of which I heard only two, made the Cowcow notes, while 
all the flying ones made the liquid gurgle. I heard this note overhead between 
thirty and forty times in the course of about three hours, during half of which 
time I was afoot on the road.”

-- Thayer, G. H. 1903. The Mystery of the Black-billed Cuckoo. Bird Lore 
5:143-145. 

In a big nocturnal flight I heard moving up the St. Croix River (MN/WI) in late 
May of 1985, I estimated a rate of passage of Black-billed Cuckoos in the range 
of 100 per hour for at least a few hours in the middle of the night. This was 
not a call total but a rate of vocal birds estimated by following multiple 
calls from apparently the same individual, and it was clear that these birds 
were migrants heading northbound. In 1988-1990 I began recording nocturnal 
flight calls each fall migration period in early July around Ithaca, NY and was 
surprised that in each season the highest rate of BBCU calling was in July 
through early August. There seemed to be a lot of variability in the number of 
calls I recorded between proximal nights, which could be a function of 
weather/wind and microphone pickup dynamics or that the birds tended to prefer 
some nights over others. In the big passerine push from mid –August through 
mid-September across central NY, BBCU flight calls are less common than one 
might expect. Using a Sennheiser shotgun mic back in those days, my rates of 
BBCU nocturnal flight call detection in the latter half of August were in the 
1-2 per hour range (averaged over whole night). In the first half of September 
rates dropped to the range of one call every four hours. Whereas in July 
through early August it was common to record sustained rate through the night 
of 4-5 per hour. But as I mentioned there was a lot of variability from night 
to night.

I haven’t recorded much in June in central NY, but my impression has been that 
the breeding ground flight calling,  the “mid-summer, mid-night, mid-sky, 
gyrations”,  is a phenomenon that increases in July.

Bill E  
--

Cayugabirds-L List Info:
http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME
http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES
http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm

ARCHIVES:
1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html
2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds
3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html

Please submit your observations to eBird:
http://ebird.org/content/ebird/

--

Re:[cayugabirds-l] [nfc-l] migrating cuckoos

[Christopher T. Tessaglia-Hymes]

I've been recording and then hand browsing most nights this spring. Even on 
crummy nights with drizzle or light north winds, at least one Black-billed 
Cuckoo vocalized each night. Total Black-billed Cuckoo calls (some are 
duplicate birds heard calling twice as they pass over, once distant and once 
clearly audible) over Etna, NY thus far (including some partial song notes) is: 
190. Total Yellow-billed Cuckoo migrant songs or song fragments over Etna, NY 
thus far is: 41 - these birds seem to clearly sing only once and cannot be 
heard repeating again. Most nights I don't seem to start recording until 10:00 
or 11:00pm, just due to personal logistics, so I know I've missed some birds 
moving earlier in the night, soon after end of civil twilight. Lots of other 
cool migrants have been able to be picked up including many Alder Flycatchers 
and multiple probable Willow Flycatchers, plus several migrant Virginia Rails 
and at least two Soras. A few Swainson's Thrushes and an occasional 
Gray-cheeked Thrush are still heard migrating (as of last night). It's been 
really neat hand browsing these data; I've saved clips of lots of interesting 
and unidentified bird sounds, including shorebirds. Quiet nights can be hand 
browsed in about 45 minutes, but busier nights from earlier in the spring could 
take upwards of 3-4 hours (because I'm selecting and saving all audio clips).

Sincerely,
Chris T-H

On Jun 6, 2012, at 11:10 PM, Kenneth Victor Rosenberg wrote:

I was surprised to step out in my driveway (Ithaca NY) this evening and hear 4 
BLACK-BILLED CUCKOOS in 15 minutes (3 in the first 5 minutes). Maybe caught the 
tail end of a migration burst, but at least some mysterious migrants are 
continuing to move at night.

KEN


Ken Rosenberg
Conservation Science Program
Cornell Lab of Ornithology
607-254-2412
607-342-4594 (cell)
k...@cornell.edu


--

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/

--


--
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


--

Cayugabirds-L List Info:
http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME
http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES
http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm

ARCHIVES:
1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html
2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds
3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html

Please submit your observations to eBird:
http://ebird.org/content/ebird/

--