Birding Tales [A Bird in the Hand]

I love reading birding email lists, and from time to time there are really great stories that come through. The following post, a rare bird report submitted to the New York State Avian Records Committee (NYSARC), came across Cayugabirds-L this weekend. It's a fascinating encounter with a bird seldom-seen anywhere, and just about never in New York. It's also a call to expect the unexpected.

It also serves up some food for thought that has been bandied about for a long time: how many birds go undetected by observers on migration? How many species go undetected?


17 October, 2009
From: John L. Confer
Biology Department
Ithaca College,
Ithaca, NY 14850

To: NYSARC

Yellow Rail (Coturnicops noveboracensis) report.

On the afternoon of 17 Oct, 2009 I was walking through a ~60 acre hay field that was mowed this past July. This site is adjacent to the Goetchius Preserve, owned by the Finger Lakes Land Trust, about one mile west of the eastern edge of Tompkins County, NY and bordered to the east by Flatiron Rd, in the Town of Caroline. The coordinates are N42o, 25’30”, W76o 17’42”.

The mixed vegetation averaged about a foot high with patches of taller goldenrod and some areas with shorter vegetation. My dog, Belle Flower, began pouncing in the grass with stiff front legs and then grabbed something in her mouth. I fully expected the creature to be a dead vole, as has happened in the past. I pried her mouth open and was shocked to find it was a bird. I opened my hand and rolled the bird over for a better look. I was actually flabbergasted when it started to move. I’ve banded thousands of birds, but having just gotten it from Bell’s mouth, I was certain this one was dead and left my hand open. In a few seconds, this creature, which I had thought was certainly dead, flew out of my hand.

Frankly, I could have gotten a much more detailed view of this hand-held bird if I had anticipated it was well enough to get up and fly a few seconds after I removed it from the jaws of death. In fact this observation might be the shortest view of a potential NYSAR bird on record. Nonetheless, some of the features were seen in hand with complete certainty, enough so that I offer this report. I am quite certain of the features I saw, which I think are sufficient to definitively identify the bird. However, I know that there are features that you might well expect, which I did not have the time to observe. Please don’t pillage me too harshly for not noting several other features.


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Note that this is only the description of the encounter, though the Cayugabirds-L post did include Dr. Confer's responses to the NYSARC's Rare Bird Report questions (such as description of the bird's appearance, flight pattern, and how it similar species were eliminated in the identification process).

So, have you had any crazy encounters like this? Or know of any great stories like this from your area?

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You Gotta Go Outside! [It Is On]

Quick post to say there are a bazillion (give or take a kajillion) birds moving tonight. Here's the radar map from midnight EDT, note the depth of the dark blue doughnut-shaped circles. Light blue means birds are moving, dark blue means even more birds are moving. Green centers of those blues, like Homer Simpson's desired bowling ball with the liquid center, indicates heavy migration. Twenty minutes in the backyard was filled with more calls than I typically hear, almost exclusively thrushes and other low-frequency calling birds (that is, no sparrows or warblers that I could discern).

Be careful not to confuse the blocky green-with-yellow over Ohio and West Virginia with migration, that's rain. But the greens that show up encompassed by blue, hold on to your hats: lots of birds overhead.


Birding may be worth a few extra minutes in the morning!

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The Skies at Night

The skies at night certainly are big and bright on the radar screen, and not just in Texas. Last night's radar, Friday, September 04, was simply hopping here in NY.


Above is the radar from about 10:00 PM (EDT), which shows some intense dark blue across the north side of Lake Ontario and into the Adirondack mountains. The western sides of Massachusetts and Connecticut are also showing some serious airborne activity.

The time I spent outside, intermittent periods between 9:00 PM and midnight, were not throbbing with avian sound as I hoped. A few calls here and there, mostly warblers and sparrows but a couple of Swainson's Thrush mixed in, and they fought to be heard through the din of insects and my neighbor's affection for .38 Special.

Moon watching, on the other hand, was spectacular, at least in my limited experience. All told it averaged about a bird per minute, all small, all transiting the moon to the south. At least two bats danced independently in seemingly random directions. It's not like they were waltzing with one another, they'd appear from below, slow and graceful, and seem to hover. A few beats of the wings would take them higher, into the Sea of Tranquility, past the Sea of Crisis, and out past the edge of the moon. Or towards the crater Copernicus, through the Ocean of Storms and back into invisibility. By now you may be guessing I dug out my college astronomy text. Busted - you're right.


The cold front that prompted these birds to take flight will hopefully open another door of migration tonight. I'll be out again, listening and watching.

What are you seeing/hearing in your neck of the woods?

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I Wear My Sunglasses At Night

Last night was slow for nocturnal migrant watching on our hill, I never did see anything fly past the face of the moon. Others reported seeing a few birds here and there from sites nearby and far away, but all I noted were the flight calls of a few warblers and sparrows, and they only came after midnight.

Maybe I missed the silhouettes while my rods and cones were recovering from the brightness of the moon. I wore sunglasses while staring through the scope which helped a lot, but not enough. After staring for a few minutes I would turn and look at a patch of wildflowers in our yard, illuminated by moonlight to show white flowers as white, purple and red flowers as black, and yellow flowers as pale yellow. I could actually make out the yellow flowers with my non-scope eye. But if I covered my left eye and stared at the flowers with my right eye? They disappeared. It was an blind spot in my vision, a scotoma.

Which can't be good. But I'm seeing fine again now, so I'll be trying again tonight. Maybe I need darker shades?

David La Puma of Woodcreeper fame, a site dedicated to tracking migrating birds with radar, uploaded digiscoped clips of birds flying by the moon:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOVXdVooAeQ&NR=1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQOGPtAfmr0&NR=1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uASqg7OHBSw&NR=1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gz6qyvsBnrI&NR=1

Don't blink while you watch!

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Watch the Moon, Count the Birds

Mike Lanzone, flight-call guru (among other things) from the Powdermill Avian Research Center, is loosely coordinating a moonwatch tonight. The moon will be nearly full tonight, and if the weather cooperates migrating birds should be visible as they wing their way south.

Mike recently posted to the new Nocturnal Flight Call listserve (NFC-L),

A number of you have indicated that you would like to participate so I am just sending some very brief instructions for anyone that wants to participate. I am thinking that if possible between 10-11 and 11-12 we could watch at least 2 times during the hour for 5 minutes. Only count birds that actually go through the lighted part of the moon, but you can note others that you see in your field of view. I will be doing this 4 times per hour 5 minutes each time, starting at 9:00 pm. If you can only do this once for 10 minutes that will be ok too. This is fairly informal now, hopefully in the future it can become more. You should record the time(s) you begin and end, your location- closest town or lat/long, # birds that pass the moon (and bats too if you see any), other observations, and optics used. Send me your results and I will post to the list once I compile. Possibly in October we can get more people to join in!

Original email here. And if your concerned about identification, don't be! No need to ID species down to . . . well, species.

Why wait for October? If you've got some time tonight, wander outside and have a look. Or use tonight as a practice run for a wider effort in October. Or just got out and enjoy the night sounds, and take in Jupiter - with decent optics you can see at least four moons!

Of further interest:
Subscribe to NFC-L
Info about NFC-L
NFC-L archives

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Return To The Blogosphere

I'm back from vacation, where we were (happily) offline most of time. Not enough birding, but lots of photos taken and lots of blog fodder spinning in my head. I'm hoping to translate them into actual blog posts in the next week or two, once the pile on my work desk has cleared a bit. Wish me luck.

Tonight looks good for migration, especially in our area. I stepped outside during the last throes of the fading light and almost immediately heard flight calls from at least two Veeries. The skies are clear, the waxing gibbous moon on the rise, and the radar is popping.

Migration appears along the eastern seaboard, especially in eastern Virginia.
Radar image captured at 8:36 PM EDT from NCAR's RAP Real Time Weather Data.

Helpful hint to generate your own up-to-the-minute map: click on the link in the caption, then click on the words "Contiguous US" at the top of the map on the page that appears. If you're more daring, click on a specific radar site for a more detailed view of that area.

Alternately, if you get a chance, step outside (bundle up a bit if in the northeast!) and turn an ear skyward, and check out your favorite migrant patch tomorrow morning.

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Windpower and Migration

Author's note: there is a gratuitous lack of pretty pictures in this post. I'll be back on track next time.

My career has taken a few twists and turns over the years, all within the field of ornithology. My current path is studying bird vocalizations, specifically nocturnal flight calls -- short vocalizations given during sustained flight - a field I could never have comprehended back in my undergrad days. It's a fascinating field that is just starting to get widespread exposure, and if you know anything about me, you'll know I do love being on the cutting edge. But, and this is just between you, me, and the fencepost, I'm not really jazzed by pure research. I am the first to agree that knowledge for knowledge's sake is a worthy pursuit. But if my work doesn't apply to "the real world," if it's not directly making a difference on the ground one way or another, I feel jittery, like something's missing. Like a bird in an Emlen funnel, experiencing zugunruhe.

I find satisfaction knowing my efforts are directly making a difference. After noting a plateau in my day-to-day tasks, ones that seemingly affected no one by my personal mental health, I'm extremely happy to hear acoustic technology will play a role in studying the effects of windtowers on birds on migration. Earlier this summer a meeting, a big, important meeting, was held to discuss the state of where we stand and where we need to focus to adequately study this situation. The press release is below, and can be found on the American Bird Conservancy's web site.

I hope to post more about this field in the future, as studies progress and my involvement warrants it.


Scientists to Investigate Impacts of Wind Energy on Migratory Wildlife
Industry and conservation representatives set research priorities

Racine, WI & Ithaca, NY, July 23, 2009—Thirty top wildlife scientists have announced agreement on some of the highest research priorities to help America’s rapidly growing wind energy industry produce much-needed alternative energy—while also providing safe passage for birds and bats. This coalition of scientists from industry, government, nongovernmental organizations, and universities met recently in Racine, Wisconsin, to address unanswered questions about how continued wind energy development will affect migrating birds and bats. The meeting was hosted by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, the American Bird Conservancy, and The Johnson Foundation at Wingspread.

“We see great potential in wind energy for addressing global climate change and reducing America’s reliance on fossil fuels,” said Dr. Michael Fry of the American Bird Conservancy. “It’s critical we act now to understand the interactions between wind energy installations and birds and bats.”

“Billions of birds migrate annually, taking advantage of the same wind currents that are most beneficial for producing wind energy,” said Dr. Andrew Farnsworth of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. “We know that in some locations a small percentage of wind turbines may cause the majority of bird and bat deaths. For example, Altamont Pass, east of Oakland, California, is an extreme case: in an area used regularly by migrant and resident raptors, only a fraction of the 5,000 turbines are responsible for most of the raptor deaths annually. As wind power develops further, we need to know more about how placement, design, and operation impact birds and bats as well as how habitat and weather conditions affect potential hazards.”

The scientists addressed some of the critical information that could be collected using cutting-edge tools such as weather surveillance radar, thermal imaging, and microphones directed skyward to map migrations by day and night. New research will build upon monitoring and research studies of birds and bats before and after construction of existing wind energy facilities as well as work done by other researchers. The coalition appointed working groups to move this new research agenda forward. Top research priorities identified by the coalition include:

• Studying bird and bat behaviors, and more accurately estimating mortality at existing wind turbines
  
• Using current and newly-obtained information on bird and bat population numbers and distribution to focus research on critically important migratory routes and timing
  
• Documenting how interactions of birds and bats with turbines are affected by factors such as weather, topography, and their distribution within airspace swept by wind turbine blades
  
• Establish standardized methods for pre- and post-construction studies for assessing bird and bat behavior at wind facilities
  
• Conduct research on best practices for mitigating the impacts of wind energy development on birds and bats

“Conducting this research will help the wind industry make informed, science-based decisions about where future wind energy projects can be built, and how they can be operated to minimize the impact on migrating wildlife, while still providing much-needed alternative energy,” said Dr. John Fitzpatrick, director of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. “It will also help flesh out specific guidelines for wind farm construction being developed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.”

“Imagine if a similar effort had taken place at the turn of the 20th century with the auto industry and air quality,” said Kraig Butrum, President and CEO of the American Wind Wildlife Institute, an umbrella organization for the wind energy industry and environmental groups. “We’d probably be in a completely different place when it comes to global climate change and energy dependence, because we considered environmental impact from the start.”

#

The American Wind Wildlife Institute is a nonprofit organization focused on timely and responsible development of wind energy while protecting wildlife and wildlife habitat through research, mapping, mitigation and public education on best practices in wind farm siting and wildlife habitat protection. Visit the AWWI website at www.awwi.org.

The Cornell Lab of Ornithology is a nonprofit membership institution dedicated to interpreting and conserving the earth’s biological diversity through research, education, and citizen science focused on birds. Visit the Cornell Lab’s website at www.birds.cornell.edu.

The American Bird Conservancy is a not-for-profit organization whose mission is to conserve native wild birds and their habitats throughout the Americas. Visit the ABC website at www.abcbirds.org.

The Johnson Foundation at Wingspread seeks to be a catalyst for environmental and community solutions using leading-edge convening models at a unique, world-class conference center. The Foundation brings together leading scholars and decision-makers from the public and private sectors, forms partnerships, commissions research and shares information to broaden the dialogue around environmental challenges and solutions. Guided by the belief that new solutions are needed to ensure the sustainability of environmental systems, the Foundation does not advocate specific solutions nor bring preconceived ideas to its work on any issue. Visit www.johnsonfdn.org to learn more.

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Radar Ornithology

Regular readers may have noticed my somewhat-regular postings of continent-wide radar images over the past of couple of weeks. These images provide a visual aspect for many birds on migration: since many move at night this is a great way to "see" them. At least indirectly.

"Radar ornithology" is the practice of using Doppler radar to track migrating birds (and, in truth, other airborne objects like bats, insects, and even pollen). There is an excellent tutorial available at Clemson University Radar Ornithology Laboratory, but here's the bottom line: radar shows where birds are moving, in what direction, and estimates of how many are aloft. If you combine those features from the radar with the the weather forecast you can make reasonable predictions about what a morning of birding will produce: does it look like new birds will be arriving overnight? Will they fly right past your area, leaving a paucity of birds in your local habitats? Will a weather system drop the majority in your region (the fabled "fall out")?

Yes, with some meteorological acumen you can determine whether you should call in before the work day begins or if you should save your sick days for another time.

There are several blogs that use radar to comment on migration, some provide interpretation and predict what your morning should look like. I'm not skilled enough to predict fall-outs or where the best locations for your morning birding might be, but I enjoy commenting on what's going on at the moment.

And here's another excellent resource I hope to use more often: friend and science-blogger Paul Hurtado recently reminded our local listserve that he archives radar each night. I find the still images I've posted are an interesting snapshot of that moment in time, but Paul's dynamic loops make migration come alive. Instead of seeing birds aloft, you can watch them explode into the air at sunset, then descend in the morning hours.

Here's a 24-hour loop, starting at 3:00 PM, 23 April through 3:00 PM today (24 April 2009).

If the presentation looks goofy it's because I messed with the aspect ratio.

The blue, circular blobs that appear a few seconds into the loop are the beginning of nocturnal migration. If you look in the map's header there is a clock divided into "night" and "day" to orient you temporally. Because last night was so active it's easier to peg when evening begins by the explosion of blue on the map rather than looking at the clock.

There are a few storms in there, look at the greenish-yellow lines over Lake Michigan and another across Illinois-Kentucky-Tennessee. These dissipate over Pennsylvania and New York by the end of the loop, but as the evening progress you'll see some green mix in with those blue blobs of migration (look specifically across the gulf coast, northeastern Florida and coastal South Carolina, in eastern Kansas and western Missouri): those aren't rain, they represent a huge concentration of birds!

You can find these archives at Paul's radar site, an amazing resource to explore. Hopefully much of May will look like this, but selfishly with more activity over the northeast.

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Migration Map: Everywhere But Here

Midnight EDT, we're just flipping over to the 24th of April. Migration is exploding everywhere from the midwest to the Atlantic. Really, check out the dark blue over eastern Kansas across Missouri to central Kentucky, and especially across the Gulf coast - while we're all sleeping, they're all on the move!



Except over the northeastern states. Pennsylvania, New York, New England, we're as bare as the day I was born (I assume, I don't have many memories of that day). Winds are coming from the west-northwest, but will be shifting to the south. That will give those blue pixels a tailwind to ride. This weekend should be good in the southern tier of NY!

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Storms Trump Migration

Here in the northeastern U.S. we've had a dreary day. Gray skies, rain, wind, more rain. Unfortunately, that means less in the way of migration, probably both on the inbound and outbound migrants. The radar map at 10:30 PM EDT shows intermittent rain across our region, but to our south: whoa, look out! Lots of birds hitting the air from northern Florida across to Texas . . . and beyond.

Hopefully this gets the neotrops closer to our area, but it looks like it won't be tomorrow.

Which is fine, I still have a few birds that are around but I haven't found yet. You've been warned, Hermit Thrush, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, and Yellow-rumped Warbler. I'm after you . . . .

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Migration: Yes and No

Radar is showing birds are moving across the eastern U.S. tonight, as of 11:45 EDT, but you wouldn't know it standing outside our place. All I hear is Tupac. Or Notorious B.I.G. Or Snoop Dog . . . ah, hell, I can't tell my west side from my east side.

We've got mild temperatures, no real breeze to speak of, clear skies, and not a prayer of hearing a flight call.

Continental base reflectivity shows a good movement
occurring from the Mississippi River east to the Atlantic coast.

Kenn Kaufman articulates what I think we'll wind up with here in the Southern Tier of NY this weekend: the departure of some of our wintering birds, such as Dark-eyed Juncos, and an influx of short-distance migrants. We're still a couple weeks from neotropical birds dripping from the trees, but hopefully this weekend we'll see newly-arrived sparrows, Hermit Thrushes, Yellow-rumped Warblers and the like.

I find this image interesting:

Base velocity from Binghamton, NY, 11:45 PM EDT.

This is base velocity, not reflectivity, meaning it shows movement rather than mass. The orange-red-yellows are moving away from the radar station, the blue-greens are moving towards it. The gray is essentially neutral, so if you follow the gray area you create a line perpendicular to the movement.

Another way of saying that: draw an arrow from the blue-greens pointing towards the red-oranges, that's the direction the birds are moving.

This image shows the movement primarily to the east, slightly northeast, not the due north you'd expect. They are called northbound migrants, not eastbound, after all. But take into account winds, which have been coming out of the west and northwest all day, likely affecting the direction the birds move.

Tomorrow should hold some new birds, assuming my neighbors crash sometime before dawn. Or at least turn off the stereo.

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Major Migration

Looks like there is a widespread movement of birds across the eastern US tonight, as of 9:50 EDT. The storm system stretching from the Texas panhandle to southwestern South Dakota appears to be suppressing movements in the midwestern corridor that has been so active the last few nights. The high pressure system centered over the Great Lakes should mean settled, calm weather in the northeast, in this case extending down to the Gulf coast.

Current winds in the Southern Tier of NY have been out of the north, but have been virtually non-existent over the past couple of hours. Current base velocity maps, which show direction of movement, from south of us (State College, PA) and east (Binghamton, NY) show birds are heading in a northeasterly direction.

All in all, in our region it's a good night to migrate, new birds should be ushered into our area tomorrow. I didn't make it out this morning (poor time management skills hindered that), but tomorrow is more likely.

What's going on in your area?

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Silent Migration

I spent some time outside tonight listening for nocturnal migrants. One yippee dog from the east, lots of peepers from a neighbor's pond to the west, situated almost a quarter mile away -- man, those little guys are loud - but no birds to be heard from overhead. I'm sure they're aloft tonight, but apparently inaudible from our yard.

As of 11:00 PM EDT the continental map is flush with activity. That midwestern corridor (Texas - Dakotas) is the place to be, like last night. Birds are in flight across the Gulf coast, Florida, and South Carolina. There appears to be a line of birds coming into the Florida Keys from Cuba. Not too much in the midAtlantic due to the stormy weather across Delaware, Maryland, and eastern Virginia. Closer to (my) home, there appears to be some movement over central/eastern New York, which could bode well for us out here in the Southern Tier and Finger Lakes.

Base reflectivity at 11:00 PM EDT from Binghamton, NY
(70 miles east of our place).

Winds have been coming from east-northeast most of today, this evening they shifted to come from straight north. Perhaps that slowed migration, perhaps the birds are moving around our hill, perhaps they're at a higher altitude than I can hear. But based on the radar, they're up there.

The Binghamton, NY radar image shows a widespread flight of birds, I interpret this to mean there should be birds above us here in "Elm" (we're covered in the grayish wash west of the blue). If the birds are moving north (base velocity shows the birds are actually moving northeast), maybe I should be more concerned with what's coming south of us.

Base reflectivity at 11:00 PM EDT from State College, PA
(105 miles southwest of our place).

State College, PA radar also shows birds in the air, base velocity shows the birds heading due north. I'm not comfortable predicting what to expect in the morning, other than you can expect me to be out searching our hill for newly arrived birds. I hope you'll be greeting some, too!

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Migration Map: Midwest is Hoppin'!

With the exception of a single Spring Peeper and a light rain there's not much to hear in our backyard this evening (as of 11:15 PM). I was hoping to hear some evidence of migration in the form of a few flight calls; nothing doing.


But looking at the continental radar map one thing stands out: the corridor connecting southern Texas and North Dakota is lit up like a Christmas tree. "Fly-over country" takes on a new meaning in this situation: those birds are flying now, but will descend at dawn, visible to early-morning birders. I envy the "fly-over people"!

A weather system is hindering migration in our region, northeastern Ohio, western New York, and northern Pennsylvania. Another system on the Atlantic coast seems to be suppressing movement there, as is a line of storms in southwestern Florida, there doesn't seem to be much coming into the Florida Keys from Cuba.

But the midwestern states . . . wow!

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Oops, I Did It Again

Yes, I cheated again. We published a second post on the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's "Round Robin" blog. This one, titled "How to See a Sound That’s a Half-Second Long," gets into flight-calls a bit more and talks about using spectrograms to "see" sound.

Find out more about this image, including what it sounds like, at Round Robin.

If you missed it, the first post, "Let's Go Biding! . . . At Night . . . Blindfolded," serves as an introduction.

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Radar is showing birds are on the move Sunday night, primarily in front of a storm front stretching from western Georgia to eastern Iowa. The blocky, dark blue line is the front connecting those two regions, the brownish wash and circular blues are birds in the air around 11:30 PM (EDT). If I'm reading this right, coastal Texas appears to have a pretty thick migration right now, as is South Carolina and Michigan. Sadly for me, not much benefiting the Southern Tier of NY tonight.

One of many Red-tailed Hawks taking to the skies this Sunday afternoon.

We spent the weekend at my folks place in Rochester, NY, and it was a typical April day for Rochester: deceptive. From inside it looked beautiful, sunny, bright, warm. Standing outside, however, was only sunny and bright. Temperatures stayed in the 30's (*F), wind was constant and strong. That's nothing for us locals, after an outdoor easter egg hunt we hit a local park. The "usual suspects" were all there, including an impressive amount of woodpeckers, ranging from Downy up to Pileated. A few "First of Year" species made appearances: Winter Wren, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, and Louisiana Waterthrush.

An American Tree Sparrow takes flight, soon to
be headed to its northern breeding grounds.

Back at the house the feeders were filled with "undesirables." Dozens of House Sparrows, Brown-headed Cowbirds, Red-winged Blackbirds, and Common Grackles covered the ground, the hopper, the suet. On the desirable side, Pine Siskins continue on the nyjer feeder, White-crowned, and Song Sparrows mix among the ground-feeding species, a single Field Sparrow sang nearby. Siskins are actually breeding in the area, as are crossbills, trees are flowering, skunk cabbage is exploding. Renewal, growth, circle of life . . . it may not feel like spring, but it is.

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Nocturnal Migration

First, I hope you checked out my guest post, co-authored with Lewis Grove, at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's Round Robin last week. The next post should appear this evening or tomorrow about spectrograms. Somewhat dry, but with audio of flight calls (!), then we can get into the fun stuff. Hopefully we'll be able to post some "predictions" of migratory events during the spring, but we'll definitely run a series of species-specific posts to help you learn some common flight calls and others about flight calls in general.

That said, tonight looks pretty good across portions of the eastern US, at least as of 10:30 PM. Compare these two maps, one what the radar looked like at 7:00 PM (EDT), the second just over two hours later.

Those two greenish blobs over the mid-west (Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas) and a bit farther east (Kentucky, Illinois, Indiana) represent storm systems, and are present in both maps. Then there are those circular blue blobs, a few present over the southeast in the first map but many, many more in the second map. Those are radar stations picking up objects in the sky that are not weather. They are birds, possibly bats or large insects, but the majority are birds.

The brownish washes seen across western New York, Pennsylvania, Michigan and interspersed in other areas, are less-active areas of migration - but migration nonetheless.

Looks like a good night to go out and listen for flight calls, even better, for listening for flight calls while training low-powered optics on tonight's full moon. Perhaps you'll see some shadows crossing the face of the moon while hearing calls dripping down from birds on the move. I'm heading outside now, let me know if you see/hear anything!

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Stepping Out

Dear Feather and the Flower,

You'll probably find out about it elsewhere on the Internets, so let me come clean. The rumors are true. I've been writing with someone else.

It's only platonic, I swear - please know you are still my one and only blog. But I was approached by another blog, we innocently chatted about our shared interest in birds. We hit it off, the attraction was too great to resist; one thing lead to another, and as of today I've published on a different site.

I don't mean to hurt you, but the other blog means a lot to me. And given a chance, I think you would really get along - Round Robin is popular, attractive, intellectually-stimulating, and funny - what's not too like? Give it a try, see what was posted, I think you'll be excited.

Affectionately,
noflickster

ps I know you want the details, so here they are. Our nocturnal flight-call group wrote a piece about nocturnal migration for the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's blog. We are planning to contribute more throughout spring migration, we expect topics will range from when and where to listen, their importance in conservation and other fields, and several tutorials to introduce species so you can explore this frontier of bird watching. Please let me know (on this site) or the Lab know (on Round Robin) about your experiences in listening for nocturnal migrants, if you find the posts useful, and so on - we are looking for feedback! And if you blog, please consider promoting the posts to your readers: we'd like to reach a wide audience and hear comments about experiences across North America.

Now, I'm stepping out to see some birds - so I have something to post here before I get in dutch with my own blog . . . .

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Cascading River of Birds

If you've paid attention to bird reports recently you already know migration is well underway, and has been, conservatively, for about six weeks. Was it Pete Dunne who once pointed out that if summer were bookended by bird migration it would only be a few days long? Whomever it was went on to point out the last migrant passerine was spotted winging its way north a couple of days before the summer solstice, and a couple of days after the solstice the first yellowlegs was on its way south.

Here in the Finger Lakes region of New York shorebird reports have been steady from Cayuga Lake and Montezuma NWR, and we've already had a Solitary Sandpiper show up at our backyard pond in the southern tier. In fact, it was a year bird and the first we've recorded on fall migration. More my speed these days, though, are the sound waves emanating from the river of birds that will be flowing over our heads for the next couple of months.*

If you've never been you should head over to Bill Evans's "oldbird.org" website. Bill's sole intention is to learn about nocturnal bird migration and share the knowledge with anyone who cares to listen. He focuses on flight-calls, those short, simple "tseeps" and chips (among other impossibly short notes) you may hear overhead. Not only does he teach you how to identify the sounds with Flight Calls of Migratory Birds, a CD-ROM developed with Michael O'Brien, but he also provides instructions on how to build your own microphone set up using materials from local garden and grocery stores (after a trip to Radio Shack, naturally). And that's not all, he also provides analysis software free so you can use your computer to view, study, and listen to what flew over your house while you slumbered. No more dark circles as you stumble into work the next morning!

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I also study nocturnal migration, though we use autonomous recording units developed at the Lab. Bill's web site and his CD-ROM have been instrumental for me, learning to identify those less-than-500-millisecond long calls; it's opened a new avenue of birding. In fact, I'm building my own "flower pot" microphone so I can record migration over our house. What a mesh, for me, of "work" and "play," and now that the floodgates are open on this fall's migration I'm excited to listen for what's passing by. Recently we've been hearing more and more activity in what Sinatra called the wee small hours: three nights ago it was a huge push of Veerys with a smaller flight the next night.

More to come on nocturnal migration as the season progresses, and happy fall to everyone!

*Dates may vary with latitude, offer available across North America. Act now, don't miss out!

Mixed Messages

It's not unusual to get snow in mid- or even late-March in the Southern Tier of New York, so it wasn't really a big deal for us. Not even the driving. In fact, after a week or more of spring-like weather we enjoyed another weekend of sledding, drinking cocoa by the fire, and watching the birds scramble below the feeder. Winter, clearly, was not going gently into the good night of spring.

Fox Sparrows and Dark-eyed Junco. © Mike Powers 2007

But the cold and snow sure was a big deal to the birds, more specifically, the ones at our feeder. Goose migration is in full swing. The last couple of weeks brought huge skiens of Canadas with smaller skiens of Snows mixed in. Blackbirds are starting to populate the Horseheads Marsh, which is just starting to show open water after months of ice cover. Reports of returning sparrows are hitting the listserves, though nothing has appeared in our yard. These are all harbingers of spring, balmy days should be imminent. April showers would be bringing May flowers, and following on the heels of these early migrants would be warblers, thrushes, orioles, tanagers, hummingbirds, and flycatchers. You could almost hear the dawn chorus reaching us on the warm, southern winds.

Then the weather teased for us, halting any plans of putting up the skiis and putting screens on the windows, and took the birds by surprise. The snow started Friday afternoon, and with it came the Fox Sparrows. Saturday morning we had seven Fox Sparrows under our feeders.

Fox Sparrow in Butterfly Bush. © Mike Powers 2007

Their arrival is a little early, based on my records for our yard. Usually they appear sometime during the last week of March, though they're certainly in the region by now. And when I finally find them on our hill I have to go find them, the one or two who make themselves known, by visiting the brushy patches and sifting through the more common sparrows and finches. But the snow brought them in droves to where I could shoot some photos from the comfort of inside the house, and watch for hours as they used both feet to scour for seeds underneath the snow.

They'll be on their way soon enough, gone by mid-April, but we're glad to host them while they visit.