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

[david nicosia]

This is anecdotal. But each year I do an informal survey of the singing males 
at New
Michigan State Forest in Pharsalia Chenango County, NY. I try very hard to not 
recount birds 
and I have been doing this almost yearly since 2009. This is a boreal like 
forest...one of the 
few you can find outside the Catskills and Adirondacks in the highlands of 
central NY. This 
year I found all typical boreal breeders to be as common as past years. 
BLACKBURNIAN, 
MAGNOLIA WARBLERS were most abundant like other years as well as tons of 
OVENBIRDS. 
My total numbers were a bit down but I did not have time to do a couple roads 
that I did past years. 
If I did these roads I have no doubt numbers who have been comparable to other 
years. The 
dawn chorus was very active. This is just one spotso hard to make any 
conclusions here.  

I am assuming this is just this year for many of you? If so, it has to be 
weather related. 
If it is a gradual decline through the years...then one would think it could be 
habitat 
changes...possibly wintering grounds and/or breeding grounds?? 

Of course, if resident birds are not as common either as has been stated...is 
there a 
disease affecting birds???

let's hope they rebound. Quite spring/summer woodlands is just downright 
depressing. 



 From: Joan E. Collins 
To: 'Christopher T. Tessaglia-Hymes'  
Cc: 'NYSBIRDS-L' ; 'NFC-L' 
; 'Sean O'Brien' ; 'Chris Rimmer' 
; northern_ny_bi...@yahoogroups.com 
Sent: Monday, June 17, 2013 3:35 PM
Subject: RE:[nfc-l] [nysbirds-l] Minimal Migration or Population Decline?
 


Hi Chris/All,
 
I am out every day and I have not noticed any improvement.  As I walk through 
the forest (or bogs), the lack of birds is all I can think about.  I am 
surprised this has not been a dominant discussion on our NYS Birds list serve.  
It is so disturbing and everyone is anxiously awaiting BBS data for this year – 
but of course roadside surveys don’t work well for many species.  I can barely 
find a Lincoln’s Sparrow (I jump up and down when I hear one now) – a species 
that is normally abundant in our Adirondack bogs.  Canada Warbler numbers are 
way down.  I have also noticed the same lack of species that you listed 
(although, I have not noticed a lack of Ruby-throated Hummingbirds in northern 
NY).  Indigo Bunting is another species that is hard to find.  Scarlet Tanager, 
Veery….I could keep going…
 
Chris Rimmer, Director of the Vermont Center for Ecostudies, emailed about the 
lack of neotropical migrants in e-central VT, and he is hearing the same thing 
from others – how quiet the forests are this spring.  He has noticed that 
Swainson’s Thrush numbers are down up on Mount Mansfield in VT.  I’ve been 
finding a few more on dawn tours up Whiteface Mountain since the Memorial Day 
Weekend 3-foot snowfall melted away.  I plan to conduct the Mountain Birdwatch 
survey of that peak on Thursday, and the results should shed some light on 
Swainson’s Thrush numbers (at least in high elevation), in addition to numbers 
for all the other species we tally for that survey (I have the data from last 
year to compare to).
 
Jeff Nadler, photographer, just emailed about a 3 day trip he took to boreal 
habitat areas in northern VT & NH, which he visits every year, and the lack of 
birds this year.  He noticed not only a lack of neotropical migrants, but also 
a lack of year-round boreal species!  He echoed the same thing everyone is 
noticing – the forests are “quiet” with no loud dawn chorus.
 
I think we are all wondering the same question: “What happened?”  I hope this 
question will eventually have an answer.
 
Joan Collins
Long Lake, NY
 
 
From:Christopher T. Tessaglia-Hymes [mailto:c...@cornell.edu] 
Sent: Monday, June 17, 2013 11:17 AM
To: Joan E. Collins
Cc: NYSBIRDS-L; NFC-L; Sean O'Brien
Subject: Re: [nysbirds-l] Fwd: Minimal Migration or Population Decline?
 
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
 
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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"  Date: Mon, June 17, 2013 11:16 am To: "Joan E. Collins"  Cc: NYSBIRDS-L , NFC-L , "Sean O'Brien"   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 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 la

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

[ecofa...@aol.com]

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

[Joan E. Collins]

Hi Chris/All,

 

I am out every day and I have not noticed any improvement.  As I walk
through the forest (or bogs), the lack of birds is all I can think about.  I
am surprised this has not been a dominant discussion on our NYS Birds list
serve.  It is so disturbing and everyone is anxiously awaiting BBS data for
this year - but of course roadside surveys don't work well for many species.
I can barely find a Lincoln's Sparrow (I jump up and down when I hear one
now) - a species that is normally abundant in our Adirondack bogs.  Canada
Warbler numbers are way down.  I have also noticed the same lack of species
that you listed (although, I have not noticed a lack of Ruby-throated
Hummingbirds in northern NY).  Indigo Bunting is another species that is
hard to find.  Scarlet Tanager, Veery..I could keep going.

 

Chris Rimmer, Director of the Vermont Center for Ecostudies, emailed about
the lack of neotropical migrants in e-central VT, and he is hearing the same
thing from others - how quiet the forests are this spring.  He has noticed
that Swainson's Thrush numbers are down up on Mount Mansfield in VT.  I've
been finding a few more on dawn tours up Whiteface Mountain since the
Memorial Day Weekend 3-foot snowfall melted away.  I plan to conduct the
Mountain Birdwatch survey of that peak on Thursday, and the results should
shed some light on Swainson's Thrush numbers (at least in high elevation),
in addition to numbers for all the other species we tally for that survey (I
have the data from last year to compare to).

 

Jeff Nadler, photographer, just emailed about a 3 day trip he took to boreal
habitat areas in northern VT & NH, which he visits every year, and the lack
of birds this year.  He noticed not only a lack of neotropical migrants, but
also a lack of year-round boreal species!  He echoed the same thing everyone
is noticing - the forests are "quiet" with no loud dawn chorus.

 

I think we are all wondering the same question: "What happened?"  I hope
this question will eventually have an answer.

 

Joan Collins

Long Lake, NY

 

 

From: Christopher T. Tessaglia-Hymes [mailto:c...@cornell.edu] 
Sent: Monday, June 17, 2013 11:17 AM
To: Joan E. Collins
Cc: NYSBIRDS-L; NFC-L; Sean O'Brien
Subject: Re: [nysbirds-l] Fwd: Minimal Migration or Population Decline?

 

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

 


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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 die

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: 
http://www.texasbirdimages.com/home/2013-fallout---cameron-county

[nfc-l] Cuckoo Migration

[Christopher T. Tessaglia-Hymes]

Last night was my highest Black-billed Cuckoo count since starting regular 
recording in late May of this year. A total of 21 vocalizations were heard from 
at least 18 different individuals passing over my house in Etna, NY.

I've uploaded a couple of images of the cuckoo chart for all of 2012 and for 
part of 2013, here:

2012 Migration Seasons:

http://www.northeastbirding.com/Cuckoo/2012Cuckoo.jpg

2013 Migration Season (unfortunately, I am lacking a significant chunk of data 
for May):

http://www.northeastbirding.com/Cuckoo/2013Cuckoo.jpg

Good birding!

Sincerely,
Chris T-H


--
Christopher T. Tessaglia-Hymes
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


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