Re:[nfc-l] [nysbirds-l] Fwd: Minimal Migration or Population Decline?

[Christopher T. Tessaglia-Hymes]

Thanks for sharing this, Adam.

These are interesting hypotheses. I will have to ask Walter about this and how 
this could potentially relate to a perceived decline of birds in certain areas 
this year, and how this relate to a perceived decline in areas outside of the 
range of the cyclical cicada brood hatches.

Sincerely,
Chris T-H

On Jun 19, 2013, at 8:46 AM, Adam Zorn 
mailto:asz...@hotmail.com>>
 wrote:

Here's another potential explanation (or the beginning of a potential 
explanation) regarding the apparent decline of birds this year in the eastern 
US.  Its an article from Discover Magazine's blog entitled "During Cicada Boom, 
Birds Mysteriously Vanish" 
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/crux/2013/06/18/the-cicada-paradox#.UcGmmOesiSo

I've been following this email discussion and figured this was obviously 
relevant and worth sharing with everyone.

Regards,
Adam

-
Adam Zorn
Naturalist - Westmoreland Sanctuary
Board Member - Bedford Audubon Society


From: c...@cornell.edu
To: joan.coll...@frontier.com
CC: nysbird...@list.cornell.edu; 
nf...@list.cornell.edu; 
nypizza...@gmail.com
Subject: Re: [nysbirds-l] Fwd: Minimal Migration or Population Decline?
Date: Mon, 17 Jun 2013 15:16:51 +

Thank you, Joan, for this anecdotal evidence. Since it has been a couple of 
weeks now, I'm curious to know if anyone has noted an improvement in their 
local area birding spots, or if it has been more of the same. For me, I've 
noted a serious lack of typical neighborhood birds that used to be a regular 
part of the acoustic atmosphere: Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Baltimore Oriole and 
Red-eyed Vireo, just to name a few. I've also noticed a lack of Ruby-throated 
Hummingbirds this year – usually, they are zipping around and chittering in the 
neighborhood. Not so this year, yet anyway. If this is region-wide, I'd think 
it critically important to collect as much data as possible to help monitor or 
track this seeming dearth of activity. I expect this fall migration to be 
fairly telling, if there was a pop-ulation-wide impact of some kind.

Sincerely,
Chris T-H




On Jun 4, 2013, at 4:11 PM, Joan E. Collins wrote:

Thank you for this interesting post Chris.  This has been a dominate topic of 
discussion among many birders in the Adirondacks.  Sean O’Brien and I have been 
talking every few days wondering what has happened to many neotropical migrants 
this year.  I mentioned the low numbers of Blackpoll Warblers and 
Yellow-bellied Flycatchers on Whiteface Mountain in my earlier post today, but 
numbers of most neotropical migrants appear way down.  Sean keeps remarking 
that there is no dawn chorus this year.  Even my non-birder husband has been 
noting the lack of birds this spring.  Normally, you can’t sleep past 4:30 a.m. 
in our house at this time of year because of the remarkable dawn sounds outside 
our bedroom window, but it feels more like late summer every morning with the 
lack of songs.  I was aware of the weather-related fallout on the Gulf Coast of 
Texas in April, and I had to wonder, with so many birds too exhausted to be 
afraid of humans, how many may have perished unseen over the Gulf?

Migration seemed highly unusual this year.  Normally, species like Blue-headed 
Vireo would suddenly fill the forests overnight.  This year, I found ONE, and 
then a week went by and I found a second one, then several days went by and 
they began to arrive in a trickle.  Species were, for the most part, late 
arriving and they trickled in.  We have been waiting for the forests to fill, 
but it hasn’t happened and it is now June 4th.  In a section of Massawepie Mire 
that is normally filled with breeding Canada Warblers, we heard one on 
Saturday.  It is definitely worrisome.

As you mentioned, BBS surveys may help document the apparent population 
declines.  Thanks again for your thoughts about possible reasons for such 
worrisome declines.  I too, would be interested to hear the thoughts of other 
birders on this topic.

Joan Collins
Long Lake, NY


From: 
bounce-98052797-13418...@list.cornell.edu
 [mailto:bounce-98052797-13418...@list.cornell.edu] On 
Behalf Of Christopher T. Tessaglia-Hymes
Sent: Tuesday, June 04, 2013 12:18 PM
To: NYSBIRDS-L
Subject: [nysbirds-l] Fwd: Minimal Migration or Population Decline?

Good afternoon!

This morning, I sent the following email to NFC-L, the Night Flight Call eList, 
and thought some on NYSbirds-L might find this of interest or have some input.

Sincerely,
Chris T-H

Begin forwarded message:


Date: June 4, 2013 9:46:52 AM EDT
To: NFC-L mailto:nf...@list.cornell.edu>>
Subject: 

RE: [nfc-l] [nysbirds-l] Fwd: Minimal Migration or Population Decline?

[Jim Tate]

I have yet to see a single Chimney Swift in DC or nearby Montgomery County, MD this year.  Perhaps Montgomery Bird Club has data on this issue     -TATEJames Tate, Jr., Ph.D.2031 Huidekoper Pl NWWashington, DC 20007T 202-841-2056j...@tate-tate.us Research Associate Smithsonian Institution Migratory Bird Center Senior Fellow and Director Ecological Economics and Ethics ProgramPotomac Institute for Policy Studies  LEGAL DISCLAIMER: The information transmitted herein is intended solely for the individual or entity to which it is addressed and may contain confidential and/or privileged material. Any review, retransmission, dissemination or other use of or taking action in reliance upon this information by persons or entities other than the intended recipient is prohibited. If you have received this email in error please contact the sender and delete the material from any computer.    Original Message  Subject: Re:[nfc-l] [nysbirds-l] Fwd: Minimal Migration or Population Decline? From: "Christopher T. Tessaglia-Hymes" <c...@cornell.edu> Date: Mon, June 17, 2013 11:16 am To: "Joan E. Collins" <joan.coll...@frontier.com> Cc: NYSBIRDS-L <nysbird...@list.cornell.edu>, NFC-L <nf...@list.cornell.edu>, "Sean O'Brien" <nypizza...@gmail.com>  Thank you, Joan, for this anecdotal evidence. Since it has been a couple of weeks now, I'm curious to know if anyone has noted an improvement in their local area birding spots, or if it has been more of the same. For me, I've noted a serious lack of typical neighborhood birds that used to be a regular part of the acoustic atmosphere: Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Baltimore Oriole and Red-eyed Vireo, just to name a few. I've also noticed a lack of Ruby-throated Hummingbirds this year – usually, they are zipping around and chittering in the neighborhood. Not so this year, yet anyway. If this is region-wide, I'd think it critically important to collect as much data as possible to help monitor or track this seeming dearth of activity. I expect this fall migration to be fairly telling, if there was a pop-ulation-wide impact of some kind.   Sincerely, Chris T-H  On Jun 4, 2013, at 4:11 PM, Joan E. Collins wrote:  Thank you for this interesting post Chris.  This has been a dominate topic of discussion among many birders in the Adirondacks.  Sean O’Brien and I have been talking every few days wondering what has happened to many neotropical migrants this year.  I mentioned the low numbers of Blackpoll Warblers and Yellow-bellied Flycatchers on Whiteface Mountain in my earlier post today, but numbers of most neotropical migrants appear way down.  Sean keeps remarking that there is no dawn chorus this year.  Even my non-birder husband has been noting the lack of birds this spring.  Normally, you can’t sleep past 4:30 a.m. in our house at this time of year because of the remarkable dawn sounds outside our bedroom window, but it feels more like late summer every morning with the lack of songs.  I was aware of the weather-related fallout on the Gulf Coast of Texas in April, and I had to wonder, with so many birds too exhausted to be afraid of humans, how many may have perished unseen over the Gulf?     Migration seemed highly unusual this year.  Normally, species like Blue-headed Vireo would suddenly fill the forests overnight.  This year, I found ONE, and then a week went by and I found a second one, then several days went by and they began to arrive in a trickle.  Species were, for the most part, late arriving and they trickled in.  We have been waiting for the forests to fill, but it hasn’t happened and it is now June 4th.  In a section of Massawepie Mire that is normally filled with breeding Canada Warblers, we heard one on Saturday.  It is definitely worrisome.     As you mentioned, BBS surveys may help document the apparent population declines.  Thanks again for your thoughts about possible reasons for such worrisome declines.  I too, would be interested to hear the thoughts of other birders on this topic.     Joan Collins  Long Lake, NY      From: bounce-98052797-13418...@list.cornell.edu [mailto:bounce-98052797-13418...@list.cornell.edu] On Behalf Of Christopher T. Tessaglia-Hymes Sent: Tuesday, June 04, 2013 12:18 PM To: NYSBIRDS-L Subject: [nysbirds-l] Fwd: Minimal Migration or Population Decline?    Good afternoon!    This morning, I sent the following email to NFC-L, the Night Flight Call eList, and thought some on NYSbirds-L might find this of interest or have some input.    Sincerely,Chris T-H    Begin forwarded message:Date: June 4, 2013 9:46:52 AM EDTTo: NFC-L <nf...@list.cornell.edu>Subject: Minimal Migration or Population Decline?    Good morning,    I am curious to know if recording stations in the Northeast have experienced, numerically – with respect to quantity of night flight calls, a reduced number of migrants this spring as co

Re: [nfc-l] [nysbirds-l] Fwd: Minimal Migration or Population Decline?

[Christopher T. Tessaglia-Hymes]

I did have a conversation with Laura Erickson of Minnesota recently, plus was 
pointed toward some of the archives for the Michigan bird list. Much 
conversation around even the Great Lakes this spring was of the noted lack of 
migration and NOT the abnormally high numbers of migrants passing through that 
region. Again, I think it would be very good for birders to continue gathering 
sighting data (or lack thereof – zeros as data are still data).

Sincerely,
Chris

On Jun 4, 2013, at 6:36 PM, mailto:birde...@yahoo.com>>
 mailto:birde...@yahoo.com>> wrote:

All,

My delayed, or lack there of, sightings of many 
migratory-Adirondack-breeding-species would fall in the same vein as what 
everyone else is seeing. However, watching the Doppler radar patterns(which I 
did over much of May) of spring migration species, show just what Chris has 
mentioned...there were many nights when birds came up along the Mississippi 
corridor due to that long lasting, and blocking weather pattern through much of 
early May(or somewhere around that time!). And also as Chris mentions, birds 
may have flown to the Great Lakes region(on favorable winds)and finally found 
some westerlies to get them to eastern breeding grounds. This could(?) explain 
why we missed so much in May.
Did we see higher (easterly) migration patterns around the Great Lakes(Chicago, 
Cleveland, Buffalo?)
I hope we can get some more birder-input on this fascinating topic!

Brian McAllister
Saranac Lake


On Jun 4, 2013, at 4:11 PM, "Joan E. Collins" 
mailto:joan.coll...@frontier.com>> wrote:

Thank you for this interesting post Chris.  This has been a dominate topic of 
discussion among many birders in the Adirondacks.  Sean O’Brien and I have been 
talking every few days wondering what has happened to many neotropical migrants 
this year.  I mentioned the low numbers of Blackpoll Warblers and 
Yellow-bellied Flycatchers on Whiteface Mountain in my earlier post today, but 
numbers of most neotropical migrants appear way down.  Sean keeps remarking 
that there is no dawn chorus this year.  Even my non-birder husband has been 
noting the lack of birds this spring.  Normally, you can’t sleep past 4:30 a.m. 
in our house at this time of year because of the remarkable dawn sounds outside 
our bedroom window, but it feels more like late summer every morning with the 
lack of songs.  I was aware of the weather-related fallout on the Gulf Coast of 
Texas in April, and I had to wonder, with so many birds too exhausted to be 
afraid of humans, how many may have perished unseen over the Gulf?

Migration seemed highly unusual this year.  Normally, species like Blue-headed 
Vireo would suddenly fill the forests overnight.  This year, I found ONE, and 
then a week went by and I found a second one, then several days went by and 
they began to arrive in a trickle.  Species were, for the most part, late 
arriving and they trickled in.  We have been waiting for the forests to fill, 
but it hasn’t happened and it is now June 4th.  In a section of Massawepie Mire 
that is normally filled with breeding Canada Warblers, we heard one on 
Saturday.  It is definitely worrisome.

As you mentioned, BBS surveys may help document the apparent population 
declines.  Thanks again for your thoughts about possible reasons for such 
worrisome declines.  I too, would be interested to hear the thoughts of other 
birders on this topic.

Joan Collins
Long Lake, NY


From: 
bounce-98052797-13418...@list.cornell.edu
 [mailto:bounce-98052797-13418...@list.cornell.edu] On Behalf Of Christopher T. 
Tessaglia-Hymes
Sent: Tuesday, June 04, 2013 12:18 PM
To: NYSBIRDS-L
Subject: [nysbirds-l] Fwd: Minimal Migration or Population Decline?

Good afternoon!

This morning, I sent the following email to NFC-L, the Night Flight Call eList, 
and thought some on NYSbirds-L might find this of interest or have some input.

Sincerely,
Chris T-H

Begin forwarded message:


Date: June 4, 2013 9:46:52 AM EDT
To: NFC-L mailto:nf...@list.cornell.edu>>
Subject: Minimal Migration or Population Decline?

Good morning,

I am curious to know if recording stations in the Northeast have experienced, 
numerically – with respect to quantity of night flight calls, a reduced number 
of migrants this spring as compared to past years. My perception is that there 
was a noticeable lack of birds moving throughout certain regions of the 
Northeast this spring. Conversely, did recording stations elsewhere (perhaps in 
the mid-west) record higher numbers of migrants this spring?

On the ground, for example, I don't ever remember a year when I only heard or 
saw 2-3 Blackpoll Warblers. Period. Usually, I would hear or see several 
Blackpoll Warblers on any given day over the course of a few days during the 
peak movement for this species. Of course, maybe a mass die-off of Blackpoll 
Warblers and other migrants went unnoticed this past fall or this spring, 
similar to the infamous mass 

Re:[nfc-l] [nysbirds-l] Fwd: Minimal Migration or Population Decline?

[Christopher T. Tessaglia-Hymes]

Thank you, Joan, for this anecdotal evidence. Since it has been a couple of 
weeks now, I'm curious to know if anyone has noted an improvement in their 
local area birding spots, or if it has been more of the same. For me, I've 
noted a serious lack of typical neighborhood birds that used to be a regular 
part of the acoustic atmosphere: Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Baltimore Oriole and 
Red-eyed Vireo, just to name a few. I've also noticed a lack of Ruby-throated 
Hummingbirds this year – usually, they are zipping around and chittering in the 
neighborhood. Not so this year, yet anyway. If this is region-wide, I'd think 
it critically important to collect as much data as possible to help monitor or 
track this seeming dearth of activity. I expect this fall migration to be 
fairly telling, if there was a pop-ulation-wide impact of some kind.

Sincerely,
Chris T-H




On Jun 4, 2013, at 4:11 PM, Joan E. Collins wrote:

Thank you for this interesting post Chris.  This has been a dominate topic of 
discussion among many birders in the Adirondacks.  Sean O’Brien and I have been 
talking every few days wondering what has happened to many neotropical migrants 
this year.  I mentioned the low numbers of Blackpoll Warblers and 
Yellow-bellied Flycatchers on Whiteface Mountain in my earlier post today, but 
numbers of most neotropical migrants appear way down.  Sean keeps remarking 
that there is no dawn chorus this year.  Even my non-birder husband has been 
noting the lack of birds this spring.  Normally, you can’t sleep past 4:30 a.m. 
in our house at this time of year because of the remarkable dawn sounds outside 
our bedroom window, but it feels more like late summer every morning with the 
lack of songs.  I was aware of the weather-related fallout on the Gulf Coast of 
Texas in April, and I had to wonder, with so many birds too exhausted to be 
afraid of humans, how many may have perished unseen over the Gulf?

Migration seemed highly unusual this year.  Normally, species like Blue-headed 
Vireo would suddenly fill the forests overnight.  This year, I found ONE, and 
then a week went by and I found a second one, then several days went by and 
they began to arrive in a trickle.  Species were, for the most part, late 
arriving and they trickled in.  We have been waiting for the forests to fill, 
but it hasn’t happened and it is now June 4th.  In a section of Massawepie Mire 
that is normally filled with breeding Canada Warblers, we heard one on 
Saturday.  It is definitely worrisome.

As you mentioned, BBS surveys may help document the apparent population 
declines.  Thanks again for your thoughts about possible reasons for such 
worrisome declines.  I too, would be interested to hear the thoughts of other 
birders on this topic.

Joan Collins
Long Lake, NY


From: 
bounce-98052797-13418...@list.cornell.edu
 [mailto:bounce-98052797-13418...@list.cornell.edu] On Behalf Of Christopher T. 
Tessaglia-Hymes
Sent: Tuesday, June 04, 2013 12:18 PM
To: NYSBIRDS-L
Subject: [nysbirds-l] Fwd: Minimal Migration or Population Decline?

Good afternoon!

This morning, I sent the following email to NFC-L, the Night Flight Call eList, 
and thought some on NYSbirds-L might find this of interest or have some input.

Sincerely,
Chris T-H

Begin forwarded message:


Date: June 4, 2013 9:46:52 AM EDT
To: NFC-L mailto:nf...@list.cornell.edu>>
Subject: Minimal Migration or Population Decline?

Good morning,

I am curious to know if recording stations in the Northeast have experienced, 
numerically – with respect to quantity of night flight calls, a reduced number 
of migrants this spring as compared to past years. My perception is that there 
was a noticeable lack of birds moving throughout certain regions of the 
Northeast this spring. Conversely, did recording stations elsewhere (perhaps in 
the mid-west) record higher numbers of migrants this spring?

On the ground, for example, I don't ever remember a year when I only heard or 
saw 2-3 Blackpoll Warblers. Period. Usually, I would hear or see several 
Blackpoll Warblers on any given day over the course of a few days during the 
peak movement for this species. Of course, maybe a mass die-off of Blackpoll 
Warblers and other migrants went unnoticed this past fall or this spring, 
similar to the infamous mass die-off from 2-3 October 2011 at the Laurel 
Mountain wind facility in West Virginia. See: 
http://www.birdfellow.com/journal/2011/10/29/in_the_news_484_blackpoll_warblers_die_at_wind_farm.
 Note: it is suggested these birds succumbed to exhaustion from becoming 
trapped in the sphere of fog-reflected light produced by a lighted substation, 
which was accidentally left on overnight at the facility, rather than actual 
deaths caused by direct turbine strikes.

I know there was a memorable weather-related fallout on the Gulf Coast of Texas 
this past 25-27 April 2013. See: 

Re: [nfc-l] [nysbirds-l] Fwd: Minimal Migration or Population Decline?

[Marshall Iliff]

All,

I had been having similar thoughts to Chris: can we quantify the impact of
individual fallouts (or a series of fallouts) at a population level.

*However*, I worry quite a lot about using NFC or banding station counts to
quantify this. Banding stations catch more migrating birds in inclement
weather which forces them to the ground; NFC stations record more birds in
low ceiling and overcast nights when birds are forced lower. Trying to
account for these major weather effects will be a challenge.

I have been thinking that BBS data may be a better course, at least for
species like Scarlet Tanager, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Indigo Bunting and
Baltimore Oriole--all of which were hit hard in Texas.

Best,

Marshall




On Wed, Jun 5, 2013 at 2:23 PM, Laura C. Gooch  wrote:

>  I checked with Julie Shieldcastle from Black Swamp Bird Observatory
> (south shore of Lake Erie about 30 km east of Toledo). The numbers for
> their Navarre banding station were actually above average for the spring,
> contrary to my impression that they were low to moderate. Bill Evans
> pointed out that the higher numbers this year are supported by his
> listening station there: http://www.oldbird.org/Data/2013/ONWR/ONWR.htm
>
> Bill also pointed out that my call counts in Cleveland Heights are higher
> than the detections at the listening station at Black Swamp this year.  His
> thought is that my station may get a concentration of birds attempting to
> fly around Lake Erie, and also that artificial light at my suburban station
> may be a factor.
>
>
> Laura Gooch
> Cleveland Heights, Ohio
>
> On 6/5/2013 8:38 AM, Laura Gooch wrote:
>
>   I don't have enough years of data to say anything very
> useful about night calls during migration here (east side of Cleveland,
> Ohio). However, I do know that we had a very light spring banding season.
> I believe that the banding season at Black Swamp Bird Observatory, on the
> south shore of Lake Erie about 30 km east of Toledo (a few km east of
> Magee Marsh), was also light to moderate. They have over 20 years of
> banding data at BSBO, and I believe that they do note light years in
> which winds seem to favor migrants staying farther west as they move
> north. On the other hand, I know Mark Shieldcastle (research director at
> BSBO) was concerned about mortality from the repeated periods of
> unseasonably cold weather in the south central part of the country.
>
> I'm still analyzing my data for this spring. Most of what I've counted and 
> ID'd
> so far is posted here:
>
>  http://listeningup.wordpress.com/summary-of-night-flight-calls-detected/
>
>
>  If some of you more experienced folks have a chance to take a look, I'm
> curious how these numbers compare to what other stations detect. I'm
> counting from 1/2 hours after sunset to 1/2 hour before sunset, which
> will mean that I have few more hits than the 1 hour after/before
> protocol, but this won't have much impact since I generally don't get
> many hits in these periods. In addition, some of these nights still need
> a second pass that will result in some adjustment of the numbers. I don't
> expect the change to be more than 5% or so, mostly in the downward
> direction as I eliminate a few possible hits that I previously flagged
> for further examination. Unfortunately, I my ID efforts haven't caught up
> to the days when significant warbler migration might be expected to begin.
>
>  Laura Gooch
> Cleveland Heights, Ohio
>
> --- On *Tue, 6/4/13, birde...@yahoo.com 
> 
> * wrote:
>
>
> From: birde...@yahoo.com  
> Subject: Re: [nfc-l] [nysbirds-l] Fwd: Minimal Migration or Population
> Decline?
> To: "Joan E. Collins" 
> Cc: "Christopher T. Tessaglia-Hymes"  ,
> "NYSBIRDS-L"  ,
> " " 
> 
> Date: Tuesday, June 4, 2013, 6:36 PM
>
>  All,
>
>  My delayed, or lack there of, sightings of many
> migratory-Adirondack-breeding-species would fall in the same vein as what
> everyone else is seeing. However, watching the Doppler radar patterns(which
> I did over much of May) of spring migration species, show just what Chris
> has mentioned...there were many nights when birds came up along the
> Mississippi corridor due to that long lasting, and blocking weather pattern
> through much of early May(or somewhere around that time!). And also as
> Chris mentions, birds may have flown to the Great Lakes region(on favorable
> winds)and finally found some westerlies to get them to eastern breeding
> grounds. This could(?) explain why we missed so much in May.
> Did we see higher (easterly) migration patterns around the Great
> Lakes(Chicago, Cleveland, Buffalo?)
> I hope we can get some more birder-input on this fascinating topic!
>
> Brian McAllister
> Sar

Re: [nfc-l] [nysbirds-l] Fwd: Minimal Migration or Population Decline?

[Laura C. Gooch]

I checked with Julie Shieldcastle from Black Swamp Bird Observatory 
(south shore of Lake Erie about 30 km east of Toledo). The numbers for 
their Navarre banding station were actually above average for the 
spring, contrary to my impression that they were low to moderate. Bill 
Evans pointed out that the higher numbers this year are supported by his 
listening station there: http://www.oldbird.org/Data/2013/ONWR/ONWR.htm

Bill also pointed out that my call counts in Cleveland Heights are 
higher than the detections at the listening station at Black Swamp this 
year.  His thought is that my station may get a concentration of birds 
attempting to fly around Lake Erie, and also that artificial light at my 
suburban station may be a factor.

Laura Gooch
Cleveland Heights, Ohio

On 6/5/2013 8:38 AM, Laura Gooch wrote:
> I don't have enough years of data to say anything very
> useful about night calls during migration here (east side of 
> Cleveland, Ohio). However, I do know that we had a very light spring 
> banding season. I believe that the banding season at Black Swamp Bird 
> Observatory, on the south shore of Lake Erie about 30 km east of 
> Toledo (a few km east of Magee Marsh), was also light to moderate. 
> They have over 20 years of banding data at BSBO, and I believe that 
> they do note light years in which winds seem to favor migrants staying 
> farther west as they move north. On the other hand, I know Mark 
> Shieldcastle (research director at BSBO) was concerned about mortality 
> from the repeated periods of unseasonably cold weather in the south 
> central part of the country.
>
> I'm still analyzing my data for this spring. Most of what I've counted 
> and ID'd so far is posted here:
>
> http://listeningup.wordpress.com/summary-of-night-flight-calls-detected/
>
>
> If some of you more experienced folks have a chance to take a look, 
> I'm curious how these numbers compare to what other stations detect. 
> I'm counting from 1/2 hours after sunset to 1/2 hour before sunset, 
> which will mean that I have few more hits than the 1 hour after/before 
> protocol, but this won't have much impact since I generally don't get 
> many hits in these periods. In addition, some of these nights still 
> need a second pass that will result in some adjustment of the numbers. 
> I don't expect the change to be more than 5% or so, mostly in the 
> downward direction as I eliminate a few possible hits that I 
> previously flagged for further examination. Unfortunately, I my ID 
> efforts haven't caught up to the days when significant warbler 
> migration might be expected to begin.
>
> Laura Gooch
> Cleveland Heights, Ohio
>
> --- On *Tue, 6/4/13, birde...@yahoo.com //*wrote:
>
>
> From: birde...@yahoo.com 
> Subject: Re: [nfc-l] [nysbirds-l] Fwd: Minimal Migration or
> Population Decline?
> To: "Joan E. Collins" 
> Cc: "Christopher T. Tessaglia-Hymes" ,
> "NYSBIRDS-L" , ""
> 
> Date: Tuesday, June 4, 2013, 6:36 PM
>
> All,
>
> My delayed, or lack there of, sightings of many
> migratory-Adirondack-breeding-species would fall in the same vein
> as what everyone else is seeing. However, watching the Doppler
> radar patterns(which I did over much of May) of spring migration
> species, show just what Chris has mentioned...there were many
> nights when birds came up along the Mississippi corridor due to
> that long lasting, and blocking weather pattern through much of
> early May(or somewhere around that time!). And also as Chris
> mentions, birds may have flown to the Great Lakes region(on
> favorable winds)and finally found some westerlies to get them to
> eastern breeding grounds. This could(?) explain why we missed so
> much in May.
> Did we see higher (easterly) migration patterns around the Great
> Lakes(Chicago, Cleveland, Buffalo?)
> I hope we can get some more birder-input on this fascinating topic!
>
> Brian McAllister
> Saranac Lake
>
>
> On Jun 4, 2013, at 4:11 PM, "Joan E. Collins"
>  > wrote:
>
>> Thank you for this interesting post Chris.  This has been a
>> dominate topic of discussion among many birders in the
>> Adirondacks. Sean O’Brien and I have been talking every few days
>> wondering what has happened to many neotropical migrants this
>> year.  I mentioned the low numbers of Blackpoll Warblers and
>> Yellow-bellied Flycatchers on Whiteface Mountain in my earlier
>> post today, but numbers of most neotropical migrants appear way
>> down. Sean keeps remarking that there is no dawn chorus this
>> year.  Even m

Re: [nfc-l] [nysbirds-l] Fwd: Minimal Migration or Population Decline?

[Laura Gooch]

I don't have enough years of data to say anything veryuseful about night calls 
during migration here (east side of Cleveland, Ohio). However, I do know that 
we had a very light spring banding season. I believe that the banding season at 
Black Swamp Bird Observatory, on the south shore of Lake Erie about 30 km east 
of Toledo (a few km east of Magee Marsh), was also light to moderate. They have 
over 20 years of banding data at BSBO, and I believe that they do note light 
years in which winds seem to favor migrants staying farther west as they move 
north. On the other hand, I know Mark Shieldcastle (research director at BSBO) 
was concerned about mortality from the repeated periods of unseasonably cold 
weather in the south central part of the country.
I'm still analyzing my data for this spring. Most of what I've counted and ID'd 
so far is posted here: 
http://listeningup.wordpress.com/summary-of-night-flight-calls-detected/
If some of you more experienced folks have a chance to take a look, I'm curious 
how these numbers compare to what other stations detect. I'm counting from 1/2 
hours after sunset to 1/2 hour before sunset, which will mean that I have few 
more hits than the 1 hour after/before protocol, but this won't have much 
impact since I generally don't get many hits in these periods. In addition, 
some of these nights still need a second pass that will result in some 
adjustment of the numbers. I don't expect the change to be more than 5% or so, 
mostly in the downward direction as I eliminate a few possible hits that I 
previously flagged for further examination. Unfortunately, I my ID efforts 
haven't caught up to the days when significant warbler migration might be 
expected to begin.
Laura GoochCleveland Heights, Ohio

--- On Tue, 6/4/13, birde...@yahoo.com  wrote:

From: birde...@yahoo.com 
Subject: Re: [nfc-l] [nysbirds-l] Fwd: Minimal Migration or Population Decline?
To: "Joan E. Collins" 
Cc: "Christopher T. Tessaglia-Hymes" , "NYSBIRDS-L" 
, "" 
Date: Tuesday, June 4, 2013, 6:36 PM

All,
My delayed, or lack there of, sightings of many 
migratory-Adirondack-breeding-species would fall in the same vein as what 
everyone else is seeing. However, watching the Doppler radar patterns(which I 
did over much of May) of spring migration species, show just what Chris has 
mentioned...there were many nights when birds came up along the Mississippi 
corridor due to that long lasting, and blocking weather pattern through much of 
early May(or somewhere around that time!). And also as Chris mentions, birds 
may have flown to the Great Lakes region(on favorable winds)and finally found 
some westerlies to get them to eastern breeding grounds. This could(?) explain 
why we missed so much in May.Did we see higher (easterly) migration patterns 
around the Great Lakes(Chicago, Cleveland, Buffalo?)I hope we can get some more 
birder-input on this fascinating topic!

Brian McAllisterSaranac Lake


On Jun 4, 2013, at 4:11 PM, "Joan E. Collins"  wrote:

Thank you for this interesting post Chris.  This has been a dominate topic of 
discussion among many birders in the Adirondacks.  Sean O’Brien and I have been 
talking every few days wondering what has happened to many neotropical migrants 
this year.  I mentioned the low numbers of Blackpoll Warblers and 
Yellow-bellied Flycatchers on Whiteface Mountain in my earlier post today, but 
numbers of most neotropical migrants appear way down.  Sean keeps remarking 
that there is no dawn chorus this year.  Even my non-birder husband has been 
noting the lack of birds this spring.  Normally, you can’t sleep past 4:30 a.m. 
in our house at this time of year because of the remarkable dawn sounds outside 
our bedroom window, but it feels more like late summer every morning with the 
lack of songs.  I was aware of the weather-related fallout on the Gulf Coast of 
Texas in April, and I had to wonder, with so many birds too exhausted to be 
afraid of humans, how many
 may have perished unseen over the Gulf?  Migration seemed highly unusual this 
year.  Normally, species like Blue-headed Vireo would suddenly fill the forests 
overnight.  This year, I found ONE, and then a week went by and I found a 
second one, then several days went by and they began to arrive in a trickle.  
Species were, for the most part, late arriving and they trickled in.  We have 
been waiting for the forests to fill, but it hasn’t happened and it is now June 
4th.  In a section of Massawepie Mire that is normally filled with breeding 
Canada Warblers, we heard one on Saturday.  It is definitely worrisome.  As you 
mentioned, BBS surveys may help document the apparent population declines.  
Thanks again for your thoughts about possible reasons for such worrisome 
declines.  I too, would be interested to hear the thoughts of other birders on 
this topic.  Joan CollinsLong Lake, NY    From: 
bounce-98052797-13418...@list.cornell.edu
 [mailto:bo

Re: [nfc-l] [nysbirds-l] Fwd: Minimal Migration or Population Decline?

[birder64]

All,

My delayed, or lack there of, sightings of many 
migratory-Adirondack-breeding-species would fall in the same vein as what 
everyone else is seeing. However, watching the Doppler radar patterns(which I 
did over much of May) of spring migration species, show just what Chris has 
mentioned...there were many nights when birds came up along the Mississippi 
corridor due to that long lasting, and blocking weather pattern through much of 
early May(or somewhere around that time!). And also as Chris mentions, birds 
may have flown to the Great Lakes region(on favorable winds)and finally found 
some westerlies to get them to eastern breeding grounds. This could(?) explain 
why we missed so much in May.
Did we see higher (easterly) migration patterns around the Great Lakes(Chicago, 
Cleveland, Buffalo?)
I hope we can get some more birder-input on this fascinating topic!

Brian McAllister
Saranac Lake


On Jun 4, 2013, at 4:11 PM, "Joan E. Collins"  wrote:

> Thank you for this interesting post Chris.  This has been a dominate topic of 
> discussion among many birders in the Adirondacks.  Sean O’Brien and I have 
> been talking every few days wondering what has happened to many neotropical 
> migrants this year.  I mentioned the low numbers of Blackpoll Warblers and 
> Yellow-bellied Flycatchers on Whiteface Mountain in my earlier post today, 
> but numbers of most neotropical migrants appear way down.  Sean keeps 
> remarking that there is no dawn chorus this year.  Even my non-birder husband 
> has been noting the lack of birds this spring.  Normally, you can’t sleep 
> past 4:30 a.m. in our house at this time of year because of the remarkable 
> dawn sounds outside our bedroom window, but it feels more like late summer 
> every morning with the lack of songs.  I was aware of the weather-related 
> fallout on the Gulf Coast of Texas in April, and I had to wonder, with so 
> many birds too exhausted to be afraid of humans, how many may have perished 
> unseen over the Gulf?
>  
> Migration seemed highly unusual this year.  Normally, species like 
> Blue-headed Vireo would suddenly fill the forests overnight.  This year, I 
> found ONE, and then a week went by and I found a second one, then several 
> days went by and they began to arrive in a trickle.  Species were, for the 
> most part, late arriving and they trickled in.  We have been waiting for the 
> forests to fill, but it hasn’t happened and it is now June 4th.  In a section 
> of Massawepie Mire that is normally filled with breeding Canada Warblers, we 
> heard one on Saturday.  It is definitely worrisome.
>  
> As you mentioned, BBS surveys may help document the apparent population 
> declines.  Thanks again for your thoughts about possible reasons for such 
> worrisome declines.  I too, would be interested to hear the thoughts of other 
> birders on this topic.
>  
> Joan Collins
> Long Lake, NY
>  
>  
> From: bounce-98052797-13418...@list.cornell.edu 
> [mailto:bounce-98052797-13418...@list.cornell.edu] On Behalf Of Christopher 
> T. Tessaglia-Hymes
> Sent: Tuesday, June 04, 2013 12:18 PM
> To: NYSBIRDS-L
> Subject: [nysbirds-l] Fwd: Minimal Migration or Population Decline?
>  
> Good afternoon!
>  
> This morning, I sent the following email to NFC-L, the Night Flight Call 
> eList, and thought some on NYSbirds-L might find this of interest or have 
> some input.
>  
> Sincerely,
> Chris T-H
>  
> Begin forwarded message:
> 
> 
> Date: June 4, 2013 9:46:52 AM EDT
> To: NFC-L 
> Subject: Minimal Migration or Population Decline?
>  
> Good morning,
>  
> I am curious to know if recording stations in the Northeast have experienced, 
> numerically – with respect to quantity of night flight calls, a reduced 
> number of migrants this spring as compared to past years. My perception is 
> that there was a noticeable lack of birds moving throughout certain regions 
> of the Northeast this spring. Conversely, did recording stations elsewhere 
> (perhaps in the mid-west) record higher numbers of migrants this spring?
>  
> On the ground, for example, I don't ever remember a year when I only heard or 
> saw 2-3 Blackpoll Warblers. Period. Usually, I would hear or see several 
> Blackpoll Warblers on any given day over the course of a few days during the 
> peak movement for this species. Of course, maybe a mass die-off of Blackpoll 
> Warblers and other migrants went unnoticed this past fall or this spring, 
> similar to the infamous mass die-off from 2-3 October 2011 at the Laurel 
> Mountain wind facility in West Virginia. See: 
> http://www.birdfellow.com/journal/2011/10/29/in_the_news_484_blackpoll_warblers_die_at_wind_farm.
>  Note: it is suggested these birds succumbed to exhaustion from becoming 
> trapped in the sphere of fog-reflected light produced by a lighted 
> substation, which was accidentally left on overnight at the facility, rather 
> than actual deaths caused by direct turbine strikes.
>  
> I know there was a memorable weather-related