Re: [cayugabirds-l] Bird Signs of Earlier Spring?

[Dave Nutter]

Here’s some of what I’ve been seeing with crows. 

As of today they are still gathering in the thousands in the evening in the 
woods near the fish ladder (behind Home Depot). The winter roost must include 
birds which breed somewhere else. Where? 

There are also locally breeding crows here. Today I saw a pair foraging on a 
lawn near Northeast Elementary School. (One had brown wing tags with ‘36’ on 
them. The other crow had no tags.) I bet it was a pair on their territory even 
though they are a couple weeks away from breeding. I think of mid-March as the 
time to see a crow carrying a stick for a nest. Perhaps crow pairs spend a lot 
of time on their territory throughout the winter.  

On Wednesday near Freeville I saw one crow diving repeatedly at a Red-tailed 
Hawk that was perched in the top of a conifer. A second crow was perched nearby 
watching the display of aggression.

Yesterday I saw several Fish Crows poking at a large old stick nest in the top 
of a deciduous tree. Maybe it’s their nest from last year and they are sharing 
memories and bonding. They were not adding to it, and besides it is totally 
obvious without any leaves out.

I assume the Raven nest-building behavior was on schedule a bit earlier than 
crows for them to raise their larger offspring, similar to Great Horned Owls 
and Bald Eagles starting in winter. 

It’s normal for many of our year-round birds to sing on sunny days in winter 
after the days start to lengthen noticeably. Cardinals are usually first, even 
starting in the first week of January. Chickadees, Titmice, and White-breasted 
Nuthatches are also pretty early. Normal, but fun! 

Carolina Wrens sing year-round, one reason I am particularly fond of them. 

Thanks, Anne, for the information about birds’ cues to behavior change. 

- - Dave Nutter


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Re: [cayugabirds-l] Bird Signs of Earlier Spring?

[Peter]

Thanks Anne.

Very informative.

Question: how about birds SOUTH of the equator..say an upland 
sandpiper in Central Argentina. As Argentina's autumn is coming on the 
days are shortening. What cue to these birds then rely on?

Thanks

Pete Saracino


On 2/14/2018 11:43 AM, AB Clark wrote:
> There are certainly more knowledgeable ornithologists to answer but 
> this touches on some questions we are trying to answer with crows over 
> 30 years.  (Over that time, no directional change in average 
> winter-spring temps, in part because 1990 is a VERY warm year.)
>
> Gonadal development is typically related to day length and the 
> direction of day length change in birds, and goes on regardless of 
> temperatures.
>
> There are some semi-known, semi-hypothesized mechanisms by which birds 
> detect longer days. Essentially it goes something like this:  sunrise 
> re- sets the bird’s “endogenous” or innate rhythm of behavior and 
> neural activities.  (That is another story..)  After that there is a 
> period in which the bird is happily unresponsive to dark vs light. 
>  But that period ends about 4 in the afternoon, and after that the 
> bird is increasily senstitive to light being present.  If it isn’t, as 
> for short days around the solstice at this latitude, the bird just 
> goes to sleep without worrying about hormones (so to speak).  BUT if 
> the light is still there when it is sensitive later in the day, that 
> information stimulates or begins to stimulate gonadal development.  As 
> days go by, the other part of the cue is the lengthening or later 
> availability of light:  the day is not only 11 hours long but it is 2 
> min longer than yesterday.
>
> Note that birds that are spending the winter near the equator cannot 
> be using this mechanism as a decision as to when to migrate.  The 
> circannual clock is probably involved here, although birds could then 
> come part way and finish migration using day length.( I forget the 
> recent literature here.)  But birds that are migrating definitely 
> don’t benefit from making big gonads to carry along on migration.
>
> Actual decisions to move to nesting habitat, develop testes and sing 
> or begin developing ova preparatory to laying eggs have to be more 
> fine tuned…to weather (not climate), to personal condition and food 
> resources, etc. So the whole thing is a layered process of information 
> gathering, some quite codified, some quite flexible.
>
> OK—I am no specialist in this, so I will be happy to bow to more 
> educated answers, or to try to find answers to specific questions. 
>  For those of you who do “skulling” to age birds, that thin skull 
> permits light to penetrate directly to the pineal gland in 
> birds…something mammals cannot do, so they use an eye-brain connection.
>
> Anne
>
> PS for birds like budgerigars in Australia that breed erratically when 
> there is rain, rain seems to cue migration to breeding grounds and 
> greening foods (wild millet for instance) and dark nest holes spur 
> ovarian development in females.
> Anne B Clark
> 147 Hile School Rd
> Freeville, NY 13068
> 607-222-0905
> anneb.cl...@gmail.com <mailto:anneb.cl...@gmail.com>
>
>
>
>
>
>> On Feb 14, 2018, at 10:00 AM, psaracin > <mailto:psara...@rochester.rr.com>> wrote:
>>
>> Thanks Dave but that data does not address the issue of daylength 
>> (which has remained essentially the,same for the time period you 
>> mentioned). Again I say the behavior is much more related to 
>> photoperiod (day length) than any other thing.
>> Anyone else care to weigh in.
>>
>>
>>
>> Sent from my Verizon, Samsung Galaxy smartphone
>>
>>  Original message 
>> From: david nicosia mailto:daven1...@yahoo.com>>
>> Date: 2/14/18 8:30 AM (GMT-05:00)
>> To: Sandy Wold > <mailto:sandra.w...@gmail.com>>, Upstate NY Birding digest 
>> > <mailto:cayugabird...@list.cornell.edu>>, psaracin 
>> mailto:psara...@rochester.rr.com>>
>> Subject: Re: [cayugabirds-l] Bird Signs of Earlier Spring?
>>
>> I have heard Cardinals, titmice, chickadees, and carolina wrens sing 
>> on clear, sunny mornings with light winds and temperatures near zero 
>> in February for years. Plus, looking at the long term temperature 
>> records for Ithaca NY (from the Cornell U. site), surprisingly there 
>> has been /*no*/ long term trend in temperatures, even in the winter. 
>> I checked Jan-March, no trend and annually, which was slightly 
>> negative(probably not statistically significant). This means that 
>> from the late 1800s to present, there has been no warming and 
>> possibl

Re: [cayugabirds-l] Bird Signs of Earlier Spring?

[AB Clark]

There are certainly more knowledgeable ornithologists to answer but this 
touches on some questions we are trying to answer with crows over 30 years.  
(Over that time, no directional change in average winter-spring temps, in part 
because 1990 is a VERY warm year.)  

Gonadal development is typically related to day length and the direction of day 
length change in birds, and goes on regardless of temperatures.  

There are some semi-known, semi-hypothesized mechanisms by which birds detect 
longer days. Essentially it goes something like this:  sunrise re- sets the 
bird’s “endogenous” or innate rhythm of behavior and neural activities.  (That 
is another story..)  After that there is a period in which the bird is happily 
unresponsive to dark vs light.  But that period ends about 4 in the afternoon, 
and after that the bird is increasily senstitive to light being present.  If it 
isn’t, as for short days around the solstice at this latitude, the bird just 
goes to sleep without worrying about hormones (so to speak).  BUT if the light 
is still there when it is sensitive later in the day, that information 
stimulates or begins to stimulate gonadal development.  As days go by, the 
other part of the cue is the lengthening or later availability of light:  the 
day is not only 11 hours long but it is 2 min longer than yesterday. 

Note that birds that are spending the winter near the equator cannot be using 
this mechanism as a decision as to when to migrate.  The circannual clock is 
probably involved here, although birds could then come part way and finish 
migration using day length.( I forget the recent literature here.)  But birds 
that are migrating definitely don’t benefit from making big gonads to carry 
along on migration. 

Actual decisions to move to nesting habitat, develop testes and sing or begin 
developing ova preparatory to laying eggs have to be more fine tuned…to weather 
(not climate), to personal condition and food resources, etc. So the whole 
thing is a layered process of information gathering, some quite codified, some 
quite flexible.

OK—I am no specialist in this, so I will be happy to bow to more educated 
answers, or to try to find answers to specific questions.  For those of you who 
do “skulling” to age birds, that thin skull permits light to penetrate directly 
to the pineal gland in birds…something mammals cannot do, so they use an 
eye-brain connection.

Anne

PS for birds like budgerigars in Australia that breed erratically when there is 
rain, rain seems to cue migration to breeding grounds and greening foods (wild 
millet for instance) and dark nest holes spur ovarian development in females. 
Anne B Clark
147 Hile School Rd
Freeville, NY 13068
607-222-0905
anneb.cl...@gmail.com





> On Feb 14, 2018, at 10:00 AM, psaracin  wrote:
> 
> Thanks Dave but that data does not address the issue of daylength (which has 
> remained essentially the,same for the time period you mentioned). Again I say 
> the behavior is much more related to photoperiod (day length) than any other 
> thing.
> Anyone else care to weigh in.
> 
> 
> 
> Sent from my Verizon, Samsung Galaxy smartphone
> 
>  Original message 
> From: david nicosia 
> Date: 2/14/18 8:30 AM (GMT-05:00)
> To: Sandy Wold , Upstate NY Birding digest 
> , psaracin 
> Subject: Re: [cayugabirds-l] Bird Signs of Earlier Spring?
> 
> I have heard Cardinals, titmice, chickadees, and carolina wrens sing on 
> clear, sunny mornings with light winds and temperatures near zero in February 
> for years. Plus, looking at the long term temperature records for Ithaca NY 
> (from the Cornell U. site), surprisingly there has been no long term trend in 
> temperatures, even in the winter. I checked Jan-March, no trend and annually, 
> which was slightly negative(probably not statistically significant). This 
> means that from the late 1800s to present, there has been no warming and 
> possibly even slight cooling at Ithaca! There has been a warming trend since 
> the 1960s, which was the coolest part of the 20th century. Many people are 
> comparing today's temperatures locally to the 60s.  If you look before that 
> time period it was warmer and for some locations, like Ithaca, slightly 
> warmer than today. So the argument about earlier spring weather locally does 
> not apply to our birds based on this long running dataset. Of course, this is 
> just locally. Not speaking to what is happening globally! 
> 
> On Tuesday, February 13, 2018, 11:13:11 PM EST, psaracin 
>  wrote:
> 
> 
> Sandy, I, too, have heard titmice and cardinals. I believe such behavior is 
> more tied to hormonal responses brought on by increased daylength but am no 
> ornitholigist.
> 
> 
> 
> Sent from my Verizon, Samsung Galaxy smartphone
> 
> -------- Original message ----
> From: Sandy W

Re: [cayugabirds-l] Bird Signs of Earlier Spring?

[psaracin]

Thanks Dave but that data does not address the issue of daylength (which has 
remained essentially the,same for the time period you mentioned). Again I say 
the behavior is much more related to photoperiod (day length) than any other 
thing.Anyone else care to weigh in.


Sent from my Verizon, Samsung Galaxy smartphone
 Original message From: david nicosia  
Date: 2/14/18  8:30 AM  (GMT-05:00) To: Sandy Wold , 
Upstate NY Birding digest , psaracin 
 Subject: Re: [cayugabirds-l] Bird Signs of Earlier 
Spring? 

I have heard Cardinals, titmice, chickadees, and carolina wrens 
sing on clear, sunny mornings with light winds and temperatures near zero in 
February for years. Plus, looking at the long term temperature records for 
Ithaca NY (from the Cornell U. site), surprisingly there has been no long term 
trend in temperatures, even in the winter. I checked Jan-March, no trend and 
annually, which was slightly negative(probably not statistically significant). 
This means that from the late 1800s to present, there has been no warming and 
possibly even slight cooling at Ithaca! There has been a warming trend since 
the 1960s, which was the coolest part of the 20th century. Many people are 
comparing today's temperatures locally to the 60s.  If you look before that 
time period it was warmer and for some locations, like Ithaca, slightly warmer 
than today. So the argument about earlier spring weather locally does not apply 
to our birds based on this long running dataset. Of course, this is just 
locally. Not speaking to what is happening globally! 






On Tuesday, February 13, 2018, 11:13:11 PM EST, 
psaracin  wrote:





Sandy, I, too, have heard titmice and cardinals. I believe 
such behavior is more tied to hormonal responses brought on by increased 
daylength but am no ornitholigist.


Sent from my Verizon, Samsung Galaxy smartphone
 Original message From: Sandy Wold  
Date: 2/13/18  9:56 PM  (GMT-05:00) To: Upstate NY Birding digest 
 Subject: [cayugabirds-l] Bird Signs of Earlier 
Spring? 
Maybe this is obvious to everyone on this list with people reporting the call 
of a cardinal or "raven with nest material" in February.  But I also have been 
noticing sounds of spring (cardinal, titmouse, Carolina Wren, ...), crows 
checking out tree tops and pairing, crows bombing raptors,... since February 
1st (maybe even second or third week of January?).  I meant to write dates and 
temps in my notebook this year, but didn't.
It seems like all of this is happening a month or two early, am I wrong? Are 
there any scientific studies that show what triggers the timing of these 
territorial behaviors? Could it be a certain number of days above freezing?  I 
know the media talks about the growing seasons lengthening and things blooming 
earlier,... but I haven't seen anything written on bird nesting behavior.  Just 
curious, thanks!Sandy---
Climate Change Action: 30-day Ithaca VEGAN CHALLENGE (pledge for Earth Day 
2018)No-blame, no-shame support here: https://www.facebook. com/groups/ 
IthacaVeganChallenge/
Less meat = Less heat, 4 min. video  www.youtube.com/watch? v=lLhEmGx8YQE
---
Sandy WoldAuthor/Originator of Cayuga Basin Bioregion Map 
(available at Wegmans (near ATM), Autumn Leaves, Cornell Plantations, and 
Ithaca Visitor's Bureau)https://www.linkedin.com/in/ sandy-wold-877114a7/
https://sites.google.com/site/ cayugabioregionmap/about- author-and-artist
www.Sandy-Wold.com


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Re: [cayugabirds-l] Bird Signs of Earlier Spring?

[david nicosia]

 I have heard Cardinals, titmice, chickadees, and carolina wrens sing on clear, 
sunny mornings with light winds and temperatures near zero in February for 
years. Plus, looking at the long term temperature records for Ithaca NY (from 
the Cornell U. site), surprisingly there has been no long term trend in 
temperatures, even in the winter. I checked Jan-March, no trend and annually, 
which was slightly negative(probably not statistically significant). This means 
that from the late 1800s to present, there has been no warming and possibly 
even slight cooling at Ithaca! There has been a warming trend since the 1960s, 
which was the coolest part of the 20th century. Many people are comparing 
today's temperatures locally to the 60s.  If you look before that time period 
it was warmer and for some locations, like Ithaca, slightly warmer than today. 
So the argument about earlier spring weather locally does not apply to our 
birds based on this long running dataset. Of course, this is just locally. Not 
speaking to what is happening globally! 
On Tuesday, February 13, 2018, 11:13:11 PM EST, psaracin 
 wrote:  
 
 Sandy, I, too, have heard titmice and cardinals. I believe such behavior is 
more tied to hormonal responses brought on by increased daylength but am no 
ornitholigist.


Sent from my Verizon, Samsung Galaxy smartphone
 Original message From: Sandy Wold  
Date: 2/13/18 9:56 PM (GMT-05:00) To: Upstate NY Birding digest 
 Subject: [cayugabirds-l] Bird Signs of Earlier 
Spring? 
Maybe this is obvious to everyone on this list with people reporting the call 
of a cardinal or "raven with nest material" in February.  But I also have been 
noticing sounds of spring (cardinal, titmouse, Carolina Wren, ...), crows 
checking out tree tops and pairing, crows bombing raptors,... since February 
1st (maybe even second or third week of January?).  I meant to write dates and 
temps in my notebook this year, but didn't.
It seems like all of this is happening a month or two early, am I wrong? Are 
there any scientific studies that show what triggers the timing of these 
territorial behaviors? Could it be a certain number of days above freezing?  I 
know the media talks about the growing seasons lengthening and things blooming 
earlier,... but I haven't seen anything written on bird nesting behavior.  Just 
curious, thanks!Sandy
---
Climate Change Action: 30-day Ithaca VEGAN CHALLENGE (pledge for Earth Day 2018)
No-blame, no-shame support here: https://www.facebook. com/groups/ 
IthacaVeganChallenge/
Less meat = Less heat, 4 min. video  www.youtube.com/watch? v=lLhEmGx8YQE
---
Sandy WoldAuthor/Originator of Cayuga Basin Bioregion Map 
(available at Wegmans (near ATM), Autumn Leaves, Cornell Plantations, and 
Ithaca Visitor's Bureau)https://www.linkedin.com/in/ sandy-wold-877114a7/
https://sites.google.com/site/ cayugabioregionmap/about- author-and-artist
www.Sandy-Wold.com-- Cayugabirds-L List Info: Welcome and Basics Rules and 
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Re: [cayugabirds-l] Bird Signs of Earlier Spring?

[psaracin]

Sandy, I, too, have heard titmice and cardinals. I believe such behavior is 
more tied to hormonal responses brought on by increased daylength but am no 
ornitholigist.


Sent from my Verizon, Samsung Galaxy smartphone
 Original message From: Sandy Wold  
Date: 2/13/18  9:56 PM  (GMT-05:00) To: Upstate NY Birding digest 
 Subject: [cayugabirds-l] Bird Signs of Earlier 
Spring? 
Maybe this is obvious to everyone on this list with people reporting the call 
of a cardinal or "raven with nest material" in February.  But I also have been 
noticing sounds of spring (cardinal, titmouse, Carolina Wren, ...), crows 
checking out tree tops and pairing, crows bombing raptors,... since February 
1st (maybe even second or third week of January?).  I meant to write dates and 
temps in my notebook this year, but didn't.
It seems like all of this is happening a month or two early, am I wrong? Are 
there any scientific studies that show what triggers the timing of these 
territorial behaviors? Could it be a certain number of days above freezing?  I 
know the media talks about the growing seasons lengthening and things blooming 
earlier,... but I haven't seen anything written on bird nesting behavior.  Just 
curious, thanks!Sandy---
Climate Change Action: 30-day Ithaca VEGAN CHALLENGE (pledge for Earth Day 
2018)No-blame, no-shame support here: 
https://www.facebook.com/groups/IthacaVeganChallenge/
Less meat = Less heat, 4 min. video  www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLhEmGx8YQE
---
Sandy WoldAuthor/Originator of Cayuga Basin Bioregion Map 
(available at Wegmans (near ATM), Autumn Leaves, Cornell Plantations, and 
Ithaca Visitor's Bureau)https://www.linkedin.com/in/sandy-wold-877114a7/
https://sites.google.com/site/cayugabioregionmap/about-author-and-artist
www.Sandy-Wold.com


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[cayugabirds-l] Bird Signs of Earlier Spring?

[Sandy Wold]

Maybe this is obvious to everyone on this list with people reporting the
call of a cardinal or "raven with nest material" in February.  But I also
have been noticing sounds of spring (cardinal, titmouse, Carolina Wren,
...), crows checking out tree tops and pairing, crows bombing raptors,...
since February 1st (maybe even second or third week of January?).  I meant
to write dates and temps in my notebook this year, but didn't.

It seems like all of this is happening a month or two early, am I wrong?
Are there any scientific studies that show what triggers the timing of
these territorial behaviors? Could it be a certain number of days above
freezing?  I know the media talks about the growing seasons lengthening and
things blooming earlier,... but I haven't seen anything written on bird
nesting behavior.  Just curious, thanks!
Sandy


*---**Climate Change Action: 30-day Ithaca VEGAN CHALLENGE (pledge for
Earth Day 2018)*
*No-blame, no-shame support here: *
*https://www.facebook.com/groups/IthacaVeganChallenge/
**Less meat = Less
heat, 4 min. video  *
*www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLhEmGx8YQE
*
*---**Sandy Wold*
Author/Originator of Cayuga Basin Bioregion Map
(available at Wegmans (near ATM), Autumn Leaves, Cornell Plantations, and
Ithaca Visitor's Bureau)
https://www.linkedin.com/in/sandy-wold-877114a7/
*https://sites.google.com/site/cayugabioregionmap/about-author-and-artist
*
www.Sandy-Wold.com 

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