On Sat, Jan 4, 2020 at 12:02 PM Dave Nutter <nutter.d...@me.com> wrote:
> Hi All, > > Those of you who are Cayuga Bird Club members may have seen an article in > January’s newsletter that was based on my quick report (below) about the > Ithaca Christmas Bird Count compilation on the evening of January first. I > gave the editor permission to use my report, with which he rapidly > completed and sent out the newsletter later that same evening after a long > day of birding. My name was on the article, but I did not write the > paragraph which incorrectly stated that there were no Kestrels reported. > However, I did hear some comments from the audience about the numbers of > small falcons, as was mentioned in that paragraph. > > As with many species this year, there was a low count of 2 American > Kestrels. Then the next species on the list, the closely related Merlin, > had one of the very few record high counts, a total of 5 birds. Lab > Director John Fitzpatrick recalled when Kestrels were common and Merlins > were a rarity. > My sincerest apologies to Dave for the mistake. Even though the accompanying list clearly shows the kestrel count at 2, somehow I was under the impression that it was one of the big misses of the day, and thought it worth mentioning. Thanks for the clarification. I likely confused it with peregrines, which we missed, though that miss isn't too surprising, I think. FWIW, my personal impression is that the high merlin count is noteworthy and likely accurate, given the relative frequency of merlin reports elsewhere in the area. The single-day kestrel low count on its own is probably not enough to draw conclusions. Suan -- 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/ --
