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30 Aug Big Nocturnal Migration possible this holiday weekend in the Northeast/Middle Atlantic States [david nicosia ] 30 Aug Dawn flights, onward migration, & a cautionary note ["Ted Floyd" ] 24 Aug What are folks hearing & recording? ["Ted Floyd" ] 23 Aug ADMIN: Updated List Information ["Chris Tessaglia-Hymes" ] 7 Aug first nocturnal calls of August, PA ["Rudolph Keller" ] 30 Jul Re: Nocturnal flight calls, Colorado's Front Range, 3+ years of data ["Michael O'Brien" ] 30 Jul RE: flight call to identify [Jay K ] 30 Jul RE: flight call to identify ["Ted Floyd" ] 29 Jul Re: flight call to identify [Jay K ] 29 Jul flight call to identify [Andrew Farnsworth ] 29 Jul RE: Nocturnal flight calls, Colorado's Front Range, 3+ years of data ["Ted Floyd" ] 29 Jul Re: Nocturnal flight calls, Colorado's Front Range, 3+ years of data [Andrew Farnsworth ] 28 Jul Nocturnal flight calls, Colorado's Front Range, 3+ years of data ["Ted Floyd" ] 26 Jul flight last night [David La Puma ] 22 Jul First nocturnal-migrant Chipping Sparrow, July 19th ["Ted Floyd" ] 8 Jul Re: Dual-Polar Radar coming 2011-2012 [Colby Neuman ] 8 Jul Re: Dual-Polar Radar coming 2011-2012 [david nicosia ] 8 Jul Re: Dual-Polar Radar coming 2011-2012 [Bryan Guarente ] 8 Jul Re: Dual-Polar Radar coming 2011-2012 [david nicosia ] 08 Jul Re: Dual-Polar Radar coming 2011-2012 [Andy Martin ] 6 Jul Dual-Polar Radar coming 2011-2012 [david nicosia ] 1 Jun Re: Dusk flight of White-winged Scoters and Brant over Boston, MA ["Bill Evans" ] 25 May Re: misc. NFC musings from this season (BARN project) [Tim Krein ] 25 May Re: misc. NFC musings from this season [Tim Krein ] 25 May misc. NFC musings from this season [Andy Martin ] 22 May RE: Dusk flight of White-winged Scoters and Brant over Boston, MA ["Alvaro Jaramillo" ] 22 May Re: Dusk flight of White-winged Scoters and Brant over Boston, MA [Andy Martin ] 22 May Re: Dusk flight of White-winged Scoters and Brant over Boston, MA [David La Puma ] 21 May RE: Dusk flight of White-winged Scoters and Brant over Boston, MA ["Richard Guthrie" ] 21 May re: Dusk flight of White-winged Scoters and Brant over Boston, MA ["wrevans" ] 21 May please disregard my last post [Andy Martin ] 21 May misc. NFC musings from this season [Andy Martin ] 10 May Re: mystery sparrow flight call [Jay K ] 9 May mystery sparrow flight call [Erik Johnson ] 08 May Lincoln/Swamp Sparrow call question [Andy Martin ] 30 Apr Large night flight through central NJ [e kent ] 29 Apr Re: Last night's migration [David La Puma ] 29 Apr Last night's migration [Martin Piorkowski ] 23 Apr Help with unknown call [mebalestri ] 19 Apr followup Re: help w/ call - MD Piedmont [Andy Martin ] 17 Apr Substantial migration over western Washington [Tayler Brooks ] 16 Apr Re: Volcano effecting migration? [Walter M Szeliga ] 16 Apr Volcano effecting migration? [jacob drucker ] 15 Apr help w/ call - MD Piedmont [Andy Martin ] 13 Apr Re: Night flight call station results-Maine-April 1-3 [Erik Johnson ] 13 Apr Re: Night flight call station results-Maine-April 1-3 [Michael Lanzone ] 13 Apr RE: Night flight call station results-Maine-April 1-3 ["Alvaro Jaramillo" ] 13 Apr RE: Night flight call station results-Maine-April 1-3 ["Ted Floyd" ] 13 Apr Re: Night flight call station results-Maine-April 1-3 [Erik Johnson ] 13 Apr RE: Night flight call station results-Maine-April 1-3 ["Ted Floyd" ] 7 Apr RE: Willow Flycatcher, Cuckoo, or similar nfc's in Delaware ["Jeff Wells" ] 7 Apr Re: mystery flight call - S Louisiana ["Michael O'Brien" ] 7 Apr Re: Willow Flycatcher, Cuckoo, or similar nfc's in Delaware ["Michael O'Brien" ] 6 Apr mystery flight call - S Louisiana [Erik Johnson ] 6 Apr Re:Willow Flycatcher, Cuckoo, or similar nfc's in Delaware [Andrew Albright ] 6 Apr Re: blue icicle [Michael Lanzone ] 06 Apr blue icicle ["lesterap AT fuse.net" ] 6 Apr Re: mic setup [Michael Lanzone ] 6 Apr Re: Night flight call station results-Maine-April 1-3 [David La Puma ] 6 Apr Re: Night flight call station results-Maine-April 1-3 [Michael Lanzone ] 6 Apr RE: Night flight call station results-Maine-April 1-3 ["Donald P. Freiday" ] 6 Apr RE: mic setup ["Jeff Wells" ] 6 Apr RE: Night flight call station results-Maine-April 1-3 ["Jeff Wells" ] 6 Apr Re: Night flight call station results-Maine-April 1-3 [Tom Johnson ] 6 Apr mic setup [David La Puma ] 6 Apr Re: Night flight call station results-Maine-April 1-3 ["Michael O'Brien" ] 6 Apr Re: Night flight call station results-Maine-April 1-3 [Laura Erickson ] 6 Apr Virginia Rail FOY night migrant ["Jeff Wells" ] 6 Apr RE: Night flight call station results-Maine-April 1-3 ["Jeff Wells" ] 6 Apr Re: Night flight call station results-Maine-April 1-3 ["Michael O'Brien" ] 6 Apr Night flight call station results-Maine-April 1-3 ["Jeff Wells" ] 6 Apr Willow Flycatcher or similar nfc? [Andrew Albright ] 3 Apr Common Poorwill flight call? [Jay K ] 2 Apr Re: Fw: Big Migratory Push Next Week Eastern U.S?? [Dave Slager ] 2 Apr Re: Fw: Big Migratory Push Next Week Eastern U.S?? [Andrew Albright ] 1 Apr RE: Fw: Big Migratory Push Next Week Eastern U.S?? [Meena Haribal ] Subject: Big Nocturnal Migration possible this holiday weekend in the Northeast/Middle Atlantic States From: david nicosia <daven1024 AT yahoo.com> Date: Mon, 30 Aug 2010 18:52:15 -0700 (PDT) The unusual warmth will remain with us most of the week in the northeast. This could stall any major migratory push for a time. But... a strong cold front will pass through the eastern seaboard by Friday night after Hurricane Earl passes to the northeast. Northerly winds will prevail beginning late Friday night and continue Saturday night and linger into Sunday night. Could be a great early fall nocturnal flight in the northeast/Mid Atlantic. Dave Nicosia Johnson City NY -- NFC-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_WELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_RULES ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nfc-l AT cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NFCL.html 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NFC-L Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ -- Subject: Dawn flights, onward migration, & a cautionary note From: "Ted Floyd" <tfloyd AT aba.org> Date: Mon, 30 Aug 2010 17:44:36 -0600 Hello, Night-Listeners. I had an experience earlier today that made me realize that one of my long-held assumptions about "dawn flights" hasn't been right. In Lafayette, Boulder County, Colorado, there was a very heavy (by our Western standards) dawn flight of warblers and sparrows during the half hour of civil twilight this morning, Monday, August 25th--easily 500+ flight calls heard, for a rate of 1,000+ per hour. Again, that's a very good flight for Colorado. Now, my assumption would have been that this dawn flight would have been preceded by a good night flight. But that's not what happened. During the preceding period of astronomical twilight, I heard only a single flight call--that of a Wilson's Warbler. (An aside: Wilson's Warbler is far and away the most abundant migrant warbler--often outnumbering all other warblers combined--in the Front Range region in late August and early September.) Here's what I think happened. During astronomical twilight, there were moderate southerly winds aloft, evidenced by the uniform movement of the low cloud ceiling relative to the barely visible glow of the moon. That's no good if you're a southbound migrant. But there was absolutely no wind at the surface at least up to the treetops. That's nice, but with the cloud cover, there was no light during astronomical twilight--so it wouldn't have been good for visually oriented birds moving at or below the level of the treetops. During civil twilight, however, the birds could see, so they got up and went. It was fascinating to actually see them--MacGillivray's Warblers and juvenile Chipping Sparrows, for example--in sustained flight 10-25 feet above street level in my residential neighborhood. Judging by all the calling, I would say the flight continued until about 90 minutes after sunrise. The flight was extremely low to the ground; I think these birds were circumventing the southerly winds aloft by "flying under the radar," so to speak, where winds were calm, and thus favorable for migration. I wouldn't say this dawn flight was a case of "onward migration," because that implies the birds had been migrating by night. I don't think that happened. I think the southerly winds aloft prevented it. But once they could see, the got up and migrated in the calm conditions near the surface. Or maybe I'm full of crap. In any event, it was cool to witness a very heavy dawn flight but without any "precursor" in the form a nocturnal flight. ------------------------------- Ted Floyd Editor, Birding Follow Birding magazine on Twitter: http://twitter.com/BirdingMagazine ------------------------------- -- NFC-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_WELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_RULES ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nfc-l AT cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NFCL.html 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NFC-L Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ -- Subject: What are folks hearing & recording? From: "Ted Floyd" <tfloyd AT aba.org> Date: Tue, 24 Aug 2010 20:00:04 -0600 Hello, Birders. Out here in the Front Range region of Colorado, we're at the peak now of detectable "fall" landbird migration. Seems like the peak period runs from around August 20th till around September 10th. And things sure do drop off fast after September 10th, it seems--right around the time the first big thrush flights are noted Back East. For what it's worth, here's a summary of what I've heard thus far this "fall" at Greenlee Preserve, Boulder County, Colorado. I've listened on 20 nights from July 17th through August 24th. Each night that I'm out, I listen (and sometimes make recordings) for at least 15 minutes between midnight and the beginning of nautical dawn. An asterisk before a species' name means the identification is tentative, provisional, uncertain, or otherwise problematic. Here goes: Species, followed by number of nights on which heard (n=20 nights total) 1. Passerines presumed to be on nocturnal migration. *Orange-crowned Warbler 1 Yellow Warbler 3 *MacGillivray's Warbler 1 Wilson's Warbler 4 *Northern Waterthrush 1 Chipping Sparrow 16 *Brewer's Sparrow 5 Lark Sparrow 3 *Lark Bunting 5 *Black-headed Grosbeak 1 *Western Meadowlark 1 *Bullock's Oriole 1 2. Shorebirds (and a heron) presumed to be migrating. Black-crowned Night-Heron 1 Semipalmated Plover 1 Solitary Sandpiper 3 Upland Sandpiper 2 Least Sandpiper 2 Baird's Sandpiper 2 3. Species presumed not to be on active migration. Canada Goose 9 Mallard 10 Great Blue Heron 3 American Coot 8 Sora 1 Eurasian Collared-Dove 2 Barn Owl 5 Greater Horned Owl 4 Barn Swallow 16 American Robin 3 European Starling 3 Red-winged Blackbird 2 Common Grackle 1 Comment: Note that fully 2/3 (8 out of 12) of the species in list 1 are indicated by an asterisk. What can I say?--we're still learning the basics Out West. ------------------------------- Ted Floyd Editor, Birding Follow Birding magazine on Twitter: http://twitter.com/BirdingMagazine ------------------------------- -- NFC-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_WELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_RULES ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nfc-l AT cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NFCL.html 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NFC-L Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ -- Subject: ADMIN: Updated List Information From: "Chris Tessaglia-Hymes" <cth4 AT cornell.edu> Date: Mon, 23 Aug 2010 13:01:40 -0400 Good afternoon! This message is to inform everyone that the Night Flight Call List (NFC-L) is now fully open for anyone to join, without the additional step of approval being required from the Listowner. The list has been fairly successful in meeting the original goals and purpose for its creation in the spring of ’09 and its announcement one year ago. There are currently approximately 270 subscribed email addresses to the list. Hopefully, as the fall migration gets into full swing in the coming weeks, we will begin to see additional discussion and idea-sharing. Some of you may recall from earlier on that a periodic list of current subscriber names were posted to the list, in an effort to make people feel more comfortable about exactly who they are posting their messages to. I received a few comments from subscribers who were hesitant to post to the list, because of the unknown readership. As a result, I have provided a basic list of current subscribers (below); but, I have intentionally excluded email addresses in order to retain that privacy. I apologize for the ordering of the list, which must be by first name and not by last name (due to the export function of the Server). If you have any questions about this list, please do not hesitate to contact me off-list. For general information and for the list rules, including how to join or leave, please refer to these pages: http://www.northeastbirding.com/NFC_WELCOME http://www.northeastbirding.com/NFC_RULES You can always reach the Welcome and Rules pages from the main home page http://www.NortheastBirding.com. To change your email address, simply follow the join/leave instructions at the Welcome page, but send the join email from your new email address and then send the leave email from your old email address. Please be aware that the list is archived at multiple locations: Primarly, long-term: http://www.mail-archive.com/nfc-l AT cornell.edu/maillist.html http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NFC-L http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NFCL.html Lastly, attachments are permitted, but are size-limited due to a function of the Server limitations. The message size is limited to approximately 850 kb. Thanks and good birding! Sincerely, Chris T-H Chris Tessaglia-Hymes Listowner, NFC-L Ithaca, NY Aaron Brees Aaron Immel Adam Smith Adam Wood Alan Sieradzki Alfred Adamo Alison Vilag Allen Chartier Alvaro Jaramillo Amy Amones Andrew Albright Andrew Bernick Andrew Birch and Cin-Ty Lee Andrew Davis Andrew Farnsworth Andrew McGann Andrew Thornton Andy Horn Andy Johnson Andy Martin Andy Rubaszek ANDY URQUHART Ann Lyons Ann Nightingale Ann Warde Anna Pidgeon Anne Caramanico Anne Klingensmith Annette Prince Arthur W. Green Barbara Combs Barbara Saunders Ben Cacace Ben Coulter Benjamin Benjamin M. Clock Bill Elrick Bill Evans Bill Hubick Brian McAllister Brian O'Shea Brian Sullivan Bryan Guarente Buster Raff Caitlin Coberly Caleb Putnam Cameron Cox Charlie Wright Charlotte Goedsche Chase Schiefer Chris Michener Chris Tessaglia-Hymes Christian Nunes Christina Kisiel Christopher M. Heckscher Christopher Wood Chuck Davis cobirders Colby Neuman Colin Beattie Conrad J Blessing Corey Husic Cyndi Rossini Dan Poalillo Dan Rhoads Dan Sheldon Dan Singer Dave Slager Dave Wheeler David Allinson David Christie David Hartley David Hedeen David Irons David La Puma David Martin David Mizrahi David Mozurkewich David Nicosia Dean Hawthorne Deanna K Dawson Denis C. Quinn Don Freiday Drew Panko Drew Weber Ed Carlson Eric Kent Eric Soehren Erik Johnson Erin Macchia Frederick Sechler Gary Kohlenberg Geoffrey A. Williamson Gerard Phillips Glen Davis Greg Budney Harold Cheyne Harold Figueroa Harold Mills Harry Lehto Herb Wilson Hope Batcheller Ian Davies J Clayton J. ALAN CLARK Jack Siler Jackie Canterbury Jacob Drucker Jason Forbes Jason Giovannone Jason Guerard Jason Smith Jay Keller Jay Withgott Jean Beaudreault Jeff Bolsinger Jeff Garnas Jeff Holbrook Jeff Patterson Jeff Wells Jeffrey A. Gerbracht Jeffrey Gordon Jeffrey Hanson Jenny Murtaugh Jeremy Ridlbauer Jeremy Ross Jessie Barry Jim Danzenbaker Jim Hengeveld Jim McCormac Jim Tate Jim White Jo Lutmerding Joan Collins Jody Enck John Bissell John Cecil John Garrett John Newlander John O'Brien Jon Boone Jon King Jonathan Frodge Jonathan Klizas Joseph Kennedy JOYANNE HAMILTON Joyce Angleberger Katrina Knight Keith Bartels Ken Rosenberg Kevin Brady Kevin Hall Kevin Heist Kevin McGowan Kyle Horton Larry Master Laura Erickson Laurie Foss Lawrence D Igl Lester Peyton Lewis Grove Linda Orkin Lou Marsh Luke Seitz Lynn Barber Magnus Robb Marcel Gahbauer Marcia Balestri Marcia Wilson Marie Cecile Lee Mark Adams Mark Hoffman Marshall J. Iliff Martha Fischer Martí Rodríguez Martin Piorkowski Matt Adams Matt Dufort Matt Garvey Matt Goff Matt Hafner Matt Orsie Matt Young Matthew Kenne Matthew Sarver Matthew Voisine Meena Haribal Michael Andersen Michael G. Harvey Michael Lanzone Michael O'Brien Michael Pitzrick Mike Farmer Mike Feely Mike Hannisian Mike Powers Mikey Lutmerding Miranne Merritt-Pellerin Nadine Litwin Nancy Jane Kern Nathan Pieplow Nick Sly O. William Bruins Olivier Barden Oscar Johnson Patricia Rossi Paul Driver Paul Hertzel Paul Sweet Pedro Fernandes Pete Marchetto Peter Barnes Rachel Bricklin Ray Mack Rebecca Hutchinson Rexanne Bruno Richard Guthrie Rob Fergus Rob Mantel Robbie LaCelle Rodney Johnson Ron Martin Roseanna Denton Ross Ahmed Ross Silcock Rudolph Keller Russ Charif Ryan Merrill Samuel Galick Sandy Beasley Sara Kaiser Scott Whittle Sergio Guerrero Sherwood Snyder Silka Kempema Simon Duval Stephen Menzie Steve Broyles Steve Chorvas Steve Kelling steve mcconnell Susan Elbin Susan Schaezler Tayler Brooks Ted Floyd The Mail Archive Thelma Dalmas Thomas Dougherty Thomas Greg Thomas O'Donnell Tim Krein Tim Lenz Tim White Timothy Phillips Todd Day Tom Dietterich Tom Fowler Tom Johnson Tom Reed Tom Schulenberg Tony Gallucci Vincent Schiappa Walter Messier Walter Szeliga Wilken T. Agster Will Russell William P. Mueller Zapata Courage -- Chris Tessaglia-Hymes Listowner, NFC-L Ithaca, New York cth4 AT cornell.edu http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_WELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_RULES -- NFC-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_WELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_RULES ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nfc-l AT cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NFCL.html 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NFC-L Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ -- Subject: first nocturnal calls of August, PA From: "Rudolph Keller" <rckeller AT dejazzd.com> Date: Sat, 7 Aug 2010 22:30:34 -0400 Ted Floyd recently wrote eloquently about the nocturnal call of Chipping Sparrow evoking seasonal change for him. The nocturnal call I associate most with fall seasonal change here in PA is that of Veery, and yesterday's cold front got them moving. It was cool enough by 4:30 a.m. to chill out the katydids, over whose rasping on warm nights almost nothing else can be heard here in the woods. From then till daylight, I heard one call of Yellow-billed Cuckoo and 13 calls of Veery. There they go. Rudy Keller Boyertown, PA Berks County -- NFC-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_WELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_RULES ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nfc-l AT cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NFCL.html 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NFC-L Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ -- Subject: Re: Nocturnal flight calls, Colorado's Front Range, 3+ years of data From: "Michael O'Brien" <tsweet AT comcast.net> Date: Fri, 30 Jul 2010 15:24:15 +0000 (UTC) Hi all, Andrew brings up an interesting question about midsummer nocturnal flight calls. As he suggests, I think there are a variety of different behaviors going on here. In the case of cuckoos, their midsummer nocturnal flight calls usually seem to be associated with good breeding habitat, suggesting that these are local breeders, not birds on the move. I know at least in New Jersey and Maryland where Black-billed Cuckoo is much scarcer than Yellow-billed, there are certain spots where I can go and listen at night and predictably hear Black-billed Cuckoo calling overhead. In the case of rails (King, Clapper, Virginia, Black, Sora, and Moorhen, at least, all give nocturnal flight calls in midsummer) my sense is that these are birds searching for ephemeral breeding habitats – maybe listening for frogs or other rails as they fly over. I could see Nelson's Sparrow or other marsh birds doing the same thing. Other non-marsh-birds may be doing the same sort of thing too. If a Grasshopper Sparrow’s field gets mowed, it needs to go find another one, and the safest time to do that would be at night. Then there is molt migration like the Chipping Sparrows in Colorado. Although relatively few species seem to do such a large-scale molt migration, a small percentage of many species do seem to move a moderate distance to molt while the bulk of the population stays to molt closer to the breeding grounds. Bobolink is a good example – small numbers regularly appear at coastal stopover sites from as early as late June before the large-scale migratory push appears in mid-late August. A number of warblers do the same thing, like the handful of Yellow-rumped Warblers that appear annually in Cape May in mid-August (and then vanish – lying low while they molt, I guess) before the rest of them arrive in October. best, Michael O’Brien ----- Original Message ----- From: "Andrew Farnsworth" To: "Ted Floyd" Cc: NFC-L AT cornell.edu Sent: Thursday, July 29, 2010 8:36:27 AM Subject: Re: [nfc-l] Nocturnal flight calls, Colorado's Front Range, 3+ years of data Hello all, Ted, I congratulate you on another excellent and timely post. Regarding our attention to details: a couple of thoughts. . .apologies for hijacking the thread a little! Molt migration is a fascinating phenomenon, and many, myself included, are still eager to see a larger scale effort to monitor this behavior (in particular the nocturnal movements by acoustic monitoring). Has anyone on the list operated acoustic monitoring stations in the intermountain and mountain western US - Rockies/Great Basin/etc. - for any extended periods during the past few summers (or in the more distant past)? Ted (and others), what other species would you consider typical in the early July flights? And what of mid-June to early July flights in Colorado and elsewhere in the west? And expanding to a larger scale, what do we know about nocturnal movements associated with molt migration in other parts of the world (especially outside the western hemisphere!)? From the US, East coast perspective, I am also interested to hear opinions about the nature of nocturnal movements that occur between mid-June and late-July in the Northeastern US. Presumably, in some cases, we are recording actual, continuous migratory movements for species that are late/early migrants (rails/Yellow Warbler, Louisiana Waterthrush) . . . but is this true in all cases? Are there species, such as those in the next sentences, for which we think we have a clear understanding of migration phenology but for which we really do not? Could be . . . but consider this . . . A number of mid-June to mid-July recordings made in New York state (various people in Ithaca and Manhattan at the least) have turned up an interesting diversity of nocturnal flight calls including Sora, Virginia Rail, Black-billed and Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Black-throated Blue Warbler, Canada Warbler, Grasshopper Sparrow, Nelson's Sparrow, etc. The placement of the recording stations and the attributes of the recordings are consistent with recording birds in nocturnal flight (rather than flight calls recorded nocturnally from birds on the ground or in typical habitat). Are we recording movements of adults of multi-brooded birds, failed breeders, pre-migratory movements of young of the year, facultative movements following irregular resources? Best, Andrew On Wed, Jul 28, 2010 at 5:00 AM, Ted Floyd wrote: > Hello, Birders. > > Here's an 86-kilobyte PowerPoint image, attached, summarizing the > results of my nighttime listening efforts at Greenlee Preserve, Boulder > County, Colorado, 2007-2010. Boulder County is northwest of Denver. The > county's western boundary is the Continental Divide, and the eastern > boundary is a bit higher than 5,000 feet. Data are July-November, > 2007-2009, plus July to date in 2010. > > Before opening up the file, I suggest thinking for a moment about the > "East Coast bias" that practically all of us bring to the art and > science of listening to nocturnal flight calls. For me, having grown up > "Back East," the essence of nocturnal migration is a chilly night in > mid- to late September, the dark sky filled with the flight calls of > Swainson's and Gray-cheeked thrushes. > > But here in Colorado, you'll hear very little of that. Even though > Swainson's thrushes are common breeders in the Rocky Mountains, I hear > practically none of them flying over at night in mid- to late September. > And we get few if any of those other great "East Coast" birds flying > over at night in the fall: other "spot-breasted" thrushes, cuckoos, > Scarlet Tanagers, Rose-breasted Grosbeaks, and so forth. So you could > easily be excused for thinking there's not much to hear in the night > skies above Colorado. > > NOW check out the attached file. Certainly, there are night > flights--sometimes quite impressive--to be heard in Colorado's Front > Range region. But they're very different from the standard model, if you > will, from Back East. In Colorado, there's a steady trickle of bird > moving over by late July; the flight peaks by late August; and it's in > sharp decline by mid-September. The most frequently detected species is > the Chipping Sparrow, representing the bulk of the flight until the > first week of August; during the peak flight in late August, around 25% > of all detections are of Chipping Sparrows; and the species is pretty > much gone by late September. Certainly, that's not the impression you'd > get from an East Coast bias! > > (I've mentioned it before, but I'll say it again in case it's been > overlooked. Chipping Sparrows do not breed where I listen. These are > middle-of-the-night, no-nonsense molt-migrants flying from their > breeding grounds in the Rockies to molting grounds in eastern Colorado > and western Kansas.) > > Two thoughts, if I may, if you've actually made it this far: > > 1. Five years ago, NFC-L contributor Andrew Farnsworth had a great paper > in the Auk on "Flight calls and their value for future ornithological > studies and conservation research." In the case of Colorado's Chipping > Sparrows, the simple act of listening to nocturnal-migrant Chipping > Sparrows on hot nights in July has tipped us off to molt-migration in > the species, which was previously undescribed. That's cool. But what's > even cooler is the conservation angle. The Nature Conservancy in > Colorado is using the Chipping Sparrow data to leverage land acquisition > and to implement new management strategies for biodiversity hotspots > where Chipping Sparrows and other recently discovered molt migrants go > to molt. That's very cool. > > 2. A few days ago, David La Puma said, "The insect chorus is a force to > be reckoned with!" For sure, and I think there's a psychological angle > that is important to ponder. Think back to those chilly nights in mid- > to late September: It's well after midnight, it's chilly, and the > insects--save a few hardy katydids--have all quieted down. No wonder you > can hear all those thrushes! And here's something else. On several > occasions, I've been struck by how an NFC-L'er will report hearing > thousands of Swainson's thrushes, hundreds of Gray-cheeks, and, oh, 2 > sparrows. I think it's the same effect: We hear those loud, clear, > distinctive thrushes, and we dial out the softer, fainter, higher notes > of sparrows and warblers. In late July in the East, it's so much worse: > You can't even hear yourself think, what with all the insects, in July > and early August. In Colorado, though, with practically no insect noise > in many places [insert frowny-face...I love insect sounds], all those > early-season migrants are easily heard--even the wimpy Brewer's > Sparrows, which should be on the move any night now. Anyhow, birders, > like all humans, tend to put awareness and belief ahead of facts and > reality. We all "know" something is true, and then we confirm it with > our eyes and ears: "Believing is seeing." When we "know" something isn't > there (Chipping Sparrows migrating by night in July), we don't bother to > pay attention. > > ------------------------------- > > Ted Floyd > Editor, Birding > > Follow Birding magazine on Twitter: http://twitter.com/BirdingMagazine > > ------------------------------- > > -- > > NFC-L List Info: > http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_WELCOME > http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_RULES > > ARCHIVES: > 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nfc-l AT cornell.edu/maillist.html > 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NFCL.html > 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NFC-L > > Please submit your observations to eBird: > http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ > > -- -- NFC-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_WELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_RULES ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nfc-l AT cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NFCL.html 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NFC-L Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ -- -- NFC-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_WELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_RULES ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nfc-l AT cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NFCL.html 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NFC-L Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ -- Subject: RE: flight call to identify From: Jay K <azure.jay AT earthlink.net> Date: Fri, 30 Jul 2010 10:25:19 -0400 (EDT) Upon listening to it again, I could go with LeConte's as well, though it seems to have a fairly short delivery for a LeConte's to my ear. I also didn't really hear the double-banding initially. Maybe Ted's other suggestion should be explored. Jay -----Original Message----- >From: Ted Floyd >Sent: Jul 30, 2010 8:22 AM >To: NFC-L AT cornell.edu >Subject: RE: [nfc-l] flight call to identify > >Hi, all. > >Assuming it's a "flight call" (I'm thinking functional), it sounds and >"looks" (spectrographically) good for Le Conte's Sparrow. The flight >call is thin, slightly descending, very high pitched, and double banded. >That's all a good match to Le Conte's Sparrow's flight call. > >But just to ask a stupid question, why isn't this an alarm call of an >American Robin? That's an awfully variable vocalization, I realize, but >I've heard some that are just like this one. > >Is there's a chance the microphone picked up a robin in a tree, freaked >out by a raccoon or something? Or is this definitely a bird flying over? > >Anyhow, my vote, for what that's worth, is Le Conte's Sparrow. But I >wonder about a non-FlightCall vocalization of American Robin, too. > >Best, >Ted > > > > > > >-----Original Message----- >From: bounce-6141374-9667900 AT list.cornell.edu >[mailto:bounce-6141374-9667900 AT list.cornell.edu] On Behalf Of Andrew >Farnsworth >Sent: Thursday, July 29, 2010 3:53 PM >To: NFC-L AT cornell.edu >Subject: [nfc-l] flight call to identify > >Good afternoon all, >I'd like to solicit comments from the community on this flight call, >recorded on approximately 5AM on 17 October 2009 just south of Ithaca, >NY, USA. What is the identity of the caller? Several colleagues and I >have a likely candidate, but I'd like to hear additional opinions. > >Once I get some feedback, I'll post the comments and discussion, and >provide some additional background. > >Regards, >Andrew > >-- > >NFC-L List Info: >http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_WELCOME >http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_RULES > >ARCHIVES: >1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nfc-l AT cornell.edu/maillist.html >2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NFCL.html >3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NFC-L > >Please submit your observations to eBird: >http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ > >-- > >-- > >NFC-L List Info: >http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_WELCOME >http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_RULES > >ARCHIVES: >1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nfc-l AT cornell.edu/maillist.html >2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NFCL.html >3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NFC-L > >Please submit your observations to eBird: >http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ > >-- > -- NFC-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_WELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_RULES ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nfc-l AT cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NFCL.html 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NFC-L Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ -- Subject: RE: flight call to identify From: "Ted Floyd" <tfloyd AT aba.org> Date: Fri, 30 Jul 2010 06:22:44 -0600 Hi, all. Assuming it's a "flight call" (I'm thinking functional), it sounds and "looks" (spectrographically) good for Le Conte's Sparrow. The flight call is thin, slightly descending, very high pitched, and double banded. That's all a good match to Le Conte's Sparrow's flight call. But just to ask a stupid question, why isn't this an alarm call of an American Robin? That's an awfully variable vocalization, I realize, but I've heard some that are just like this one. Is there's a chance the microphone picked up a robin in a tree, freaked out by a raccoon or something? Or is this definitely a bird flying over? Anyhow, my vote, for what that's worth, is Le Conte's Sparrow. But I wonder about a non-FlightCall vocalization of American Robin, too. Best, Ted -----Original Message----- From: bounce-6141374-9667900 AT list.cornell.edu [mailto:bounce-6141374-9667900 AT list.cornell.edu] On Behalf Of Andrew Farnsworth Sent: Thursday, July 29, 2010 3:53 PM To: NFC-L AT cornell.edu Subject: [nfc-l] flight call to identify Good afternoon all, I'd like to solicit comments from the community on this flight call, recorded on approximately 5AM on 17 October 2009 just south of Ithaca, NY, USA. What is the identity of the caller? Several colleagues and I have a likely candidate, but I'd like to hear additional opinions. Once I get some feedback, I'll post the comments and discussion, and provide some additional background. Regards, Andrew -- NFC-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_WELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_RULES ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nfc-l AT cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NFCL.html 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NFC-L Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ -- -- NFC-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_WELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_RULES ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nfc-l AT cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NFCL.html 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NFC-L Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ -- Subject: Re: flight call to identify From: Jay K <azure.jay AT earthlink.net> Date: Thu, 29 Jul 2010 20:36:13 -0700 (GMT-07:00) Sounds like a Field Sparrow to me. Long, thin and slightly descending. Jay Keller, San Diego, CA -----Original Message----- >From: Andrew Farnsworth >Sent: Jul 29, 2010 2:53 PM >To: NFC-L AT cornell.edu >Subject: [nfc-l] flight call to identify > >Good afternoon all, >I'd like to solicit comments from the community on this flight call, >recorded on approximately 5AM on 17 October 2009 just south of Ithaca, >NY, USA. What is the identity of the caller? Several colleagues and >I have a likely candidate, but I'd like to hear additional opinions. > >Once I get some feedback, I'll post the comments and discussion, and >provide some additional background. > >Regards, >Andrew > >-- > >NFC-L List Info: >http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_WELCOME >http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_RULES > >ARCHIVES: >1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nfc-l AT cornell.edu/maillist.html >2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NFCL.html >3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NFC-L > >Please submit your observations to eBird: >http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ > >-- -- NFC-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_WELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_RULES ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nfc-l AT cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NFCL.html 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NFC-L Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ -- Subject: flight call to identify From: Andrew Farnsworth <andrew.farnsworth AT gmail.com> Date: Thu, 29 Jul 2010 17:53:00 -0400 Good afternoon all, I'd like to solicit comments from the community on this flight call, recorded on approximately 5AM on 17 October 2009 just south of Ithaca, NY, USA. What is the identity of the caller? Several colleagues and I have a likely candidate, but I'd like to hear additional opinions. Once I get some feedback, I'll post the comments and discussion, and provide some additional background. Regards, Andrew -- NFC-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_WELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_RULES ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nfc-l AT cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NFCL.html 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NFC-L Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ -- Subject: RE: Nocturnal flight calls, Colorado's Front Range, 3+ years of data From: "Ted Floyd" <tfloyd AT aba.org> Date: Thu, 29 Jul 2010 07:17:32 -0600 Hi, Andrew et al. > Ted (and others), what other species would you consider typical > in the early July flights? And what of mid-June to early July > flights in Colorado and elsewhere in the west? I haven't really done any nighttime "fall migration" monitoring prior to July. By late June in Colorado, we are certainly seeing diurnal-migrant Bullock's Orioles on the move to their molting grounds. That seems to be about it for passerines. Earlier today, Thursday, July 29th, in the late 3am hour, there was a decent movement of Chipping Sparrows: 13 flight calls in 30 minutes. Also 2 Lark Sparrows and 2 Yellow Warblers for half an hour in the late 3am hour. Winds were from the northwest. Yesterday morning, Wednesday, July 28th, I listened for 15 minutes starting at 1:45 a.m. Mountain Time, and I heard 5 Chipping Sparrows and 1 Baird's Sandpiper. Winds were westerly. Y'all in the East have insects to contend with. My problem, locally, is a big nighttime roost of Barn Swallows! Well, I'm learning how to dial them out, just as Easterners learn how to listen beyond the incessant chirping of the orthopterans. Best, Ted ------------------------------- Ted Floyd Editor, Birding Follow Birding magazine on Twitter: http://twitter.com/BirdingMagazine ------------------------------- -- NFC-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_WELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_RULES ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nfc-l AT cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NFCL.html 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NFC-L Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ -- Subject: Re: Nocturnal flight calls, Colorado's Front Range, 3+ years of data From: Andrew Farnsworth <andrew.farnsworth AT gmail.com> Date: Thu, 29 Jul 2010 08:36:27 -0400 Hello all, Ted, I congratulate you on another excellent and timely post. Regarding our attention to details: a couple of thoughts. . .apologies for hijacking the thread a little! Molt migration is a fascinating phenomenon, and many, myself included, are still eager to see a larger scale effort to monitor this behavior (in particular the nocturnal movements by acoustic monitoring). Has anyone on the list operated acoustic monitoring stations in the intermountain and mountain western US - Rockies/Great Basin/etc. - for any extended periods during the past few summers (or in the more distant past)? Ted (and others), what other species would you consider typical in the early July flights? And what of mid-June to early July flights in Colorado and elsewhere in the west? And expanding to a larger scale, what do we know about nocturnal movements associated with molt migration in other parts of the world (especially outside the western hemisphere!)? From the US, East coast perspective, I am also interested to hear opinions about the nature of nocturnal movements that occur between mid-June and late-July in the Northeastern US. Presumably, in some cases, we are recording actual, continuous migratory movements for species that are late/early migrants (rails/Yellow Warbler, Louisiana Waterthrush) . . . but is this true in all cases? Are there species, such as those in the next sentences, for which we think we have a clear understanding of migration phenology but for which we really do not? Could be . . . but consider this . . . A number of mid-June to mid-July recordings made in New York state (various people in Ithaca and Manhattan at the least) have turned up an interesting diversity of nocturnal flight calls including Sora, Virginia Rail, Black-billed and Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Black-throated Blue Warbler, Canada Warbler, Grasshopper Sparrow, Nelson's Sparrow, etc. The placement of the recording stations and the attributes of the recordings are consistent with recording birds in nocturnal flight (rather than flight calls recorded nocturnally from birds on the ground or in typical habitat). Are we recording movements of adults of multi-brooded birds, failed breeders, pre-migratory movements of young of the year, facultative movements following irregular resources? Best, Andrew On Wed, Jul 28, 2010 at 5:00 AM, Ted Floyd wrote: > Hello, Birders. > > Here's an 86-kilobyte PowerPoint image, attached, summarizing the > results of my nighttime listening efforts at Greenlee Preserve, Boulder > County, Colorado, 2007-2010. Boulder County is northwest of Denver. The > county's western boundary is the Continental Divide, and the eastern > boundary is a bit higher than 5,000 feet. Data are July-November, > 2007-2009, plus July to date in 2010. > > Before opening up the file, I suggest thinking for a moment about the > "East Coast bias" that practically all of us bring to the art and > science of listening to nocturnal flight calls. For me, having grown up > "Back East," the essence of nocturnal migration is a chilly night in > mid- to late September, the dark sky filled with the flight calls of > Swainson's and Gray-cheeked thrushes. > > But here in Colorado, you'll hear very little of that. Even though > Swainson's thrushes are common breeders in the Rocky Mountains, I hear > practically none of them flying over at night in mid- to late September. > And we get few if any of those other great "East Coast" birds flying > over at night in the fall: other "spot-breasted" thrushes, cuckoos, > Scarlet Tanagers, Rose-breasted Grosbeaks, and so forth. So you could > easily be excused for thinking there's not much to hear in the night > skies above Colorado. > > NOW check out the attached file. Certainly, there are night > flights--sometimes quite impressive--to be heard in Colorado's Front > Range region. But they're very different from the standard model, if you > will, from Back East. In Colorado, there's a steady trickle of bird > moving over by late July; the flight peaks by late August; and it's in > sharp decline by mid-September. The most frequently detected species is > the Chipping Sparrow, representing the bulk of the flight until the > first week of August; during the peak flight in late August, around 25% > of all detections are of Chipping Sparrows; and the species is pretty > much gone by late September. Certainly, that's not the impression you'd > get from an East Coast bias! > > (I've mentioned it before, but I'll say it again in case it's been > overlooked. Chipping Sparrows do not breed where I listen. These are > middle-of-the-night, no-nonsense molt-migrants flying from their > breeding grounds in the Rockies to molting grounds in eastern Colorado > and western Kansas.) > > Two thoughts, if I may, if you've actually made it this far: > > 1. Five years ago, NFC-L contributor Andrew Farnsworth had a great paper > in the Auk on "Flight calls and their value for future ornithological > studies and conservation research." In the case of Colorado's Chipping > Sparrows, the simple act of listening to nocturnal-migrant Chipping > Sparrows on hot nights in July has tipped us off to molt-migration in > the species, which was previously undescribed. That's cool. But what's > even cooler is the conservation angle. The Nature Conservancy in > Colorado is using the Chipping Sparrow data to leverage land acquisition > and to implement new management strategies for biodiversity hotspots > where Chipping Sparrows and other recently discovered molt migrants go > to molt. That's very cool. > > 2. A few days ago, David La Puma said, "The insect chorus is a force to > be reckoned with!" For sure, and I think there's a psychological angle > that is important to ponder. Think back to those chilly nights in mid- > to late September: It's well after midnight, it's chilly, and the > insects--save a few hardy katydids--have all quieted down. No wonder you > can hear all those thrushes! And here's something else. On several > occasions, I've been struck by how an NFC-L'er will report hearing > thousands of Swainson's thrushes, hundreds of Gray-cheeks, and, oh, 2 > sparrows. I think it's the same effect: We hear those loud, clear, > distinctive thrushes, and we dial out the softer, fainter, higher notes > of sparrows and warblers. In late July in the East, it's so much worse: > You can't even hear yourself think, what with all the insects, in July > and early August. In Colorado, though, with practically no insect noise > in many places [insert frowny-face...I love insect sounds], all those > early-season migrants are easily heard--even the wimpy Brewer's > Sparrows, which should be on the move any night now. Anyhow, birders, > like all humans, tend to put awareness and belief ahead of facts and > reality. We all "know" something is true, and then we confirm it with > our eyes and ears: "Believing is seeing." When we "know" something isn't > there (Chipping Sparrows migrating by night in July), we don't bother to > pay attention. > > ------------------------------- > > Ted Floyd > Editor, Birding > > Follow Birding magazine on Twitter: http://twitter.com/BirdingMagazine > > ------------------------------- > > -- > > NFC-L List Info: > http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_WELCOME > http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_RULES > > ARCHIVES: > 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nfc-l AT cornell.edu/maillist.html > 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NFCL.html > 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NFC-L > > Please submit your observations to eBird: > http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ > > -- -- NFC-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_WELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_RULES ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nfc-l AT cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NFCL.html 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NFC-L Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ -- Subject: Nocturnal flight calls, Colorado's Front Range, 3+ years of data From: "Ted Floyd" <tfloyd AT aba.org> Date: Wed, 28 Jul 2010 03:00:49 -0600 Hello, Birders. Here's an 86-kilobyte PowerPoint image, attached, summarizing the results of my nighttime listening efforts at Greenlee Preserve, Boulder County, Colorado, 2007-2010. Boulder County is northwest of Denver. The county's western boundary is the Continental Divide, and the eastern boundary is a bit higher than 5,000 feet. Data are July-November, 2007-2009, plus July to date in 2010. Before opening up the file, I suggest thinking for a moment about the "East Coast bias" that practically all of us bring to the art and science of listening to nocturnal flight calls. For me, having grown up "Back East," the essence of nocturnal migration is a chilly night in mid- to late September, the dark sky filled with the flight calls of Swainson's and Gray-cheeked thrushes. But here in Colorado, you'll hear very little of that. Even though Swainson's thrushes are common breeders in the Rocky Mountains, I hear practically none of them flying over at night in mid- to late September. And we get few if any of those other great "East Coast" birds flying over at night in the fall: other "spot-breasted" thrushes, cuckoos, Scarlet Tanagers, Rose-breasted Grosbeaks, and so forth. So you could easily be excused for thinking there's not much to hear in the night skies above Colorado. NOW check out the attached file. Certainly, there are night flights--sometimes quite impressive--to be heard in Colorado's Front Range region. But they're very different from the standard model, if you will, from Back East. In Colorado, there's a steady trickle of bird moving over by late July; the flight peaks by late August; and it's in sharp decline by mid-September. The most frequently detected species is the Chipping Sparrow, representing the bulk of the flight until the first week of August; during the peak flight in late August, around 25% of all detections are of Chipping Sparrows; and the species is pretty much gone by late September. Certainly, that's not the impression you'd get from an East Coast bias! (I've mentioned it before, but I'll say it again in case it's been overlooked. Chipping Sparrows do not breed where I listen. These are middle-of-the-night, no-nonsense molt-migrants flying from their breeding grounds in the Rockies to molting grounds in eastern Colorado and western Kansas.) Two thoughts, if I may, if you've actually made it this far: 1. Five years ago, NFC-L contributor Andrew Farnsworth had a great paper in the Auk on "Flight calls and their value for future ornithological studies and conservation research." In the case of Colorado's Chipping Sparrows, the simple act of listening to nocturnal-migrant Chipping Sparrows on hot nights in July has tipped us off to molt-migration in the species, which was previously undescribed. That's cool. But what's even cooler is the conservation angle. The Nature Conservancy in Colorado is using the Chipping Sparrow data to leverage land acquisition and to implement new management strategies for biodiversity hotspots where Chipping Sparrows and other recently discovered molt migrants go to molt. That's very cool. 2. A few days ago, David La Puma said, "The insect chorus is a force to be reckoned with!" For sure, and I think there's a psychological angle that is important to ponder. Think back to those chilly nights in mid- to late September: It's well after midnight, it's chilly, and the insects--save a few hardy katydids--have all quieted down. No wonder you can hear all those thrushes! And here's something else. On several occasions, I've been struck by how an NFC-L'er will report hearing thousands of Swainson's thrushes, hundreds of Gray-cheeks, and, oh, 2 sparrows. I think it's the same effect: We hear those loud, clear, distinctive thrushes, and we dial out the softer, fainter, higher notes of sparrows and warblers. In late July in the East, it's so much worse: You can't even hear yourself think, what with all the insects, in July and early August. In Colorado, though, with practically no insect noise in many places [insert frowny-face...I love insect sounds], all those early-season migrants are easily heard--even the wimpy Brewer's Sparrows, which should be on the move any night now. Anyhow, birders, like all humans, tend to put awareness and belief ahead of facts and reality. We all "know" something is true, and then we confirm it with our eyes and ears: "Believing is seeing." When we "know" something isn't there (Chipping Sparrows migrating by night in July), we don't bother to pay attention. ------------------------------- Ted Floyd Editor, Birding Follow Birding magazine on Twitter: http://twitter.com/BirdingMagazine ------------------------------- -- NFC-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_WELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_RULES ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nfc-l AT cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NFCL.html 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NFC-L Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ -- Subject: flight last night From: David La Puma <woodcreeper AT gmail.com> Date: Mon, 26 Jul 2010 11:08:39 -0400 Some birds were on the move last night- as shown by this NEXRAD image from 1:00am EST last night (this morning): *http://tinyurl.com/2b84qxv most of the signal across the Midwest appears to have been anomolous propagation (check the velocity on the individual radars- most show zero or very low radial velocity associated with the high reflectivity), but the light movement over the Mid-Atlantic appears to have been birds. A light morning flight over my house this AM turned up several Yellow Warblers and American Redstarts. By 7:00am a friend had 40 birds of several species down at Higbee's Beach in Cape May, with at least a few LA Waterthrush in the mix (but I have yet to hear a full report). I turned my mic on last night and recorded from 10pm on, without much being picked up... so I assume birds were 1) really high up or 2) quiet as they were going over. The insect chorus is a force to be reckoned with! Good birding/listening/radar-watching David *________________________ David A. La Puma Postdoctoral Associate New Jersey Audubon Society 600 Route 47 North Cape May Court House, NJ 08210 Office: 609.861.1608 x33 Fax: 609.861.1651 Websites: http://www.woodcreeper.com http://badbirdz2.wordpress.com Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/woodcreeper -- NFC-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_WELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_RULES ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nfc-l AT cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NFCL.html 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NFC-L Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ -- Subject: First nocturnal-migrant Chipping Sparrow, July 19th From: "Ted Floyd" <tfloyd AT aba.org> Date: Thu, 22 Jul 2010 13:01:45 -0600 Hello, Birders. Here's something I posted to BirdChat a few days ago. Thought it might be of interest to this group. All best, Ted Floyd ========================================================== Date: Mon, 19 Jul 2010 07:24:22 -0700 Sender: "National Birding Hotline Cooperative (Chat Line)" From: Ted Floyd <[log in to unmask]> Subject: The most wonderful day of the year It's a birder thing. Really, it's a human thing. We mark the passing of the seasons by certain milestones, by the proverbial first robin of spring. Who among us hasn't thrilled to Aldo Leopold's essay, "The Geese Return"? (Here it is: http://tinyurl.com/2caupns.) On a cold, bright morning, we see the first robin on the sidewalk; on the night of a warm thaw, we hear the geese returning; in October, we step outside and delight in the crispness of the first fall frost. Those things are universal: robins, geese, fall frosts, and so forth. Many of us, I think, have our own private emblems to mark the passing of the seaons. Over the years, Pete Dunne has shared several in his many writings. When I was a kid, I adored (and darned-near memorized) Dunne's essay, "Death of a Season," which tells of a southbound Short-billed Dowitcher at Cape May and how its appearance marked the end of summer. A few years later, in his New York Times column "In the Natural State," Dunne had a wonderful essay on the Louisiana Waterthrush, whose return each year marks the final proof of spring. Earlier today, Monday, July 19th, I witnessed one such harbinger of a new season. The encounter lasted 75 milliseconds (about 1/13th of a second). It happened under cover of darkness. I'm nearly certain that no other human being witnessed it. I'd been waiting for it, and I knew it would happen, but I couldn't say when. At 3:59 a.m., under skies clear enough--even in the suburbs northwest of Denver--to see the Milky Way and the Galaxy in Andromeda--I heard the unmistakable, piercing flight call of a Chipping Sparrow. That sound is the essence of what most attracts me to birding and indeed to nature study: The nocturnal flight call of the Chipping Sparrow is the embodiment of mystery, wonder, drama, and serendipity. It is the call of one of the most ordinary of birds, and yet the call signifies something at the frontiers of human knowledge and understanding. Chipping Sparrows do not breed where I live. I was hearing a nocturnal migrant flying from its breeding grounds in the nearby Rocky Mountains to its molting grounds out on the plains of eastern Colorado and western Kansas. Until very recently, only a tiny handful of birders had any clue that Chipping Sparrows go east to molt. There's an eminently valid reason for that cluelessness: The birds are way out on the plains, holed up in dense vegetation, hiding and molting. It's 100+ degrees out there. It's brutal. And the only reason to be out there, according to the conventional wisdom, is to look for migrating shorebirds or perhaps to work on your Breeding Bird Atlas block. You're out on the mudflats, working through a big flock of peeps, and one of them is decidedly "interesting"; off in the distance, in the weeds, the cochleae in your ears detect a 75-millisecond, 7,000-hertz flight call. Your brain says, "Fuhgeddaboutit." Even if you're in on the secret, molting Chipping Sparrows are hard to find. By day, there are so many distractions: sputtering kingbirds, and the protests of a killdeer; a fritillary to look at, and peeps to ponder; a nearby tractor, and the distant din of trucks on the interstate. The Chipping Sparrows are hiding, molting; they don't even want to be seen. And it's so danged hot. At night, it's a different story. It's quiet. There's nothing to see, save the stars. Then you hear it: a piercing "seen?" A few millipascals of sound "energy" reach your ears, and it's over in less than a tenth of a second. But it was unmistakable. This bird wanted to be heard; that's the whole purpose of its nocturnal flight call. Chipping Sparrows migrating by night are as conspicuous as they are inconspicuous during the day. The great invisible passage of midsummer molt-migrants in underway. Some folks have commented to me that they find it peculiar that I get such a kick out of something so esoteric. All I can say is that it's not esoteric for me. Not at all. For me, hearing the first nocturnal flight call of the Chipping Sparrow is a jump-for-joy, pump-your-fist-in-the-air moment. The call comes out of nowhere. It elicits heartfelt wonder, and nothing else. Something remarkable, something wonderful, is going on up there; you're in on the secret, and you're giddy with delight. It's the most wonderful day of the year. ------------------------------- Ted Floyd Editor, Birding Follow Birding magazine on Twitter: http://twitter.com/BirdingMagazine ------------------------------- -- NFC-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_WELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_RULES ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nfc-l AT cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NFCL.html 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NFC-L Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ -- Subject: Re: Dual-Polar Radar coming 2011-2012 From: Colby Neuman <colby.neuman AT gmail.com> Date: Thu, 8 Jul 2010 17:47:48 -0700 Bryan, You're information sounds good to me. The Spokane, WA office is planning on upgrading August/September 2011 for what it's worth. I wouldn't be surprised if the upgrades are pushed back though. Colby On Thu, Jul 8, 2010 at 1:45 PM, Bryan Guarente wrote: > David, Andy, and other interested parties, > According to some Technical Information Notices put out by the National > Weather Service (NWS), the beta test for live data starts on November 17th. > I haven't heard recently, but I thought the test bed was going to be > Wichita, KS.  Plans may have changed since I last heard.  [Colby any word on > this one?]  The Norman, OK radar is a research radar, and usually isn't > available for regular viewing that I know of.  There are other dual-pol > radars, multiple on trucks (used during Vortex 2) and a few that are > portable, but not really mobile.  The Norman radar has been the go-to for > dual-pol radars for some time in the U.S., but that will not likely turn > over to be operational any time.  When the NWS upgrade to all the radars > comes along, then most of the nation should be covered with this data. > There are other radars (phased array) on the horizon that might be useful > for bird detection as well, but I don't know enough about them yet to make > any solid statements. > > I wanted to make a quick clarification about David's original posting. > David mentioned that the radars will be able to get the drop-size > distributions from their scans, but this is not exactly true.  The drop-size > distributions may be inferred from the radar imagery, but this will be a > poor assumption initially until we learn more about storms from this new > source.  One of the things, we will get is actually hydrometeor > characterization (precipitation type) from the radar scans.  However, the > algorithm to identify the hydrometeors is not perfect, so there will be some > issues.  According to the algorithm though, there is a distinct type/color > for non-meteorological targets (i.e., birds, insects, and I think dust as > well).  So it would be significantly easier to pick out possible birds on > radar once these are in place, if we get access to this product. > > Bryan Guarente > Instructional Designer > The COMET Program > University Corporation for Atmospheric Research > Boulder, CO > -- NFC-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_WELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_RULES ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nfc-l AT cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NFCL.html 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NFC-L Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ -- Subject: Re: Dual-Polar Radar coming 2011-2012 From: david nicosia <daven1024 AT yahoo.com> Date: Thu, 8 Jul 2010 17:07:15 -0700 (PDT) Thanks Bryan for more details on this. I recently saw a presentation on Dual-polarization and that is where I gleaned the information. I don't have the in-depth knowledge that you do. Our office (WFO Binghamton) is getting the dual-pole upgrade in June 2011. I know we are near the top of the list but there will be others coming on-line before us. You are correct that Norman is a research radar. I don't know if that data is available or not for study before they deploy the others.  take care. ________________________________ From: Bryan Guarente To: nfc-l AT cornell.edu Sent: Thu, July 8, 2010 4:45:40 PM Subject: Re: [nfc-l] Dual-Polar Radar coming 2011-2012 David, Andy, and other interested parties, According to some Technical Information Notices put out by the National Weather Service (NWS), the beta test for live data starts on November 17th.  I haven't heard recently, but I thought the test bed was going to be Wichita, KS.  Plans may have changed since I last heard.  [Colby any word on this one?]  The Norman, OK radar is a research radar, and usually isn't available for regular viewing that I know of.  There are other dual-pol radars, multiple on trucks (used during Vortex 2) and a few that are portable, but not really mobile.  The Norman radar has been the go-to for dual-pol radars for some time in the U.S., but that will not likely turn over to be operational any time.  When the NWS upgrade to all the radars comes along, then most of the nation should be covered with this data.  There are other radars (phased array) on the horizon that might be useful for bird detection as well, but I don't know enough about them yet to make any solid statements.  I wanted to make a quick clarification about David's original posting.  David mentioned that the radars will be able to get the drop-size distributions from their scans, but this is not exactly true.  The drop-size distributions may be inferred from the radar imagery, but this will be a poor assumption initially until we learn more about storms from this new source.  One of the things, we will get is actually hydrometeor characterization (precipitation type) from the radar scans.  However, the algorithm to identify the hydrometeors is not perfect, so there will be some issues.  According to the algorithm though, there is a distinct type/color for non-meteorological targets (i.e., birds, insects, and I think dust as well).  So it would be significantly easier to pick out possible birds on radar once these are in place, if we get access to this product. Bryan Guarente Instructional Designer The COMET Program University Corporation for Atmospheric Research Boulder, CO -- NFC-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_WELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_RULES ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nfc-l AT cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NFCL.html 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NFC-L Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ -- Subject: Re: Dual-Polar Radar coming 2011-2012 From: Bryan Guarente <dafekt1ve AT yahoo.com> Date: Thu, 8 Jul 2010 13:45:40 -0700 (PDT) David, Andy, and other interested parties, According to some Technical Information Notices put out by the National Weather Service (NWS), the beta test for live data starts on November 17th. I haven't heard recently, but I thought the test bed was going to be Wichita, KS. Plans may have changed since I last heard. [Colby any word on this one?] The Norman, OK radar is a research radar, and usually isn't available for regular viewing that I know of. There are other dual-pol radars, multiple on trucks (used during Vortex 2) and a few that are portable, but not really mobile. The Norman radar has been the go-to for dual-pol radars for some time in the U.S., but that will not likely turn over to be operational any time. When the NWS upgrade to all the radars comes along, then most of the nation should be covered with this data. There are other radars (phased array) on the horizon that might be useful for bird detection as well, but I don't know enough about them yet to make any solid statements. I wanted to make a quick clarification about David's original posting. David mentioned that the radars will be able to get the drop-size distributions from their scans, but this is not exactly true. The drop-size distributions may be inferred from the radar imagery, but this will be a poor assumption initially until we learn more about storms from this new source. One of the things, we will get is actually hydrometeor characterization (precipitation type) from the radar scans. However, the algorithm to identify the hydrometeors is not perfect, so there will be some issues. According to the algorithm though, there is a distinct type/color for non-meteorological targets (i.e., birds, insects, and I think dust as well). So it would be significantly easier to pick out possible birds on radar once these are in place, if we get access to this product. Bryan Guarente Instructional Designer The COMET Program University Corporation for Atmospheric Research Boulder, CO -- NFC-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_WELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_RULES ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nfc-l AT cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NFCL.html 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NFC-L Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ -- Subject: Re: Dual-Polar Radar coming 2011-2012 From: david nicosia <daven1024 AT yahoo.com> Date: Thu, 8 Jul 2010 13:16:05 -0700 (PDT) I know they have a test radar at Norman, OK but I don't believe the data is operational or available. When I get some time( probably next week) I am going to find out more on the availability of the data and will share with this list. Dave Nicosia ________________________________ From: Andy Martin To: david nicosia ; nfc-l AT cornell.edu Sent: Thu, July 8, 2010 11:30:29 AM Subject: Re: [nfc-l] Dual-Polar Radar coming 2011-2012 Dave, Are there any polarimetric radar stations (a beta site) with a web link up and running at the moment that we might view in coming weeks as fall migration starts to intensify? Thanks, Andy Martin Gaithersburg, MD On 7/6/2010 10:26 AM, david nicosia wrote: All, > >The next two years will see all NWS radars equipped with >dual polarization which essentially adds a vertically oriented pulse >to the horizontal oriented pulse of energy. There will be a >slew of new radar products to learn and interpret. > >The advantages of dual polar are that meteorologists will >be able to better determine precipitation types, drop-sized >distributions of raindrops and mixed precipitation. It also >will determine non-meteorological targets better (birds!!). > >There are interesting radar products like differential phase, >which helps us with rainfall drop-sized distributions. I wonder >if this new technology will help determine the size of migrating >birds? Will a flock of geese appear different than >songbirds? This could be an exciting time for "radar" birding. > >For more information on this.... >check out this website.... > >http://www.cimms.ou.edu/%7Eschuur/radar.html > >Dave Nicosia >Johnson City, NY > > > -- NFC-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_WELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_RULES ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nfc-l AT cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NFCL.html 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NFC-L Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ -- Subject: Re: Dual-Polar Radar coming 2011-2012 From: Andy Martin <apmartin2 AT comcast.net> Date: Thu, 08 Jul 2010 11:30:29 -0400 Dave, Are there any polarimetric radar stations (a beta site) with a web link up and running at the moment that we might view in coming weeks as fall migration starts to intensify? Thanks, Andy Martin Gaithersburg, MD On 7/6/2010 10:26 AM, david nicosia wrote: > All, > The next two years will see all NWS radars equipped with > dual polarization which essentially adds a vertically oriented pulse > to the horizontal oriented pulse of energy. There will be a > slew of new radar products to learn and interpret. > The advantages of dual polar are that meteorologists will > be able to better determine precipitation types, drop-sized > distributions of raindrops and mixed precipitation. It also > will determine non-meteorological targets better (birds!!). > There are interesting radar products like differential phase, > which helps us with rainfall drop-sized distributions. I wonder > if this new technology will help determine the size of migrating > birds? Will a flock of geese appear different than > songbirds? This could be an exciting time for "radar" birding. > For more information on this.... > check out this website.... > http://www.cimms.ou.edu/~schuur/radar.html > > Dave Nicosia > Johnson City, NY > -- NFC-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_WELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_RULES ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nfc-l AT cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NFCL.html 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NFC-L Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ -- Subject: Dual-Polar Radar coming 2011-2012 From: david nicosia <daven1024 AT yahoo.com> Date: Tue, 6 Jul 2010 07:26:31 -0700 (PDT) All, The next two years will see all NWS radars equipped with dual polarization which essentially adds a vertically oriented pulse to the horizontal oriented pulse of energy. There will be a slew of new radar products to learn and interpret. The advantages of dual polar are that meteorologists will be able to better determine precipitation types, drop-sized distributions of raindrops and mixed precipitation. It also will determine non-meteorological targets better (birds!!). There are interesting radar products like differential phase, which helps us with rainfall drop-sized distributions. I wonder if this new technology will help determine the size of migrating birds? Will a flock of geese appear different than songbirds? This could be an exciting time for "radar" birding. For more information on this.... check out this website.... http://www.cimms.ou.edu/~schuur/radar.html Dave Nicosia Johnson City, NY -- NFC-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_WELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_RULES ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nfc-l AT cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NFCL.html 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NFC-L Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ -- Subject: Re: Dusk flight of White-winged Scoters and Brant over Boston, MA From: "Bill Evans" <wrevans AT clarityconnect.com> Date: Tue, 1 Jun 2010 10:18:46 -0400 David- Thanks for providing the links referencing the Binghamton NEXRAD target I noted 10 days or so ago (early on to the near ENE in the Binghamton reflectivity movie you provided below). In hindsight, I agree with your assessment that this doesn't fit well for a flock of birds. For one, it would seem the reflectivity would have been much greater for a flock of Brant. But in my understanding it doesn't fit well for a weather dynamic either. The only thing I can think of that might possibly explain this as birds is perhaps there were just a few birds, perhaps descending in altitude, moving westward across a broad N-S running -- theoretically for example from small numbers of Whimbrels that had been sprinkled along the MA coastline. If there were only small numbers moving and they were widely dispersed, relectivity and velocity might not have contributed much to the pixel sums. Feels like I've strayed into wild speculation -- this is a case where we need a small plane with a small radar, thermal imaging, and physical sensors to go up and sample what the heck causes such mystery targets. Curiously, Bill E ----- Original Message ----- From: David La Puma To: nfc-L AT cornell.edu Sent: Saturday, May 22, 2010 10:04 AM Subject: Re: [nfc-l] Dusk flight of White-winged Scoters and Brant over Boston, MA Marshall, Bill, Richard, et al. Binghamton Velocity http://www.woodcreeper.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/BGM_Vel_052210-Computer.m4v Binghamton Reflectivity http://www.woodcreeper.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/BGM_BR_22May10-Computer.m4v David A. La Puma Postdoctoral Associate New Jersey Audubon Society 600 Route 47 North Cape May Court House, NJ 08210 Office: 609.861.1608 x33 Fax: 609.861.1651 Websites: http://www.woodcreeper.com http://badbirdz2.wordpress.com Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/woodcreeper On Fri, May 21, 2010 at 10:51 PM, Richard Guthrie wrote: A flock of about 150 Brant flew north at dusk, low over the Hudson River in New Baltimore, Greene County, NY. This mid-May mass movement of Brant is an annual event witnessed by many Stripe Bass fishermen out on the Hudson while the herring are running, and the stripers are hitting. I’ve noticed NEXRAD patterns during daylight hours of what may have been raptor or large waterfowl (geese/swans?) movements along the Lake Ontario south shore in the spring. I tried to corroborate this with the hawk watches with no conclusive results. Maybe next spring. Rich Guthrie New Baltimore, The Greene County, New York gaeltic AT capital.net ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: bounce-5852472-10071471 AT list.cornell.edu [mailto:bounce-5852472-10071471 AT list.cornell.edu] On Behalf Of wrevans Sent: Friday, May 21, 2010 10:33 PM To: nfc-L AT cornell.edu Subject: re: [nfc-l] Dusk flight of White-winged Scoters and Brant over Boston, MA Marshall, Before the substantial songbird takeoff on the Binghamton NEXRAD tonight (somewhere perhaps between 8PM-8:30PM) I noted a large arch shaped fast moving blob in the northeast quadrant moving differently than the weather signatures -- at the time I thought it had to be a huge flock of waterfowl or shorebirds but I was perplexed by the direction of flight, which was WNW. I'll see if I can find it on NCAR in the morning -- the other eastern NEXRAD may show similar targets. Bill E ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "Marshall Iliff" Sent: Friday, May 21, 2010 9:21 PM To: bostonbirds AT googlegroups.com, "Massbird" , nfc-l AT cornell.edu Subject: [nfc-l] Dusk flight of White-winged Scoters and Brant over Boston, MA All, This evening I visited my local patch on the south side of Boston and was surprised and pleased to notice one flock, then another, and then another etc. of White-winged Scoters passing high overhead. This site is about 10 miles inland and so this clearly represented a departure from coastal staging areas and the beginnings of an overland nocturnal migration. They passed over in a tight window from 19:50-20:10 and a flock of 80 Brant was soon to follow. Despite much scanning from 8:10-8:30 (at which point it was effectively dark), I was unable to spot any other signs of movement. In any event, I thought it would be worth getting the word out that tonight seems to be a night for movement of coastal waterbirds. Perhaps Whimbrel or other shorebirds will join as the night wears on. A full eBird list from my dusk watch is below. Best, Marshall Iliff West Roxbury, MA ------------------------------ Marshall J. Iliff miliff AT aol.com West Roxbury, MA ------------------------------ eBird/AKN Project Leader www.ebird.org www.avianknowledge.net Cornell Lab of Ornithology Ithaca, NY ------------------------------ Location: Millennium Park Observation date: 5/21/10 Notes: An amazing visit, I started with a visit with the Garveys (Matt had seen the clay-colored earlier--it was not singing while I was there). Then as I began my walk at about 7:50, I spotted a very distant flock well to the south. Since cormorants should not be flying at dusk, I was immediately intrigued and sprinted back to the car for my scope. I was able to confirm that they were White-winged Scoters, and had a total of 6-7 flights (often involving flocks fragmented into 4-5 pieces) of birds all passing high overhead and off to the northwest. With light southeasterlies tonight, it is a perfect night for migration. I settled in for some serious scanning, but all waterfowl were clustered in 20 minutes from 7:50-8:10. I was hoping for Brant and had to wait only 13 minutes before spotting a flock. After that my hopes turned to Whimbrel, Dunlin, Black-bellied Plover and other marine shorebirds, but it was not to be. Still, a great visit, especially since new Millennium Park birds are so hard to come by these days! WEATHER: Clear, light SE or E winds, 50 F. Number of species: 21 Brant (Atlantic) 80 **rare; low flock flying just above eye level and identifiable to subspecies as it headed straight westward towards me and then veered off to fly north along VFW Parkway as though avoiding the landfill. My first for Millennium! Canada Goose 10 Wood Duck 5 flocks of 1 and 4 in dusk flight heading W Mallard 4 White-winged Scoter 630 **rare; amazing dusk flight of birds flying very high. I first spotted several flocks totalling ca. 200 birds off to the south, and they were all the same size and consistent in shape with White-winged Scoter. When they passed against dark clouds I could see faint white secondaries. Later, one flock of 40 flew right overhead (but very high) allowing easy ID in scope, and another flock was far out to east (total of 340 now), while two more large flocks (totalling 290 more but identifiable as scoter sp. only) had already passed me or were specks off to the SW. Amazing flight, and my first White-winged Scoters for Millennium (although a small group of high-flying ducks in October one year were likely this species). Great Blue Heron 1 flying south along treeline Herring Gull 3 flock of three (including two ratty immatures) flying due north as scoters were headed NW and inland Common Nighthawk 14 *high count; my first May record for Millennium and a nice count for spring Chimney Swift 6 Willow Flycatcher 3 whitting below North Parking Lot Tree Swallow 10 Barn Swallow 3 swallow sp. 15 spiraling in to roost in South Marsh American Robin 8 Northern Mockingbird 2 European Starling 15 Cedar Waxwing 8 a couple small flocks flying past Common Yellowthroat 1 Savannah Sparrow 4 singing Song Sparrow 1 Red-winged Blackbird 8 Common Grackle 8 This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org) -- NFC-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_WELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_RULES ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nfc-l AT cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NFCL.html 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NFC-L Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ -- -- NFC-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_WELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_RULES ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nfc-l AT cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NFCL.html 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NFC-L Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ -- Subject: Re: misc. NFC musings from this season (BARN project) From: Tim Krein <tpk8 AT cornell.edu> Date: Tue, 25 May 2010 20:55:12 -0400 The BARN development server containing test data is at http://dev.barn.xbat.org/. Tim On 5/25/10 3:59 PM, "Tim Krein" wrote: The BARN project (http://barn.xbat.org/home) at the Lab seems like a good choice once it comes online. There is a development server up and running but not accepting external data at this time (I think). -- NFC-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_WELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_RULES ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nfc-l AT cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NFCL.html 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NFC-L Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ -- Subject: Re: misc. NFC musings from this season From: Tim Krein <tpk8 AT cornell.edu> Date: Tue, 25 May 2010 15:59:59 -0400 Andy, This past weekend, we set up a Raven sound exhibit featuring flight calls for the Migration Celebration at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. We had to lower the window size and raise the overlap to get the kind of detail in the spectrogram that we wanted. Mike Powers cited an overlap of 87.5% from the oldbird site, and this worked well for us. Raven Lite only allows you to modify the window size, not the overlap. This is why you’re not able to get the same quality spectrograms from Raven Lite. I’ve been talking with Andrew Farnsworth about trying to help the people around the country to collaborate on their flight call research using Raven Pro. We already have a subscription rate for Raven Pro which is $100 per year. For students, we only have them pay the first year, then they get free renewals as long as they’re students. We could set up one of two trials for interested NFC recordists. (1) Pay $100 for a one-year license, and if during that year, you contribute recordings, annotated selections, and/or sound clips back to the Lab as part of an ongoing collaboration, then you’d receive one or more years of free renewals of Raven Pro. (2) Try Raven Pro for 6 months for free to use as part of your NFC recording and analysis, and contribute recordings and/or feedback on the software to the Lab. We could then see how we’d like to continue this into the future. I’d like to hear from people about how well they can use Raven Pro’s detectors for NFCs, and I’ve been working on a selection review tool to be able to look at MxN selections on a screen for quick review. The Conservation Science group here is using detectors successfully and is interested in the selection review tool. We’ve long talked about a citizen science project involving NFC and Raven, and this could be the seed for it. It would be great if we could just give the software away, but we do have to pay people money to develop and support the software, and the original grant for Raven, which ended in 2002, stated that we would charge money for licenses to try to sustain the project. We’re looking at other ways to continue the project, but for now, we’re still selling licenses and bartering with trial licenses for feedback. If anyone is interested in trying Raven under one of the above proposals, please let me know off list. We can certainly discuss the proposals on the list as well. I would rely on Andrew Farnsworth to coordinate with people on the list about how to share data. The BARN project (http://barn.xbat.org/home) at the Lab seems like a good choice once it comes online. There is a development server up and running but not accepting external data at this time (I think). Tim Tim Krein Raven Software Development Bioacoustics Research Program Cornell Lab of Ornithology On 5/25/10 3:21 PM, "Andy Martin" wrote: 2) Making better spectrograms: I use Ravenlite and SyrinxPC to look at and make spectrograms but one thing that has always bugged me is none of my Indigo Bunting or presumed Northern Waterthrush calls ever matched up detail wise to how they appear on Evans/O'Brien Flight Call CD. I especially like the fine detail of the call on the opening page of the Northern Waterthrush section. A few weeks back, I opened the sound file for this particular call into Ravenlite but could not reproduce the detail. Tried it in SyrinxPC and could not do it with that program either. I was however, able to recreate it with the demo version of Raven Pro. I would like to get Raven Pro, but will have to wait on purchase since I just put a good deal of money into upgrading my recording system. -- NFC-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_WELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_RULES ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nfc-l AT cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NFCL.html 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NFC-L Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ -- Subject: misc. NFC musings from this season From: Andy Martin <apmartin2 AT comcast.net> Date: Tue, 25 May 2010 15:21:34 -0400 *1) On trying to put together a less noisy recording set up: * I have really grown dissatisfied with the noisiness of my current recording set-up (Crown PZM Soundgrabber II mic to preamp to Sony PCM m10 Flash recorder) and did not realize how quiet a mic could be until I used the Sony m10 built-in mics to record some daytime bird song. Wow was it quiet compared to my night time set-up using the soundgrabber II mic. I would really like to have this kind of "noise floor" reduction when recording NFCs. I tried recording NFCs directly to the Sony m10s internal speakers (unit mounted to a tripod), and the calls sounded great. The background hiss is much reduced and it sounds much closer to what I actually hear as background noise. However, spectrograms seemed to have a lot of smear in them compared with the Crown pzm Soundgrabber mic. When comparing the two (Sony internal mic vs. Soundgrabber II), I also definitively detect the high frequency dB boost you get with a PZM or boundary style mic. I tried to set up the Sony m10 "Old Bird" style in a flower pot but it only made the smearing worse. Maybe the smearing is a result of reflected sound bouncing around inside the flower pot and arriving at the mic out of phase. Searching the internet, I found some good info at Wingfield Audio about lowering noise. I subsequently ordered a Crown PZM 30d mic, 6 feet of XLR cable, and a Juicedlink CX231 Audio Mixer/Preamplifier and plugged all this into the Sony m10. Juicedlink seems to marketed for use mainly w/ camcorders. Had to crank the gain on both the Juicedlink and Sony m10 to MAX levels to get night time background noise to a -12dB recording level. Results? Definitely better than my old set up with much reduced noise and with minimal smearing but I still hear a bit more hiss than I do when recording directly to the Sony m10 internal mic. The Bad? $$. Crown PZM 30d mic = $270, Juicedlink CX231 = $300, Sony m10 = $250. Also, the Juicedlink runs on 9V batteries and cannot be plugged into an outlet. Good for me, because I wanted a portable system in first place. But if you record at your home or another location to a computer with power already available, burning through a 9V a night (when you don't need to) can become expensive. I am still trying to figure out the exact battery life of the Juicedlink. Its at least 7 hours + (probably more) when supplying 12 volt phantom power to the Crown Mic. I will probably get some rechargeables. I have attached some recordings to so you can judge for yourself. Originally recorded in 44.1 kHz/16 bit .wav and converted to .mp3. All were recorded in same weedy field that's about 4 miles from my house. The pzm mics were mounted on a 1/4" thick sheet of 24"X18" rectangular plexiglass, facing towards sky. Example 1 - Wood Thrushes on Sony m10 internal mic, using built-in preamp. Example 2 - same Wood Thrushes on Crown PZM Soundgrabber II hooked to Reactivesounds.com Boost Box preamp to Sony HiMD minidisc recorder. Example 3 - calls recorded on the Crown PZM d30 mic hooked in to Juicedlink CX231 to Sony m10 recorder. If you look at this call spectrographically, there's solid dark line at 20-21 kHz. No idea what is causing this. Obviously I cannot hear it. Don't know if its coming from mic or preamp. Not sure what else to do at this point to reduce noise. There's a certain amount of low frequency background noise (planes, trains, autos) near my recording location that I can do nothing about. Wonder what its like to record in a really quiet location? Wish I did not have to crank the gain to max on both the Juicedlink preamp and the Sony m10. Pushing the recording equipment to the limit probably causes additional problems with the noise floor. Wingfield Audio site suggests noise can be further reduced by recording directly to line-in jack instead of mic-in jack. However, the Sony m10s internal preamps won't work with line-in so would only get amplification from the Juicedlink, which may not be enough. Would be nice to get Sennheiser like quietness in a pressure zone or boundary mic. This fall, I may try and mess around with some multiple boundary housings for pzm mics. One last aside: I have done some preliminary recording in different digital formats: 48 kHz/16 bit vs. 22.05 kHz/16 bit .wav And at least at this point, have not been able to detect any difference in sound or spectrographic quality. Have not checked against 96 kHz/24 bit quality. However, computer processing demands of 24 bit sound files and also shorter length of total recording time make this issue moot for me at present time. *2) Making better spectrograms: * I use Ravenlite and SyrinxPC to look at and make spectrograms but one thing that has always bugged me is none of my Indigo Bunting or presumed Northern Waterthrush calls ever matched up detail wise to how they appear on Evans/O'Brien Flight Call CD. I especially like the fine detail of the call on the opening page of the Northern Waterthrush section. A few weeks back, I opened the sound file for this particular call into Ravenlite but could not reproduce the detail. Tried it in SyrinxPC and could not do it with that program either. I was however, able to recreate it with the demo version of Raven Pro. I would like to get Raven Pro, but will have to wait on purchase since I just put a good deal of money into upgrading my recording system. * 3) Louder, lower calls sometimes come on nights with seemingly less than ideal migration conditions: * My recording set-up is what you would call a dry night system. Its not waterproofed "Old Bird" style, so I don't leave it out to record every night, especially when rain is in forecast. A few times this season, I have recorded on light or little wind out of northerly direction, and while quantity of calls was low, to my delight, birds that were migrating seemed to be lower to ground than usual, producing some better quality calls. I will definitely try not to ignore opposite wind nights either in spring or fall when winds are calm or light. * 4) Trying to get some of my own flight call recordings of non-passerines to help with night time IDs: * After 4 years or so of recording, I certainly have collected a mess of 3 kHz and below unknown squawks, grunts, barks, etc. Besides continuing to record NFCs, I would like to try and get out over next year or so and get some daytime (identity confirmed) flight calls of non-passerines. A few weeks back, I was able to record some calls made in flight by both Yellow-crowned Night-heron and Hooded Merganser. There not the greatest recordings in world but neither are some of the unknown ones I get at night. Sometimes I find the major bird call CDs a little too pristine to help with IDs. Xeno-Canto and some of the lesser quality calls (by their own rating) at Cornell's Macaulay Library of Sound can be helpful at times. I will try and put some of these on my website, which I have neglected updating for over a year. * 5) Finally got my 1st Bicknell's Thrush call!* I finally recorded a good candidate for a Bicknell's over my house in the wee hours of May 20th. It was pretty distant from mic but the call clearly peaked around 5.1 kHz. Got a 2nd opinion from a local birder, Paul O'Brien, who knows his thrush calls (also happens to be Michael O'Brien's dad) and said it sounded good for a Bicknell's match. Good recording and/or listening, Andy Martin Gaithersburg, MD ps - sorry if PZM mic is redundant. Kinda of like ATM machine or PIN number :-) -- NFC-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_WELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_RULES ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nfc-l AT cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NFCL.html 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NFC-L Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ -- Subject: RE: Dusk flight of White-winged Scoters and Brant over Boston, MA From: "Alvaro Jaramillo" <chucao AT coastside.net> Date: Sat, 22 May 2010 15:20:17 -0700 Hey there, It has been way too long since I lived in Ontario but in late May in Toronto and points farther east we had the pleasure of seeing the Brant go through as well as Whimbrels in good numbers. The Whimbrels ranged farther west, to Lake Erie at least but in lesser numbers, while the Brant were pretty much a Lake Ontario phenom. Also at this time but less well looked at were good movements of scoters. They were not as easy to see largely because they seemed to use the lake but way offshore, so you had to be at the lakeshore in late afternoon with your scope to see the numbers start to move around. Then after sunset they would get up and fly overland. This was pre zebra mussel so the scoter flights may have changed now, but they did also get into Lake Erie. So perhaps it was one of these three - Whimbrel, Brant or scoter you saw and if they are aiming to Lake Ontario or Erie then they would have a substantial W component to flights from upstate NY I would think. Alvaro _____ From: bounce-5852472-10107609 AT list.cornell.edu [mailto:bounce-5852472-10107609 AT list.cornell.edu] On Behalf Of wrevans Sent: Friday, May 21, 2010 7:33 PM To: nfc-L AT cornell.edu Subject: re: [nfc-l] Dusk flight of White-winged Scoters and Brant over Boston, MA Marshall, Before the substantial songbird takeoff on the Binghamton NEXRAD tonight (somewhere perhaps between 8PM-8:30PM) I noted a large arch shaped fast moving blob in the northeast quadrant moving differently than the weather signatures -- at the time I thought it had to be a huge flock of waterfowl or shorebirds but I was perplexed by the direction of flight, which was WNW. I'll see if I can find it on NCAR in the morning -- the other eastern NEXRAD may show similar targets. Bill E _____ From: "Marshall Iliff" Sent: Friday, May 21, 2010 9:21 PM To: bostonbirds AT googlegroups.com, "Massbird" , nfc-l AT cornell.edu Subject: [nfc-l] Dusk flight of White-winged Scoters and Brant over Boston, MA All, This evening I visited my local patch on the south side of Boston and was surprised and pleased to notice one flock, then another, and then another etc. of White-winged Scoters passing high overhead. This site is about 10 miles inland and so this clearly represented a departure from coastal staging areas and the beginnings of an overland nocturnal migration. They passed over in a tight window from 19:50-20:10 and a flock of 80 Brant was soon to follow. Despite much scanning from 8:10-8:30 (at which point it was effectively dark), I was unable to spot any other signs of movement. In any event, I thought it would be worth getting the word out that tonight seems to be a night for movement of coastal waterbirds. Perhaps Whimbrel or other shorebirds will join as the night wears on. A full eBird list from my dusk watch is below. Best, Marshall Iliff West Roxbury, MA ------------------------------ Marshall J. Iliff miliff AT aol.com West Roxbury, MA ------------------------------ eBird/AKN Project Leader www.ebird.org www.avianknowledge.net Cornell Lab of Ornithology Ithaca, NY ------------------------------ Location: Millennium Park Observation date: 5/21/10 Notes: An amazing visit, I started with a visit with the Garveys (Matt had seen the clay-colored earlier--it was not singing while I was there). Then as I began my walk at about 7:50, I spotted a very distant flock well to the south. Since cormorants should not be flying at dusk, I was immediately intrigued and sprinted back to the car for my scope. I was able to confirm that they were White-winged Scoters, and had a total of 6-7 flights (often involving flocks fragmented into 4-5 pieces) of birds all passing high overhead and off to the northwest. With light southeasterlies tonight, it is a perfect night for migration. I settled in for some serious scanning, but all waterfowl were clustered in 20 minutes from 7:50-8:10. I was hoping for Brant and had to wait only 13 minutes before spotting a flock. After that my hopes turned to Whimbrel, Dunlin, Black-bellied Plover and other marine shorebirds, but it was not to be. Still, a great visit, especially since new Millennium Park birds are so hard to come by these days! WEATHER: Clear, light SE or E winds, 50 F. Number of species: 21 Brant (Atlantic) 80 **rare; low flock flying just above eye level and identifiable to subspecies as it headed straight westward towards me and then veered off to fly north along VFW Parkway as though avoiding the landfill. My first for Millennium! Canada Goose 10 Wood Duck 5 flocks of 1 and 4 in dusk flight heading W Mallard 4 White-winged Scoter 630 **rare; amazing dusk flight of birds flying very high. I first spotted several flocks totalling ca. 200 birds off to the south, and they were all the same size and consistent in shape with White-winged Scoter. When they passed against dark clouds I could see faint white secondaries. Later, one flock of 40 flew right overhead (but very high) allowing easy ID in scope, and another flock was far out to east (total of 340 now), while two more large flocks (totalling 290 more but identifiable as scoter sp. only) had already passed me or were specks off to the SW. Amazing flight, and my first White-winged Scoters for Millennium (although a small group of high-flying ducks in October one year were likely this species). Great Blue Heron 1 flying south along treeline Herring Gull 3 flock of three (including two ratty immatures) flying due north as scoters were headed NW and inland Common Nighthawk 14 *high count; my first May record for Millennium and a nice count for spring Chimney Swift 6 Willow Flycatcher 3 whitting below North Parking Lot Tree Swallow 10 Barn Swallow 3 swallow sp. 15 spiraling in to roost in South Marsh American Robin 8 Northern Mockingbird 2 European Starling 15 Cedar Waxwing 8 a couple small flocks flying past Common Yellowthroat 1 Savannah Sparrow 4 singing Song Sparrow 1 Red-winged Blackbird 8 Common Grackle 8 This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org) -- NFC-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_WELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_RULES ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nfc-l AT cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NFCL.html 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NFC-L Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ -- -- NFC-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_WELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_RULES ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nfc-l AT cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NFCL.html 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NFC-L Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ -- Subject: Re: Dusk flight of White-winged Scoters and Brant over Boston, MA From: Andy Martin <apmartin2 AT comcast.net> Date: Sat, 22 May 2010 11:15:25 -0400 Marshall, Very cool report. Thanks for sharing this with listserve. Were the scoters and Brant close enough to hear any calls or vocalizing in flight? Thanks, Andy Martin Gaithersburg, MD On 5/21/2010 9:19 PM, Marshall Iliff wrote: > All, > > This evening I visited my local patch on the south side of Boston and was > surprised and pleased to notice one flock, then another, and then another > etc. of White-winged Scoters passing high overhead. This site is about 10 > miles inland and so this clearly represented a departure from coastal > staging areas and the beginnings of an overland nocturnal migration. They > passed over in a tight window from 19:50-20:10 and a flock of 80 Brant was > soon to follow. Despite much scanning from 8:10-8:30 (at which point it was > effectively dark), I was unable to spot any other signs of movement. > > In any event, I thought it would be worth getting the word out that tonight > seems to be a night for movement of coastal waterbirds. Perhaps Whimbrel or > other shorebirds will join as the night wears on. A full eBird list from my > dusk watch is below. > > Best, > > Marshall Iliff > West Roxbury, MA > ------------------------------ > Marshall J. Iliff > miliff AT aol.com > West Roxbury, MA > ------------------------------ > eBird/AKN Project Leader > www.ebird.org > www.avianknowledge.net > Cornell Lab of Ornithology > Ithaca, NY > ------------------------------ > > Location: Millennium Park > Observation date: 5/21/10 > Notes: An amazing visit, I started with a visit with the Garveys (Matt > had seen the clay-colored earlier--it was not singing while I was there). > Then as I began my walk at about 7:50, I spotted a very distant flock well > to the south. Since cormorants should not be flying at dusk, I was > immediately intrigued and sprinted back to the car for my scope. I was able > to confirm that they were White-winged Scoters, and had a total of 6-7 > flights (often involving flocks fragmented into 4-5 pieces) of birds all > passing high overhead and off to the northwest. With light southeasterlies > tonight, it is a perfect night for migration. I settled in for some serious > scanning, but all waterfowl were clustered in 20 minutes from 7:50-8:10. I > was hoping for Brant and had to wait only 13 minutes before spotting a > flock. After that my hopes turned to Whimbrel, Dunlin, Black-bellied Plover > and other marine shorebirds, but it was not to be. Still, a great visit, > especially since new Millennium Park birds are so hard to come by these > days! WEATHER: Clear, light SE or E winds, 50 F. > Number of species: 21 > > Brant (Atlantic) 80 **rare; low flock flying just above eye level > and identifiable to subspecies as it headed straight westward towards me and > then veered off to fly north along VFW Parkway as though avoiding the > landfill. My first for Millennium! > Canada Goose 10 > Wood Duck 5 flocks of 1 and 4 in dusk flight heading W > Mallard 4 > White-winged Scoter 630 **rare; amazing dusk flight of birds flying > very high. I first spotted several flocks totalling ca. 200 birds off to the > south, and they were all the same size and consistent in shape with > White-winged Scoter. When they passed against dark clouds I could see faint > white secondaries. Later, one flock of 40 flew right overhead (but very > high) allowing easy ID in scope, and another flock was far out to east > (total of 340 now), while two more large flocks (totalling 290 more but > identifiable as scoter sp. only) had already passed me or were specks off to > the SW. Amazing flight, and my first White-winged Scoters for Millennium > (although a small group of high-flying ducks in October one year were likely > this species). > Great Blue Heron 1 flying south along treeline > Herring Gull 3 flock of three (including two ratty immatures) flying > due north as scoters were headed NW and inland > Common Nighthawk 14 *high count; my first May record for Millennium > and a nice count for spring > Chimney Swift 6 > Willow Flycatcher 3 whitting below North Parking Lot > Tree Swallow 10 > Barn Swallow 3 > swallow sp. 15 spiraling in to roost in South Marsh > American Robin 8 > Northern Mockingbird 2 > European Starling 15 > Cedar Waxwing 8 a couple small flocks flying past > Common Yellowthroat 1 > Savannah Sparrow 4 singing > Song Sparrow 1 > Red-winged Blackbird 8 > Common Grackle 8 > > This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org) > > > > > > -- > > NFC-L List Info: > http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_WELCOME > http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_RULES > > ARCHIVES: > 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nfc-l AT cornell.edu/maillist.html > 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NFCL.html > 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NFC-L > > Please submit your observations to eBird: > http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ > > -- > > -- NFC-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_WELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_RULES ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nfc-l AT cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NFCL.html 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NFC-L Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ -- Subject: Re: Dusk flight of White-winged Scoters and Brant over Boston, MA From: David La Puma <woodcreeper AT gmail.com> Date: Sat, 22 May 2010 10:04:14 -0400 Marshall, Bill, Richard, et al. I checked out the Boston and Binghamton radars from 6pm through 10pm last night to see if there was any signal I could pick out regarding the waterfowl flight. I can't see anything of interest on the Boston radar, although it was pretty cool to see the exodus from Block Island and Martha's Vineyard after sunset. Below are three links, one for the Binghamton radial velocity animation- showing the average direction and speed of travel to and away from the radar origin (cold colors indicate movement toward the radar, warm colors indicate movement away from the radar), and the two base reflectivity animations that show the average target densities for Binghamton and Boston. Just as a forewarning (to avoid head-scratching) you'll notice that the Binghamton radar begins in clear-air mode, which is more sensitive, and therefore shows more of the ground clutter, but then switches into precipitation mode as the frontal boundary approaches from the west (clearing up all the "gray" clutter around the radar, and making the radar less sensitive). Boston is the opposite, starting in precip mode, and switiching to clear-air mode, so you'll see an increase in clutter in that animation, at least until the nocturnal migration kicks in and swamps out any clutter signal. I can see what Bill is referring to on the Binghamton radar, although when I check the velocity image I get very low (to no) velocity associated with it- which makes me suspicious of its origin. If it is avian, then whatever it is is flying extremely slow (at or less than wind speed- the latter only in the case that the target is moving against the wind... I'm not sure what the wind speed and direction were over Binghamton yesterday evening, but this seems suspect). More likely, it's a cloud of something either non-biological or biological and non-avian (insects, possibly... although the clustering is a bit odd for insects, I think). This is in stark contrast to the exodus of nocturnal migrants (after sunset; right after the strobe that occurs on the Binghamton radar at 00:20:17, and 23:55:49 on the Boston radar) which quickly attain speeds of 25+ kts as soon as they enter the view of the radar. There's no doubt that waterfowl are picked up on the NEXRAD- I just can't see anything that jumps out on these images. It's possible that by looking at the Level II data (this is Level III, 1km - resolution) we might be able to better discern those targets on the Binghamton radar from last night. Binghamton Velocity http://www.woodcreeper.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/BGM_Vel_052210-Computer.m4v Binghamton Reflectivity http://www.woodcreeper.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/BGM_BR_22May10-Computer.m4v Boston Reflectivity http://www.woodcreeper.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/BOX_BR_052210-Computer.m4v Cheers David ________________________ David A. La Puma Postdoctoral Associate New Jersey Audubon Society 600 Route 47 North Cape May Court House, NJ 08210 Office: 609.861.1608 x33 Fax: 609.861.1651 Websites: http://www.woodcreeper.com http://badbirdz2.wordpress.com Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/woodcreeper On Fri, May 21, 2010 at 10:51 PM, Richard Guthrie wrote: > A flock of about 150 Brant flew north at dusk, low over the Hudson River > in New Baltimore, Greene County, NY. > > > > This mid-May mass movement of Brant is an annual event witnessed by many > Stripe Bass fishermen out on the Hudson while the herring are running, and > the stripers are hitting. > > > > I’ve noticed NEXRAD patterns during daylight hours of what may have been > raptor or large waterfowl (geese/swans?) movements along the Lake Ontario > south shore in the spring. I tried to corroborate this with the hawk watches > with no conclusive results. > > > > Maybe next spring. > > > > Rich Guthrie > > New Baltimore, > > The Greene County, > > New York > > gaeltic AT capital.net > > > > > ------------------------------ > > *From:* bounce-5852472-10071471 AT list.cornell.edu [mailto: > bounce-5852472-10071471 AT list.cornell.edu] *On Behalf Of *wrevans > *Sent:* Friday, May 21, 2010 10:33 PM > *To:* nfc-L AT cornell.edu > *Subject:* re: [nfc-l] Dusk flight of White-winged Scoters and Brant over > Boston, MA > > > > Marshall, > > Before the substantial songbird takeoff on the Binghamton NEXRAD > tonight (somewhere perhaps between 8PM-8:30PM) I noted a large arch shaped > fast moving blob in the northeast quadrant moving differently than the > weather signatures -- at the time I thought it had to be a huge flock of > waterfowl or shorebirds but I was perplexed by the direction of flight, > which was WNW. I'll see if I can find it on NCAR in the morning -- the > other eastern NEXRAD may show similar targets. > > Bill E > > > ------------------------------ > > *From*: "Marshall Iliff" > *Sent*: Friday, May 21, 2010 9:21 PM > *To*: bostonbirds AT googlegroups.com, "Massbird" , > nfc-l AT cornell.edu > *Subject*: [nfc-l] Dusk flight of White-winged Scoters and Brant over > Boston, MA > > All, > > This evening I visited my local patch on the south side of Boston and was > surprised and pleased to notice one flock, then another, and then another > etc. of White-winged Scoters passing high overhead. This site is about 10 > miles inland and so this clearly represented a departure from coastal > staging areas and the beginnings of an overland nocturnal migration. They > passed over in a tight window from 19:50-20:10 and a flock of 80 Brant was > soon to follow. Despite much scanning from 8:10-8:30 (at which point it was > effectively dark), I was unable to spot any other signs of movement. > > In any event, I thought it would be worth getting the word out that tonight > seems to be a night for movement of coastal waterbirds. Perhaps Whimbrel or > other shorebirds will join as the night wears on. A full eBird list from my > dusk watch is below. > > Best, > > Marshall Iliff > West Roxbury, MA > ------------------------------ > Marshall J. Iliff > miliff AT aol.com > West Roxbury, MA > ------------------------------ > eBird/AKN Project Leader > www.ebird.org > www.avianknowledge.net > Cornell Lab of Ornithology > Ithaca, NY > ------------------------------ > > Location: Millennium Park > Observation date: 5/21/10 > Notes: An amazing visit, I started with a visit with the Garveys (Matt > had seen the clay-colored earlier--it was not singing while I was there). > Then as I began my walk at about 7:50, I spotted a very distant flock well > to the south. Since cormorants should not be flying at dusk, I was > immediately intrigued and sprinted back to the car for my scope. I was able > to confirm that they were White-winged Scoters, and had a total of 6-7 > flights (often involving flocks fragmented into 4-5 pieces) of birds all > passing high overhead and off to the northwest. With light southeasterlies > tonight, it is a perfect night for migration. I settled in for some serious > scanning, but all waterfowl were clustered in 20 minutes from 7:50-8:10. I > was hoping for Brant and had to wait only 13 minutes before spotting a > flock. After that my hopes turned to Whimbrel, Dunlin, Black-bellied Plover > and other marine shorebirds, but it was not to be. Still, a great visit, > especially since new Millennium Park birds are so hard to come by these > days! WEATHER: Clear, light SE or E winds, 50 F. > Number of species: 21 > > Brant (Atlantic) 80 **rare; low flock flying just above eye level > and identifiable to subspecies as it headed straight westward towards me > and > then veered off to fly north along VFW Parkway as though avoiding the > landfill. My first for Millennium! > Canada Goose 10 > Wood Duck 5 flocks of 1 and 4 in dusk flight heading W > Mallard 4 > White-winged Scoter 630 **rare; amazing dusk flight of birds flying > very high. I first spotted several flocks totalling ca. 200 birds off to > the > south, and they were all the same size and consistent in shape with > White-winged Scoter. When they passed against dark clouds I could see faint > white secondaries. Later, one flock of 40 flew right overhead (but very > high) allowing easy ID in scope, and another flock was far out to east > (total of 340 now), while two more large flocks (totalling 290 more but > identifiable as scoter sp. only) had already passed me or were specks off > to > the SW. Amazing flight, and my first White-winged Scoters for Millennium > (although a small group of high-flying ducks in October one year were > likely > this species). > Great Blue Heron 1 flying south along treeline > Herring Gull 3 flock of three (including two ratty immatures) flying > due north as scoters were headed NW and inland > Common Nighthawk 14 *high count; my first May record for Millennium > and a nice count for spring > Chimney Swift 6 > Willow Flycatcher 3 whitting below North Parking Lot > Tree Swallow 10 > Barn Swallow 3 > swallow sp. 15 spiraling in to roost in South Marsh > American Robin 8 > Northern Mockingbird 2 > European Starling 15 > Cedar Waxwing 8 a couple small flocks flying past > Common Yellowthroat 1 > Savannah Sparrow 4 singing > Song Sparrow 1 > Red-winged Blackbird 8 > Common Grackle 8 > > This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org) > > > > > > -- > > NFC-L List Info: > http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_WELCOME > http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_RULES > > ARCHIVES: > 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nfc-l AT cornell.edu/maillist.html > 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NFCL.html > 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NFC-L > > Please submit your observations to eBird: > http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ > > -- > -- NFC-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_WELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_RULES ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nfc-l AT cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NFCL.html 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NFC-L Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ -- Subject: RE: Dusk flight of White-winged Scoters and Brant over Boston, MA From: "Richard Guthrie" <gaeltic AT capital.net> Date: Fri, 21 May 2010 22:51:00 -0400 A flock of about 150 Brant flew north at dusk, low over the Hudson River in New Baltimore, Greene County, NY. This mid-May mass movement of Brant is an annual event witnessed by many Stripe Bass fishermen out on the Hudson while the herring are running, and the stripers are hitting. I've noticed NEXRAD patterns during daylight hours of what may have been raptor or large waterfowl (geese/swans?) movements along the Lake Ontario south shore in the spring. I tried to corroborate this with the hawk watches with no conclusive results. Maybe next spring. Rich Guthrie New Baltimore, The Greene County, New York gaeltic AT capital.net _____ From: bounce-5852472-10071471 AT list.cornell.edu [mailto:bounce-5852472-10071471 AT list.cornell.edu] On Behalf Of wrevans Sent: Friday, May 21, 2010 10:33 PM To: nfc-L AT cornell.edu Subject: re: [nfc-l] Dusk flight of White-winged Scoters and Brant over Boston, MA Marshall, Before the substantial songbird takeoff on the Binghamton NEXRAD tonight (somewhere perhaps between 8PM-8:30PM) I noted a large arch shaped fast moving blob in the northeast quadrant moving differently than the weather signatures -- at the time I thought it had to be a huge flock of waterfowl or shorebirds but I was perplexed by the direction of flight, which was WNW. I'll see if I can find it on NCAR in the morning -- the other eastern NEXRAD may show similar targets. Bill E _____ From: "Marshall Iliff" Sent: Friday, May 21, 2010 9:21 PM To: bostonbirds AT googlegroups.com, "Massbird" , nfc-l AT cornell.edu Subject: [nfc-l] Dusk flight of White-winged Scoters and Brant over Boston, MA All, This evening I visited my local patch on the south side of Boston and was surprised and pleased to notice one flock, then another, and then another etc. of White-winged Scoters passing high overhead. This site is about 10 miles inland and so this clearly represented a departure from coastal staging areas and the beginnings of an overland nocturnal migration. They passed over in a tight window from 19:50-20:10 and a flock of 80 Brant was soon to follow. Despite much scanning from 8:10-8:30 (at which point it was effectively dark), I was unable to spot any other signs of movement. In any event, I thought it would be worth getting the word out that tonight seems to be a night for movement of coastal waterbirds. Perhaps Whimbrel or other shorebirds will join as the night wears on. A full eBird list from my dusk watch is below. Best, Marshall Iliff West Roxbury, MA ------------------------------ Marshall J. Iliff miliff AT aol.com West Roxbury, MA ------------------------------ eBird/AKN Project Leader www.ebird.org www.avianknowledge.net Cornell Lab of Ornithology Ithaca, NY ------------------------------ Location: Millennium Park Observation date: 5/21/10 Notes: An amazing visit, I started with a visit with the Garveys (Matt had seen the clay-colored earlier--it was not singing while I was there). Then as I began my walk at about 7:50, I spotted a very distant flock well to the south. Since cormorants should not be flying at dusk, I was immediately intrigued and sprinted back to the car for my scope. I was able to confirm that they were White-winged Scoters, and had a total of 6-7 flights (often involving flocks fragmented into 4-5 pieces) of birds all passing high overhead and off to the northwest. With light southeasterlies tonight, it is a perfect night for migration. I settled in for some serious scanning, but all waterfowl were clustered in 20 minutes from 7:50-8:10. I was hoping for Brant and had to wait only 13 minutes before spotting a flock. After that my hopes turned to Whimbrel, Dunlin, Black-bellied Plover and other marine shorebirds, but it was not to be. Still, a great visit, especially since new Millennium Park birds are so hard to come by these days! WEATHER: Clear, light SE or E winds, 50 F. Number of species: 21 Brant (Atlantic) 80 **rare; low flock flying just above eye level and identifiable to subspecies as it headed straight westward towards me and then veered off to fly north along VFW Parkway as though avoiding the landfill. My first for Millennium! Canada Goose 10 Wood Duck 5 flocks of 1 and 4 in dusk flight heading W Mallard 4 White-winged Scoter 630 **rare; amazing dusk flight of birds flying very high. I first spotted several flocks totalling ca. 200 birds off to the south, and they were all the same size and consistent in shape with White-winged Scoter. When they passed against dark clouds I could see faint white secondaries. Later, one flock of 40 flew right overhead (but very high) allowing easy ID in scope, and another flock was far out to east (total of 340 now), while two more large flocks (totalling 290 more but identifiable as scoter sp. only) had already passed me or were specks off to the SW. Amazing flight, and my first White-winged Scoters for Millennium (although a small group of high-flying ducks in October one year were likely this species). Great Blue Heron 1 flying south along treeline Herring Gull 3 flock of three (including two ratty immatures) flying due north as scoters were headed NW and inland Common Nighthawk 14 *high count; my first May record for Millennium and a nice count for spring Chimney Swift 6 Willow Flycatcher 3 whitting below North Parking Lot Tree Swallow 10 Barn Swallow 3 swallow sp. 15 spiraling in to roost in South Marsh American Robin 8 Northern Mockingbird 2 European Starling 15 Cedar Waxwing 8 a couple small flocks flying past Common Yellowthroat 1 Savannah Sparrow 4 singing Song Sparrow 1 Red-winged Blackbird 8 Common Grackle 8 This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org) -- NFC-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_WELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_RULES ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nfc-l AT cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NFCL.html 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NFC-L Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ -- -- NFC-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_WELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_RULES ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nfc-l AT cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NFCL.html 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NFC-L Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ -- Subject: re: Dusk flight of White-winged Scoters and Brant over Boston, MA From: "wrevans" <wrevans AT clarityconnect.com> Date: Fri, 21 May 2010 22:33:08 -0400 Marshall, Before the substantial songbird takeoff on the Binghamton NEXRAD tonight (somewhere perhaps between 8PM-8:30PM) I noted a large arch shaped fast moving blob in the northeast quadrant moving differently than the weather signatures -- at the time I thought it had to be a huge flock of waterfowl or shorebirds but I was perplexed by the direction of flight, which was WNW. I'll see if I can find it on NCAR in the morning -- the other eastern NEXRAD may show similar targets. Bill E ---------------------------------------- From: "Marshall Iliff" Sent: Friday, May 21, 2010 9:21 PM To: bostonbirds AT googlegroups.com, "Massbird" , nfc-l AT cornell.edu Subject: [nfc-l] Dusk flight of White-winged Scoters and Brant over Boston, MA All, This evening I visited my local patch on the south side of Boston and was surprised and pleased to notice one flock, then another, and then another etc. of White-winged Scoters passing high overhead. This site is about 10 miles inland and so this clearly represented a departure from coastal staging areas and the beginnings of an overland nocturnal migration. They passed over in a tight window from 19:50-20:10 and a flock of 80 Brant was soon to follow. Despite much scanning from 8:10-8:30 (at which point it was effectively dark), I was unable to spot any other signs of movement. In any event, I thought it would be worth getting the word out that tonight seems to be a night for movement of coastal waterbirds. Perhaps Whimbrel or other shorebirds will join as the night wears on. A full eBird list from my dusk watch is below. Best, Marshall Iliff West Roxbury, MA ------------------------------ Marshall J. Iliff miliff AT aol.com West Roxbury, MA ------------------------------ eBird/AKN Project Leader www.ebird.org www.avianknowledge.net Cornell Lab of Ornithology Ithaca, NY ------------------------------ Location: Millennium Park Observation date: 5/21/10 Notes: An amazing visit, I started with a visit with the Garveys (Matt had seen the clay-colored earlier--it was not singing while I was there). Then as I began my walk at about 7:50, I spotted a very distant flock well to the south. Since cormorants should not be flying at dusk, I was immediately intrigued and sprinted back to the car for my scope. I was able to confirm that they were White-winged Scoters, and had a total of 6-7 flights (often involving flocks fragmented into 4-5 pieces) of birds all passing high overhead and off to the northwest. With light southeasterlies tonight, it is a perfect night for migration. I settled in for some serious scanning, but all waterfowl were clustered in 20 minutes from 7:50-8:10. I was hoping for Brant and had to wait only 13 minutes before spotting a flock. After that my hopes turned to Whimbrel, Dunlin, Black-bellied Plover and other marine shorebirds, but it was not to be. Still, a great visit, especially since new Millennium Park birds are so hard to come by these days! WEATHER: Clear, light SE or E winds, 50 F. Number of species: 21 Brant (Atlantic) 80 **rare; low flock flying just above eye level and identifiable to subspecies as it headed straight westward towards me and then veered off to fly north along VFW Parkway as though avoiding the landfill. My first for Millennium! Canada Goose 10 Wood Duck 5 flocks of 1 and 4 in dusk flight heading W Mallard 4 White-winged Scoter 630 **rare; amazing dusk flight of birds flying very high. I first spotted several flocks totalling ca. 200 birds off to the south, and they were all the same size and consistent in shape with White-winged Scoter. When they passed against dark clouds I could see faint white secondaries. Later, one flock of 40 flew right overhead (but very high) allowing easy ID in scope, and another flock was far out to east (total of 340 now), while two more large flocks (totalling 290 more but identifiable as scoter sp. only) had already passed me or were specks off to the SW. Amazing flight, and my first White-winged Scoters for Millennium (although a small group of high-flying ducks in October one year were likely this species). Great Blue Heron 1 flying south along treeline Herring Gull 3 flock of three (including two ratty immatures) flying due north as scoters were headed NW and inland Common Nighthawk 14 *high count; my first May record for Millennium and a nice count for spring Chimney Swift 6 Willow Flycatcher 3 whitting below North Parking Lot Tree Swallow 10 Barn Swallow 3 swallow sp. 15 spiraling in to roost in South Marsh American Robin 8 Northern Mockingbird 2 European Starling 15 Cedar Waxwing 8 a couple small flocks flying past Common Yellowthroat 1 Savannah Sparrow 4 singing Song Sparrow 1 Red-winged Blackbird 8 Common Grackle 8 This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org) -- NFC-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_WELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_RULES ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nfc-l AT cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NFCL.html 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NFC-L Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ -- -- NFC-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_WELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_RULES ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nfc-l AT cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NFCL.html 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NFC-L Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ -- Subject: please disregard my last post From: Andy Martin <apmartin2 AT comcast.net> Date: Fri, 21 May 2010 18:44:48 -0400 I just sent a post to list-serve that wasn't complete yet. Hit the send button by accident instead of "save as draft." Many humble apologies. I intended to finish it, proofreading and grammar corrections over the next week or so and send it at that point. Sorry, Andy Martin Gaithersburg -- NFC-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_WELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_RULES ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nfc-l AT cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NFCL.html 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NFC-L Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ -- Subject: misc. NFC musings from this season From: Andy Martin <apmartin2 AT comcast.net> Date: Fri, 21 May 2010 18:40:26 -0400 On trying to put together a less noisy recording set up: I have really grown dissatisfied with the noisiness of my current recording set-up (Crown PZM Soundgrabber II mic to preamp to Sony PCM m10 Flash recorder) and did not realize how quiet a mic could be until I used the Sony m10 to record some daytime bird song. Wow was it quiet compared to my night time set-up. I really would like to have this kind of "noise floor" reduction when recording NFCs. I tried recording NFCs directly to the Sony m10s internal speakers, and the calls sounded great with the background hiss just about nonexistent but a lot of the spectrograms seemed to have a lot of smear in them compared with the pzm mic. I could also definitively detect the high frequency dB boost you get with a PZM mic vs. the Sony's internal condenser mics. I tried to set up the Sony m10 "Old Bird" style in a flower pot which only made the smearing worse. I guess this would be from the reflected sound bouncing around inside the flower pot and arriving at the mic out of phase. After Making better spectrograms: I use Ravenlite and SyrinxPC to look at and make spectrograms but one thing that has always bugged me is none of my Indigo Bunting or presumed Northern Waterthrush calls ever matched up detail wise to how they appear on Evans/O'Brien Flight Call CD. I especially like the fine detail of the call on the opening page of the Northern Waterthrush section. A few weeks back, I opened the sound file for this particular call into Ravenlite but could not reproduce the detail. Tried it in SyrinxPC and could not do it with that program either. I was however, able to recreate it with the demo version of Raven Pro. I would like to get Raven Pro, but will have to wait on purchase since I just put a good deal of money into upgrading my recording system. Louder, lower calls sometimes come on nights with seemingly less than ideal migration conditions: My recording set-up is what you would call a dry night system. Its not waterproofed via "Old Bird" style, so I don't leave it out to record every night, especially when rain is in forecast. A few times this season, I have recorded on light or little wind out of northerly direction, and while quantity of calls was low, to my delight, birds that were migrating seemed to be lower to ground than usual, producing some better quality calls. Trying to get some flight calls of non-passerines to help with night time IDs: My remote recording spot seems to produce less flight calls than over my house: -- NFC-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_WELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_RULES ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nfc-l AT cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NFCL.html 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NFC-L Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ -- Subject: Re: mystery sparrow flight call From: Jay K <azure.jay AT earthlink.net> Date: Mon, 10 May 2010 00:56:21 -0400 (EDT) Erik, I'm not big (yet, perhaps) on sonograms, but from the sound, I'd call this a Savannah Sparrow. Lacks the upslur of a Chipping. American Trees are sound a bit clearer and more robust, to my ear at least. Jay Keller, San Diego -----Original Message----- >From: Erik Johnson >Sent: May 9, 2010 9:22 PM >To: Nocturnal Flight Call ListServe >Subject: [nfc-l] mystery sparrow flight call > >Hi everyone, > >I am attaching a short clip of a bird recorded 8 Nov 2006 at 2:09am >from south-central Louisiana. You may need headphones to hear it >well. > >The concern is whether this is an American Tree Sparrow - an extremely >rare bird in south LA - or just a variation on Chipping Sparrow, which >is super common. (or something else?). > >I have posted the spectrogram here: >http://erikjohnsonphotography.blogspot.com/2010/05/mystery-nocturnal-migrants.html > >Thanks in advance for any help with this! > >Erik Johnson >S Lafayette, LA >ejohn33 AT lsu.edu > >-- > >NFC-L List Info: >http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_WELCOME >http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_RULES > >ARCHIVES: >1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nfc-l AT cornell.edu/maillist.html >2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NFCL.html >3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NFC-L > >Please submit your observations to eBird: >http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ > >-- -- NFC-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_WELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_RULES ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nfc-l AT cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NFCL.html 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NFC-L Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ -- Subject: mystery sparrow flight call From: Erik Johnson <ejohn33 AT tigers.lsu.edu> Date: Sun, 9 May 2010 20:22:54 -0500 Hi everyone, I am attaching a short clip of a bird recorded 8 Nov 2006 at 2:09am from south-central Louisiana. You may need headphones to hear it well. The concern is whether this is an American Tree Sparrow - an extremely rare bird in south LA - or just a variation on Chipping Sparrow, which is super common. (or something else?). I have posted the spectrogram here: http://erikjohnsonphotography.blogspot.com/2010/05/mystery-nocturnal-migrants.html Thanks in advance for any help with this! Erik Johnson S Lafayette, LA ejohn33 AT lsu.edu -- NFC-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_WELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_RULES ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nfc-l AT cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NFCL.html 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NFC-L Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ -- Subject: Lincoln/Swamp Sparrow call question From: Andy Martin <apmartin2 AT comcast.net> Date: Sat, 08 May 2010 20:23:49 -0400 I am trying to work on my ability to "hear" some of the subtle differences between calls as described on Evans and O'Brien Flight Call CD and not just rely on spectrograms. For me anyway, the id by spectrogram route seemed to be the path of least resistance. This is probably best example of Lincoln/Swamp Sparrow call I have ever recorded. Not asking anybody to make the id (unless you can or something has come to light regarding this call complex since publication of Flight Call CD) but would this call tend more toward the fine buzz with "sweet overtone" attributed to the Swamp vs. fine, dry buzz of Lincoln's? Sounds like it has the sweet overtone to me. Does the sound quality described as "dry" have a spectrographic look like sibilance or buzzy do? Sorry there is so much extraneous noise on the recording. I have been trying out a Crown Sound Grabber II pzm mic. Not sure if its the mic or the preamp causing so much noise. I have a new and better quality (I think) preamp (Fel 3.5 SJ) on order. Hopefully it will produce less hiss and noise than "cheapo" preamp I use at moment. There will be no recording here tonight with winds blowing WNW at 20-30+! Andy Martin Gaithersburg, MD -- NFC-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_WELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_RULES ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nfc-l AT cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NFCL.html 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NFC-L Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ -- Subject: Large night flight through central NJ From: e kent <benchofrushes AT yahoo.com> Date: Fri, 30 Apr 2010 05:11:46 -0700 (PDT) Up to now, I've been lucky to have a few hits a night.  Last nights wind changes (thanks to Mr. LaPuma for keeping me focused on such items) brought a respectable flight through my area in central New Jersey.  Every half-hour file has more hits than whole nights... totaled about 100 calls using Tseep/Thrush. Not a lot of diversity; best I can tell, mostly Yellow-rumped Warblers, Chipping and/or White-throated, and some Savannah sparrows... ~maybe~ one Black-throated Blue. Regards, Eric East Windsor, NJ -- NFC-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_WELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_RULES ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nfc-l AT cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NFCL.html 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NFC-L Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ -- Subject: Re: Last night's migration From: David La Puma <woodcreeper AT gmail.com> Date: Thu, 29 Apr 2010 14:07:48 -0400 check out the radar from midnight EST last night: * http://tinyurl.com/2fbrxer little migration over NJ and NY, and yet if you look closer (on the individual radar images, both reflectivity and velocity), you can see that birds were moving SW->NE on (or against) WNW winds. We're expecting a big opening of the floodgates this weekend, when local winds turn southwesterly over the next four nights. Get ready to record!!! Good Birding David* ________________________ David A. La Puma Postdoctoral Associate New Jersey Audubon Society 600 Route 47 North Cape May Court House, NJ 08210 Office: 609.861.1608 x33 Fax: 609.861.1651 Websites: http://www.woodcreeper.com http://badbirdz2.wordpress.com Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/woodcreeper On Thu, Apr 29, 2010 at 1:52 PM, Martin Piorkowski wrote: > Hello all: > > > > Well after looking at the radar from last night, I’m a bit surprised I > heard or saw anything. Driving home last night I couldn’t resist staring at > the moon. From near the Cornell Lab of Ornithology I sat at the edge of a > field for 20 minutes last night from 9:52pm until 10:12pm. During that time > I had two birds fly past the moon (both in the lower half of the disc), and > had 8 zeep-like calls. Surprisingly I had no thrush-like calls, but the > wind was blowing on and off primarily from the Northwest. > > > > I’m looking forward to the weekend as I’m sure with the change of the wind > and the warmer temps we should see lots of exciting stuff up here in UpState > NY. > > > > Good Birding, > > > > Marty > -- NFC-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_WELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_RULES ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nfc-l AT cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NFCL.html 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NFC-L Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ -- Subject: Last night's migration From: Martin Piorkowski <mp362 AT cornell.edu> Date: Thu, 29 Apr 2010 13:52:27 -0400 Hello all: Well after looking at the radar from last night, I'm a bit surprised I heard or saw anything. Driving home last night I couldn't resist staring at the moon. From near the Cornell Lab of Ornithology I sat at the edge of a field for 20 minutes last night from 9:52pm until 10:12pm. During that time I had two birds fly past the moon (both in the lower half of the disc), and had 8 zeep-like calls. Surprisingly I had no thrush-like calls, but the wind was blowing on and off primarily from the Northwest. I'm looking forward to the weekend as I'm sure with the change of the wind and the warmer temps we should see lots of exciting stuff up here in UpState NY. Good Birding, Marty -- NFC-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_WELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_RULES ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nfc-l AT cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NFCL.html 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NFC-L Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ -- Subject: Help with unknown call From: mebalestri <mebalestri AT comcast.net> Date: Fri, 23 Apr 2010 18:53:14 -0400 I sent the post below earlier today, but apparently the file is either too big (2MB) or this listserv won't take anything, but mp3 files (it's a .mov file that can be played on Quicktime or some Mac applications). I am still trying to separate out the audio file, but in the meantime, I will be happy to send the file to anyone who is interested in helping me out with this. -- Marcia Balestri Frederick, MD mebalestri AT comcast.net This is not a night flight call, just an early morning one and I need help with it. I am located in the piedmont of Maryland. I dismissed this thing as a farmer's exotic caged fowl at first, but the sound moved from south to north along a ridge line, unfortunately out of my sight, so it is not caged. I tried imitating it (much to the amusement of my husband and anyone else who heard me), and it moved closer at such a pace that I think I can rule out a mammal. I first heard it on 4/22 at about 7AM, and there was a loud "bugle" call and an equally loud undulating once up and then down KACK-KACK (8 KACKS) call. I am sorry that I have no equipment for recording, so I went back today with my camera (yes, I know it's bad) in hopes that whatever it was had returned. And it did. I could hear the bugle call, but the KACKS were quieter and not undulating. On the movie (please don't flame me), you can hear what I am calling the bugle call at about 4 seconds and the soft KACKS at about 14 sec and 20 sec. Any help is appreciated. The quality is not great, and you can't really hear the subtleties of the calls, but maybe someone has heard something like this before. -- Marcia Balestri Frederick, MD mebalestri AT comcast.net -- NFC-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_WELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_RULES ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nfc-l AT cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NFCL.html 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NFC-L Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ -- Subject: followup Re: help w/ call - MD Piedmont From: Andy Martin <apmartin2 AT comcast.net> Date: Mon, 19 Apr 2010 20:52:55 -0400 Thanks to everyone for their input. Consensus seems to be that its begging call of a juvenile Great Horned Owl. This would make sense based on habitat near my recording area. Sora was also suggested. But although it is similar, some felt it was not quite right. I heard this call (on 2 different nights) coming from ground or tree level in the direction of some woods. There is no wetland habitat within hearing distance. One of the reasons I chose this spot was to reduce wetland associated frog noise. I found a similar call on web at http://www.plexusowls.com/birdvocs_nwcal/3OWLS.htm. This call must have been recorded close to the subject owl. The bird I recorded was at least 100-150 meters away. There must be some loss of call detail at this distance. Thanks for the help. Andy Martin Gaithersburg, MD On 4/15/2010 8:29 PM, Andy Martin wrote: > Does the attached call sound familiar to anyone? > > I set up my recording equipment in a new location on night of > 4/11-4/12. I recorded this call or sound about 15 times spread out > over 4 hrs. The 2 attached sound files were some of the loudest > examples. A few times, the calls were separated by 15-20 seconds but > mostly they came in singles separated by 5 minutes or more. > > Recording location is a large dry field that's heading into a 2nd year > of being left fallow. There are couple patches of forest about 150 > yards away and a tree-lined road about 60 yards away from mic > location. Flight calls were few and far between this night with a few > Savannah, Chipping, White-throated Sparrows and a couple juncos. Birds > calling or occasionally singing in background include Barred and Great > Horned Owl, Field Sparrow, and a Northern Mockingbird. > > Is it possible this could be some kind of small mammal instead of a > bird? Or maybe some kind of bird roosting nearby? **It does not seem > to be coming from overhead but I could be wrong about that. > > Andy Martin > Gaithersburg, MD > > ** While setting up my recording gear in same spot on night of > 4/14-4/15, I heard this call again 3 or 4 times coming from ground > level, either the open field or the patch of forest. > -- NFC-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_WELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_RULES ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nfc-l AT cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NFCL.html 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NFC-L Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ -- Subject: Substantial migration over western Washington From: Tayler Brooks <ornithophile AT gmail.com> Date: Sat, 17 Apr 2010 13:22:38 -0800 Hello all, Here's a quick report for the birds recorded migrating over Brier, Washington, last night between the hours of 11PM and 6AM using a "flowerpot" mic attached to my Marantz PMD-660. A total of 144 flight calls showed up in the spectrogram upon review this morning, with many Savannah Sparrows (25+), a Least Sandpiper, Killdeer, the wing whistles of what seemed to be several species of duck (some Aythya-like, others sounded like Anas, including a quacking flock), Lincoln's Sparrow-like buzzes, White-crowned Sparrow-ish up-seeps, a few Song Sparrow/Fox Sparrows (double-banded U-shaped), Dendroica-like seeps (Yellow-rumped plus maybe (?) Black-throated Gray), and many double-banded up-seeps that I suspect are Vermivoras (possibly Orange-crowned). I also recorded on the night of the 14th, with only 8 (!) flight calls showing up the entire night using the same equipment set out from 1:30AM to 6:20AM! Happy night listening/recording, ~Tayler Brooks Brier, WA -- NFC-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_WELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_RULES ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nfc-l AT cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NFCL.html 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NFC-L Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ -- Subject: Re: Volcano effecting migration? From: Walter M Szeliga <Walter.Szeliga AT Colorado.EDU> Date: Fri, 16 Apr 2010 07:10:15 -0600 My feeling would be no, in general. If birds were migrating directly to southern Iceland right now, then they would certainly be affected. Air travel is affected because it only takes a small amount of silica- rich ash in the air to get sucked into a jet engine to actually seize it up. I don't know much about avian respiration, but the same amount of ash probably wouldn't have the same effect. A better place to look for the effects of volcanic eruptions on migration would be data from the Pacific Northwest, immediately after the May 19th 1980 Mt. St. Helens eruption. Aside from the eruption itself, which killed basically every living thing in a 600 km^2 area around the volcano, there was thick ashfall in eastern Washington. I am unaware of any specific effects on birds from this ashfall aside from anecdotal evidence from non-birders about American Robins shaking off the ash as it fell. Breeding bird numbers from this and subsequent years might yield interesting information. Cheers, Walter Szeliga Boulder, CO -- NFC-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_WELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_RULES ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nfc-l AT cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NFCL.html 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NFC-L Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ -- Subject: Volcano effecting migration? From: jacob drucker <jacobdrucker AT msn.com> Date: Fri, 16 Apr 2010 11:32:15 +0000 Hi Everyone, Obviously, the recent volcanic eruption in Iceland has had detrimental effects on our travel via skies, so what could this mean for bird migration in the area? Have there been any past studies on how volcanic eruptions influence migration? Jacob DruckerNew York City -- NFC-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_WELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_RULES ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nfc-l AT cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NFCL.html 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NFC-L Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ -- Subject: help w/ call - MD Piedmont From: Andy Martin <apmartin2 AT comcast.net> Date: Thu, 15 Apr 2010 20:29:25 -0400 Does the attached call sound familiar to anyone? I set up my recording equipment in a new location on night of 4/11-4/12. I recorded this call or sound about 15 times spread out over 4 hrs. The 2 attached sound files were some of the loudest examples. A few times, the calls were separated by 15-20 seconds but mostly they came in singles separated by 5 minutes or more. Recording location is a large dry field that's heading into a 2nd year of being left fallow. There are couple patches of forest about 150 yards away and a tree-lined road about 60 yards away from mic location. Flight calls were few and far between this night with a few Savannah, Chipping, White-throated Sparrows and a couple juncos. Birds calling or occasionally singing in background include Barred and Great Horned Owl, Field Sparrow, and a Northern Mockingbird. Is it possible this could be some kind of small mammal instead of a bird? Or maybe some kind of bird roosting nearby? **It does not seem to be coming from overhead but I could be wrong about that. Andy Martin Gaithersburg, MD ** While setting up my recording gear in same spot on night of 4/14-4/15, I heard this call again 3 or 4 times coming from ground level, either the open field or the patch of forest. -- NFC-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_WELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_RULES ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nfc-l AT cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NFCL.html 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NFC-L Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ -- Subject: Re: Night flight call station results-Maine-April 1-3 From: Erik Johnson <ejohn33 AT tigers.lsu.edu> Date: Tue, 13 Apr 2010 12:46:15 -0500 Sorry about that. I threw in that "not" out of nowhere. My bad. I was trying to suggest that they call less frequently at night than those other taxa. I agree with you completely Mike - robins must be on the extreme low end. In the fall, I see hundreds to thousands at dawn returning off the Gulf after a good front (as I do Yellow-rumps, Indigos, thrushes, etc), but I never record robins and I record lots of the other guys. Again my apologies to everyone for the confusion. Erik On Tue, Apr 13, 2010 at 12:35 PM, Michael Lanzone wrote: > Hi Erik, > > If I understand you correctly, your saying you haven't heard them at night, > but are making the assumption that the calling rate is "probably not much > less frequently than other thrushes, buntings, warblers,tanagers, orioles, > and sparrows." I am just curious how you are coming to that conclusion. At > least here and our other stations (from Erie, PA to southern Appalachians) > there is a big difference in calling rate between those species, and Robins > seem to be on the extreme low end compared with their relative abundance > during migration. I'd be curious to hear some other thoughts/experiances > with Robins. > > Best, > Mike > > Sent from my iPhone > > On Apr 13, 2010, at 1:05 PM, Erik Johnson wrote: > >> Along the gulf coast in the fall, I have witnessed large pre-dawn >> movements of American Robins that are returning north after presumably >> realizing that they are over water (the Gulf) as daylight approaches. >> This return flight can last up to one hour after sunrise, although it >> typically peaks just before sunrise.  I have always assumed this means >> they were traveling south in the dark hours of the night.  I have >> played around with some nocturnal recording, but have yet to get a >> flight call of a robin in the spring or fall - about 30 mi north of >> the Gulf in south-central Louisiana.  If they do call, it's probably >> not much less frequently than other thrushes, buntings, warblers, >> tanagers, orioles, and sparrows, at least based on my local experience >> here. >> >> Cheers, >> Erik Johnson >> S Lafayette, LA >> ejohn33 AT lsu.edu >> >> >> On Tue, Apr 13, 2010 at 11:54 AM, Ted Floyd wrote: >>> >>> Hi, all. >>> >>> I ponder this question a lot. In all my experience in Colorado, I have >>> heard >>> exactly one (1) flight call from a robin that seemed to be an on-the-go >>> nocturnal migrant. (For comparison, I've heard more flight calls from >>> nocturnal-migrant Western Grebes and Eastern Kingbirds in Colorado.) I've >>> flushed a lot of robins by night, but that doesn't really count. >>> >>> In Boulder County, Colorado, then, I'd say that robins are practically >>> silent as nocturnal migrants, or they simply do not migrate by night. I >>> frequently see (and hear) heavy, medium-altitude robin passages that go >>> strong right to around sundown, but then the flights suddenly end at >>> nightfall. >>> >>> Daytime "Vis Mig" of American Robins is striking (visual and audible) in >>> the >>> Front Range region of Colorado, comparable to the heavy daytime flights >>> of >>> Common Grackles in early spring. >>> >>> Ted Floyd >>> tfloyd AT aba.org >>> Lafayette, Boulder County, Colorado >>> >>> ________________________________ >>> From: bounce-5534264-9667900 AT list.cornell.edu >>> [mailto:bounce-5534264-9667900 AT list.cornell.edu] On Behalf Of Michael >>> O'Brien >>> Sent: Tuesday, April 06, 2010 1:59 PM >>> To: Jeff Wells >>> Cc: NFC-L AT cornell.edu >>> Subject: Re: [nfc-l] Night flight call station results-Maine-April 1-3 >>> >>> Jeff, >>> I'm interested in your assertion that American Robin is strictly a >>> diurnal >>> migrant. Perhaps that is true in some areas, but in Cape May it certainly >>> is >>> not. We regularly see massive American Robin flights at night, in fall at >>> least. These flights often continue or resume in the first few hours of >>> the >>> morning and again in the last hour or so of the day. During particularly >>> heavy flights, the movements may continue longer into the day, but my >>> estimation is that the bulk of the movement always takes place at night. >>> I >>> find their behavior to be much like that of Bobolink, only they seem to >>> be >>> less vocal. It would be interesting to know what others have observed and >>> if >>> the situation is different elsewhere. My guess is that the main >>> difference, >>> if any, is that robins call more frequently in certain situations and fly >>> more quietly in others. >>> good listening! >>> Michael O'Brien >>> >>> ----- Original Message ----- >>> From: "Jeff Wells" >>> To: NFC-L AT cornell.edu >>> Sent: Tuesday, April 6, 2010 2:42:45 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern >>> Subject: [nfc-l] Night flight call station results-Maine-April 1-3 >>> >>> I started my automated recording station for the season here in Maine on >>> Thursday night, April 1st. Although there were few calls each of the last >>> three nights, the numbers increased a little each night from about 10 the >>> night of the 1st to about 30 last night. There were a few Hermit Thrushes >>> the first night, 6 the 2nd and 12 the night of the 3rd. There were a few >>> Killdeer each night, a Wood Duck, and 4-10 sparrows each night with Song >>> and >>> White-throat plus a couple that may be American Tree Sparrow and a junco >>> or >>> two. A few other items of interest: >>> >>> >>> >>> -several nights had Herring Gull calls in the middle of the night that I >>> assume are night migrating birds; >>> >>> >>> >>> -several nights had the squeal flight calls of American Robins around >>> midnight. Although I sometimes have what I assume to be local >>> on-the-ground >>> robins sing and give ground alarm calls in the middle of the night, they >>> don't give the squeal calls. The acoustics of the recorded squeal calls >>> also >>> seem more like birds overhead. I suspect that, as unlikely as it seems, >>> that >>> these were night-flying robins when by all accounts the species is only a >>> diurnal migrant; >>> >>> >>> >>> -one night I had what sounded like a bit of song of a night-flying Hermit >>> Thrush. I typically get some night-flying birds in May that break out in >>> song or partial song while flying overhead but I had never picked that up >>> for Hermit Thrush. >>> >>> >>> >>> I posted some of the call files on my blog at: www.borealbirds.org/blog >>> >>> >>> >>> Jeff Wells >>> >>> >>> >>> >> >> -- >> >> NFC-L List Info: >> http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_WELCOME >> http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_RULES >> >> ARCHIVES: >> 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nfc-l AT cornell.edu/maillist.html >> 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NFCL.html >> 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NFC-L >> >> Please submit your observations to eBird: >> http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ >> >> -- >> > -- NFC-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_WELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_RULES ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nfc-l AT cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NFCL.html 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NFC-L Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ -- Subject: Re: Night flight call station results-Maine-April 1-3 From: Michael Lanzone <mlanzone AT gmail.com> Date: Tue, 13 Apr 2010 13:35:09 -0400 Hi Erik, If I understand you correctly, your saying you haven't heard them at night, but are making the assumption that the calling rate is "probably not much less frequently than other thrushes, buntings, warblers,tanagers, orioles, and sparrows." I am just curious how you are coming to that conclusion. At least here and our other stations (from Erie, PA to southern Appalachians) there is a big difference in calling rate between those species, and Robins seem to be on the extreme low end compared with their relative abundance during migration. I'd be curious to hear some other thoughts/experiances with Robins. Best, Mike Sent from my iPhone On Apr 13, 2010, at 1:05 PM, Erik Johnson wrote: > Along the gulf coast in the fall, I have witnessed large pre-dawn > movements of American Robins that are returning north after presumably > realizing that they are over water (the Gulf) as daylight approaches. > This return flight can last up to one hour after sunrise, although it > typically peaks just before sunrise. I have always assumed this means > they were traveling south in the dark hours of the night. I have > played around with some nocturnal recording, but have yet to get a > flight call of a robin in the spring or fall - about 30 mi north of > the Gulf in south-central Louisiana. If they do call, it's probably > not much less frequently than other thrushes, buntings, warblers, > tanagers, orioles, and sparrows, at least based on my local experience > here. > > Cheers, > Erik Johnson > S Lafayette, LA > ejohn33 AT lsu.edu > > > On Tue, Apr 13, 2010 at 11:54 AM, Ted Floyd wrote: >> Hi, all. >> >> I ponder this question a lot. In all my experience in Colorado, I >> have heard >> exactly one (1) flight call from a robin that seemed to be an on- >> the-go >> nocturnal migrant. (For comparison, I've heard more flight calls from >> nocturnal-migrant Western Grebes and Eastern Kingbirds in >> Colorado.) I've >> flushed a lot of robins by night, but that doesn't really count. >> >> In Boulder County, Colorado, then, I'd say that robins are >> practically >> silent as nocturnal migrants, or they simply do not migrate by >> night. I >> frequently see (and hear) heavy, medium-altitude robin passages >> that go >> strong right to around sundown, but then the flights suddenly end at >> nightfall. >> >> Daytime "Vis Mig" of American Robins is striking (visual and >> audible) in the >> Front Range region of Colorado, comparable to the heavy daytime >> flights of >> Common Grackles in early spring. >> >> Ted Floyd >> tfloyd AT aba.org >> Lafayette, Boulder County, Colorado >> >> ________________________________ >> From: bounce-5534264-9667900 AT list.cornell.edu >> [mailto:bounce-5534264-9667900 AT list.cornell.edu] On Behalf Of Michael >> O'Brien >> Sent: Tuesday, April 06, 2010 1:59 PM >> To: Jeff Wells >> Cc: NFC-L AT cornell.edu >> Subject: Re: [nfc-l] Night flight call station results-Maine-April >> 1-3 >> >> Jeff, >> I'm interested in your assertion that American Robin is strictly a >> diurnal >> migrant. Perhaps that is true in some areas, but in Cape May it >> certainly is >> not. We regularly see massive American Robin flights at night, in >> fall at >> least. These flights often continue or resume in the first few >> hours of the >> morning and again in the last hour or so of the day. During >> particularly >> heavy flights, the movements may continue longer into the day, but my >> estimation is that the bulk of the movement always takes place at >> night. I >> find their behavior to be much like that of Bobolink, only they >> seem to be >> less vocal. It would be interesting to know what others have >> observed and if >> the situation is different elsewhere. My guess is that the main >> difference, >> if any, is that robins call more frequently in certain situations >> and fly >> more quietly in others. >> good listening! >> Michael O'Brien >> >> ----- Original Message ----- >> From: "Jeff Wells" >> To: NFC-L AT cornell.edu >> Sent: Tuesday, April 6, 2010 2:42:45 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern >> Subject: [nfc-l] Night flight call station results-Maine-April 1-3 >> >> I started my automated recording station for the season here in >> Maine on >> Thursday night, April 1st. Although there were few calls each of >> the last >> three nights, the numbers increased a little each night from about >> 10 the >> night of the 1st to about 30 last night. There were a few Hermit >> Thrushes >> the first night, 6 the 2nd and 12 the night of the 3rd. There were >> a few >> Killdeer each night, a Wood Duck, and 4-10 sparrows each night with >> Song and >> White-throat plus a couple that may be American Tree Sparrow and a >> junco or >> two. A few other items of interest: >> >> >> >> -several nights had Herring Gull calls in the middle of the night >> that I >> assume are night migrating birds; >> >> >> >> -several nights had the squeal flight calls of American Robins around >> midnight. Although I sometimes have what I assume to be local on- >> the-ground >> robins sing and give ground alarm calls in the middle of the night, >> they >> don't give the squeal calls. The acoustics of the recorded squeal >> calls also >> seem more like birds overhead. I suspect that, as unlikely as it >> seems, that >> these were night-flying robins when by all accounts the species is >> only a >> diurnal migrant; >> >> >> >> -one night I had what sounded like a bit of song of a night-flying >> Hermit >> Thrush. I typically get some night-flying birds in May that break >> out in >> song or partial song while flying overhead but I had never picked >> that up >> for Hermit Thrush. >> >> >> >> I posted some of the call files on my blog at: www.borealbirds.org/blog >> >> >> >> Jeff Wells >> >> >> >> > > -- > > NFC-L List Info: > http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_WELCOME > http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_RULES > > ARCHIVES: > 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nfc-l AT cornell.edu/maillist.html > 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NFCL.html > 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NFC-L > > Please submit your observations to eBird: > http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ > > -- > -- NFC-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_WELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_RULES ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nfc-l AT cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NFCL.html 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NFC-L Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ -- Subject: RE: Night flight call station results-Maine-April 1-3 From: "Alvaro Jaramillo" <chucao AT coastside.net> Date: Tue, 13 Apr 2010 10:20:42 -0700 Ted Caspian Terns were common night sounds in Toronto when I lived there, this occurred in mid summer and likely involved more local movements between Lake Ontario and smaller lakes to the north. But I don't doubt that they migrate at night, and in the right place you should hear them going by. I hear them on occasion here at night in the California Coast. I also hear Elegant Terns during the northbound post breeding movement (July - September) sometimes with the distinctive sounds of the young begging from the adults, this is also at night. Gulls and terns seem to be much more active at night than we give them credit for. In Hawaii too I have heard Sooty Terns overhead at night, well away from breeding areas and in places where I have never seen them in the day (like Kauai)! Regards, Alvaro Alvaro Jaramillo chucao AT coastside.net Half Moon Bay, California Field Guides - Birding Tours Worldwide www.fieldguides.com _____ From: bounce-5574183-10107609 AT list.cornell.edu [mailto:bounce-5574183-10107609 AT list.cornell.edu] On Behalf Of Ted Floyd Sent: Tuesday, April 13, 2010 9:57 AM To: Jeff Wells; Michael O'Brien Cc: NFC-L AT cornell.edu Subject: RE: [nfc-l] Night flight call station results-Maine-April 1-3 Hi, all. Random comment. A friend of mine says that Caspian Tern is one of the most characteristic night sounds where he lives in the Puget Sound area of northwest Washington. He hears them well from waterways, for what that's worth. Dunno if it's migration, or local birds moving around, or what; but, at least, the birds are vocal and on the go at night in that part of the continent. Ted Floyd tfloyd AT aba.org Lafayette, Boulder County, Colorado _____ From: bounce-5534317-9667900 AT list.cornell.edu [mailto:bounce-5534317-9667900 AT list.cornell.edu] On Behalf Of Jeff Wells Sent: Tuesday, April 06, 2010 2:09 PM To: Michael O'Brien Cc: NFC-L AT cornell.edu Subject: RE: [nfc-l] Night flight call station results-Maine-April 1-3 Very cool! Makes sense when you see large numbers of robins flying over in the early morning hours that they would be birds that have been moving at night. Funny though that over the years I don't recall picking up any within the 10 PM-2 AM window that I think of as indicating birds moving through the night as opposed to in the early morning hours when it is not as clear whether they just started migrating or are descending. Speaking of birds that move through the night but are not as readily detected, have any of you picked up terns other than Caspian Tern migrating at night? It's obvious that they migrate at night based on the way they just appear one morning in a location but it seems like you don't hear them. Though at least Caspian Terns in the fall when they have still-dependent young regularly call back and forth with the trailing young birds at night. Jeff -- NFC-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_WELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_RULES ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nfc-l AT cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NFCL.html 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NFC-L Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ -- Subject: RE: Night flight call station results-Maine-April 1-3 From: "Ted Floyd" <tfloyd AT aba.org> Date: Tue, 13 Apr 2010 10:57:22 -0600 Hi, all. Random comment. A friend of mine says that Caspian Tern is one of the most characteristic night sounds where he lives in the Puget Sound area of northwest Washington. He hears them well from waterways, for what that's worth. Dunno if it's migration, or local birds moving around, or what; but, at least, the birds are vocal and on the go at night in that part of the continent. Ted Floyd tfloyd AT aba.org Lafayette, Boulder County, Colorado ________________________________ From: bounce-5534317-9667900 AT list.cornell.edu [mailto:bounce-5534317-9667900 AT list.cornell.edu] On Behalf Of Jeff Wells Sent: Tuesday, April 06, 2010 2:09 PM To: Michael O'Brien Cc: NFC-L AT cornell.edu Subject: RE: [nfc-l] Night flight call station results-Maine-April 1-3 Very cool! Makes sense when you see large numbers of robins flying over in the early morning hours that they would be birds that have been moving at night. Funny though that over the years I don't recall picking up any within the 10 PM-2 AM window that I think of as indicating birds moving through the night as opposed to in the early morning hours when it is not as clear whether they just started migrating or are descending. Speaking of birds that move through the night but are not as readily detected, have any of you picked up terns other than Caspian Tern migrating at night? It's obvious that they migrate at night based on the way they just appear one morning in a location but it seems like you don't hear them. Though at least Caspian Terns in the fall when they have still-dependent young regularly call back and forth with the trailing young birds at night. Jeff -- NFC-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_WELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_RULES ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nfc-l AT cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NFCL.html 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NFC-L Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ -- Subject: Re: Night flight call station results-Maine-April 1-3 From: Erik Johnson <ejohn33 AT tigers.lsu.edu> Date: Tue, 13 Apr 2010 12:05:12 -0500 Along the gulf coast in the fall, I have witnessed large pre-dawn movements of American Robins that are returning north after presumably realizing that they are over water (the Gulf) as daylight approaches. This return flight can last up to one hour after sunrise, although it typically peaks just before sunrise. I have always assumed this means they were traveling south in the dark hours of the night. I have played around with some nocturnal recording, but have yet to get a flight call of a robin in the spring or fall - about 30 mi north of the Gulf in south-central Louisiana. If they do call, it's probably not much less frequently than other thrushes, buntings, warblers, tanagers, orioles, and sparrows, at least based on my local experience here. Cheers, Erik Johnson S Lafayette, LA ejohn33 AT lsu.edu On Tue, Apr 13, 2010 at 11:54 AM, Ted Floyd wrote: > Hi, all. > > I ponder this question a lot. In all my experience in Colorado, I have heard > exactly one (1) flight call from a robin that seemed to be an on-the-go > nocturnal migrant. (For comparison, I've heard more flight calls from > nocturnal-migrant Western Grebes and Eastern Kingbirds in Colorado.) I've > flushed a lot of robins by night, but that doesn't really count. > > In Boulder County, Colorado, then, I'd say that robins are practically > silent as nocturnal migrants, or they simply do not migrate by night. I > frequently see (and hear) heavy, medium-altitude robin passages that go > strong right to around sundown, but then the flights suddenly end at > nightfall. > > Daytime "Vis Mig" of American Robins is striking (visual and audible) in the > Front Range region of Colorado, comparable to the heavy daytime flights of > Common Grackles in early spring. > > Ted Floyd > tfloyd AT aba.org > Lafayette, Boulder County, Colorado > > ________________________________ > From: bounce-5534264-9667900 AT list.cornell.edu > [mailto:bounce-5534264-9667900 AT list.cornell.edu] On Behalf Of Michael > O'Brien > Sent: Tuesday, April 06, 2010 1:59 PM > To: Jeff Wells > Cc: NFC-L AT cornell.edu > Subject: Re: [nfc-l] Night flight call station results-Maine-April 1-3 > > Jeff, > I'm interested in your assertion that American Robin is strictly a diurnal > migrant. Perhaps that is true in some areas, but in Cape May it certainly is > not. We regularly see massive American Robin flights at night, in fall at > least. These flights often continue or resume in the first few hours of the > morning and again in the last hour or so of the day. During particularly > heavy flights, the movements may continue longer into the day, but my > estimation is that the bulk of the movement always takes place at night. I > find their behavior to be much like that of Bobolink, only they seem to be > less vocal. It would be interesting to know what others have observed and if > the situation is different elsewhere. My guess is that the main difference, > if any, is that robins call more frequently in certain situations and fly > more quietly in others. > good listening! > Michael O'Brien > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Jeff Wells" > To: NFC-L AT cornell.edu > Sent: Tuesday, April 6, 2010 2:42:45 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern > Subject: [nfc-l] Night flight call station results-Maine-April 1-3 > > I started my automated recording station for the season here in Maine on > Thursday night, April 1st. Although there were few calls each of the last > three nights, the numbers increased a little each night from about 10 the > night of the 1st to about 30 last night. There were a few Hermit Thrushes > the first night, 6 the 2nd and 12 the night of the 3rd. There were a few > Killdeer each night, a Wood Duck, and 4-10 sparrows each night with Song and > White-throat plus a couple that may be American Tree Sparrow and a junco or > two. A few other items of interest: > > > > -several nights had Herring Gull calls in the middle of the night that I > assume are night migrating birds; > > > > -several nights had the squeal flight calls of American Robins around > midnight. Although I sometimes have what I assume to be local on-the-ground > robins sing and give ground alarm calls in the middle of the night, they > don't give the squeal calls. The acoustics of the recorded squeal calls also > seem more like birds overhead. I suspect that, as unlikely as it seems, that > these were night-flying robins when by all accounts the species is only a > diurnal migrant; > > > > -one night I had what sounded like a bit of song of a night-flying Hermit > Thrush. I typically get some night-flying birds in May that break out in > song or partial song while flying overhead but I had never picked that up > for Hermit Thrush. > > > > I posted some of the call files on my blog at: www.borealbirds.org/blog > > > > Jeff Wells > > > > -- NFC-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_WELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_RULES ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nfc-l AT cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NFCL.html 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NFC-L Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ -- Subject: RE: Night flight call station results-Maine-April 1-3 From: "Ted Floyd" <tfloyd AT aba.org> Date: Tue, 13 Apr 2010 10:54:04 -0600 Hi, all. I ponder this question a lot. In all my experience in Colorado, I have heard exactly one (1) flight call from a robin that seemed to be an on-the-go nocturnal migrant. (For comparison, I've heard more flight calls from nocturnal-migrant Western Grebes and Eastern Kingbirds in Colorado.) I've flushed a lot of robins by night, but that doesn't really count. In Boulder County, Colorado, then, I'd say that robins are practically silent as nocturnal migrants, or they simply do not migrate by night. I frequently see (and hear) heavy, medium-altitude robin passages that go strong right to around sundown, but then the flights suddenly end at nightfall. Daytime "Vis Mig" of American Robins is striking (visual and audible) in the Front Range region of Colorado, comparable to the heavy daytime flights of Common Grackles in early spring. Ted Floyd tfloyd AT aba.org Lafayette, Boulder County, Colorado ________________________________ From: bounce-5534264-9667900 AT list.cornell.edu [mailto:bounce-5534264-9667900 AT list.cornell.edu] On Behalf Of Michael O'Brien Sent: Tuesday, April 06, 2010 1:59 PM To: Jeff Wells Cc: NFC-L AT cornell.edu Subject: Re: [nfc-l] Night flight call station results-Maine-April 1-3 Jeff, I'm interested in your assertion that American Robin is strictly a diurnal migrant. Perhaps that is true in some areas, but in Cape May it certainly is not. We regularly see massive American Robin flights at night, in fall at least. These flights often continue or resume in the first few hours of the morning and again in the last hour or so of the day. During particularly heavy flights, the movements may continue longer into the day, but my estimation is that the bulk of the movement always takes place at night. I find their behavior to be much like that of Bobolink, only they seem to be less vocal. It would be interesting to know what others have observed and if the situation is different elsewhere. My guess is that the main difference, if any, is that robins call more frequently in certain situations and fly more quietly in others. good listening! Michael O'Brien ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jeff Wells" To: NFC-L AT cornell.edu Sent: Tuesday, April 6, 2010 2:42:45 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern Subject: [nfc-l] Night flight call station results-Maine-April 1-3 I started my automated recording station for the season here in Maine on Thursday night, April 1st. Although there were few calls each of the last three nights, the numbers increased a little each night from about 10 the night of the 1st to about 30 last night. There were a few Hermit Thrushes the first night, 6 the 2nd and 12 the night of the 3rd. There were a few Killdeer each night, a Wood Duck, and 4-10 sparrows each night with Song and White-throat plus a couple that may be American Tree Sparrow and a junco or two. A few other items of interest: -several nights had Herring Gull calls in the middle of the night that I assume are night migrating birds; -several nights had the squeal flight calls of American Robins around midnight. Although I sometimes have what I assume to be local on-the-ground robins sing and give ground alarm calls in the middle of the night, they don't give the squeal calls. The acoustics of the recorded squeal calls also seem more like birds overhead. I suspect that, as unlikely as it seems, that these were night-flying robins when by all accounts the species is only a diurnal migrant; -one night I had what sounded like a bit of song of a night-flying Hermit Thrush. I typically get some night-flying birds in May that break out in song or partial song while flying overhead but I had never picked that up for Hermit Thrush. I posted some of the call files on my blog at: www.borealbirds.org/blog Jeff Wells -- NFC-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_WELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_RULES ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nfc-l AT cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NFCL.html 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NFC-L Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ -- Subject: RE: Willow Flycatcher, Cuckoo, or similar nfc's in Delaware From: "Jeff Wells" <jwells AT intlboreal.org> Date: Wed, 7 Apr 2010 06:40:26 -0700 Not sure if the listserve can take these attachments and I am sure that Chris will let me know if I shouldn’t have sent them, but with the discussion of Virginia Rail night flight calls I thought I would send along some I recorded here in Maine over my house in late April 2006. Jeff From: bounce-5535767-9874258 AT list.cornell.edu [mailto:bounce-5535767-9874258 AT list.cornell.edu] On Behalf Of Michael O'Brien Sent: Tuesday, April 06, 2010 11:53 PM To: Andrew Albright Cc: nfc-l; ednieap AT verizon.net Subject: Re: [nfc-l] Willow Flycatcher, Cuckoo, or similar nfc's in Delaware Andrew, The first call is a Virginia Rail. Check out Lang Elliott's Stokes Eastern Birds CD for I nice example of this call, which is apparently given by females. I can't quite make out the second call on your recording, but it doesn't sound like a cuckoo to me. best, Michael O'Brien ----- Original Message ----- From: "Andrew Albright" To: "nfc-l" , ednieap AT verizon.net Sent: Tuesday, April 6, 2010 10:33:58 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern Subject: Re:[nfc-l] Willow Flycatcher, Cuckoo, or similar nfc's in Delaware http://soundcloud.com/user3781125/4apr10-lewes The first one is the one that I thought sounded Willow Flycatcher=ish. Also, not sure about the second one - kind of sounds like a Cuckoo - but that would also be pretty early. Any better ID's? Sincerely, Andrew On Tue, Apr 6, 2010 at 1:03 AM, Andrew Albright wrote: > Saturday night, I recorded something that sounded like a "fast" Willow > Flycatcher's "fitzspew" call. In addition to not sounding exactly > like it, it is a little early for Willow in Southern Delaware. > Location - southern Delaware ~2am. > > However, I checked Evans/Obrien's guide and they give something > different for Willow for NFC. > > 1. Anyone ever record Willow? > 2. What are the closest other choices for me to check? > > Sincerely, > Andrew > -- NFC-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_WELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_RULES ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nfc-l AT cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NFCL.html 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NFC-L Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ -- -- NFC-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_WELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_RULES ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nfc-l AT cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NFCL.html 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NFC-L Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ -- Subject: Re: mystery flight call - S Louisiana From: "Michael O'Brien" <tsweet AT comcast.net> Date: Wed, 7 Apr 2010 04:01:58 +0000 (UTC) Erik, This sounds like a Common Moorhen. They do a variety of muffled clucks like that. best, Michael O'Brien ----- Original Message ----- From: "Erik Johnson" To: "Nocturnal Flight Call ListServe" Sent: Tuesday, April 6, 2010 11:52:26 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern Subject: [nfc-l] mystery flight call - S Louisiana Hi everyone, I was messing around with a Sennheiser mic directly plugged into my laptop April 4. Recordings were obviously soft without the help of a preamp, but discernible. I was mostly just trying to test my ear against the instant gratification of inspecting the sonogram and comparing to the flight call CD. I recorded this and cannot figure it out. Any thoughts would be appreciated. It was recorded 1.5 hrs after sundown near Lafayette, LA. File is 256kb, wav format. Let me know if the link doesn't work. https://filestogeaux.lsu.edu/public/download.php?FILE=ejohn33/26855CDCduk Thanks, Erik Johnson S Lafayette, LA ejohn33 AT lsu.edu -- NFC-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_WELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_RULES ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nfc-l AT cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NFCL.html 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NFC-L Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ -- -- NFC-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_WELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_RULES ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nfc-l AT cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NFCL.html 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NFC-L Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ -- Subject: Re: Willow Flycatcher, Cuckoo, or similar nfc's in Delaware From: "Michael O'Brien" <tsweet AT comcast.net> Date: Wed, 7 Apr 2010 03:52:53 +0000 (UTC) Andrew, The first call is a Virginia Rail. Check out Lang Elliott's Stokes Eastern Birds CD for I nice example of this call, which is apparently given by females. I can't quite make out the second call on your recording, but it doesn't sound like a cuckoo to me. best, Michael O'Brien ----- Original Message ----- From: "Andrew Albright" To: "nfc-l" , ednieap AT verizon.net Sent: Tuesday, April 6, 2010 10:33:58 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern Subject: Re:[nfc-l] Willow Flycatcher, Cuckoo, or similar nfc's in Delaware http://soundcloud.com/user3781125/4apr10-lewes The first one is the one that I thought sounded Willow Flycatcher=ish. Also, not sure about the second one - kind of sounds like a Cuckoo - but that would also be pretty early. Any better ID's? Sincerely, Andrew On Tue, Apr 6, 2010 at 1:03 AM, Andrew Albright wrote: > Saturday night, I recorded something that sounded like a "fast" Willow > Flycatcher's "fitzspew" call. In addition to not sounding exactly > like it, it is a little early for Willow in Southern Delaware. > Location - southern Delaware ~2am. > > However, I checked Evans/Obrien's guide and they give something > different for Willow for NFC. > > 1. Anyone ever record Willow? > 2. What are the closest other choices for me to check? > > Sincerely, > Andrew > -- NFC-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_WELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_RULES ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nfc-l AT cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NFCL.html 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NFC-L Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ -- -- NFC-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_WELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_RULES ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nfc-l AT cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NFCL.html 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NFC-L Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ -- Subject: mystery flight call - S Louisiana From: Erik Johnson <ejohn33 AT tigers.lsu.edu> Date: Tue, 6 Apr 2010 22:52:26 -0500 Hi everyone, I was messing around with a Sennheiser mic directly plugged into my laptop April 4. Recordings were obviously soft without the help of a preamp, but discernible. I was mostly just trying to test my ear against the instant gratification of inspecting the sonogram and comparing to the flight call CD. I recorded this and cannot figure it out. Any thoughts would be appreciated. It was recorded 1.5 hrs after sundown near Lafayette, LA. File is 256kb, wav format. Let me know if the link doesn't work. https://filestogeaux.lsu.edu/public/download.php?FILE=ejohn33/26855CDCduk Thanks, Erik Johnson S Lafayette, LA ejohn33 AT lsu.edu -- NFC-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_WELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_RULES ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nfc-l AT cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NFCL.html 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NFC-L Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ -- Subject: Re:Willow Flycatcher, Cuckoo, or similar nfc's in Delaware From: Andrew Albright <andrew.albright AT gmail.com> Date: Tue, 6 Apr 2010 22:33:58 -0400 http://soundcloud.com/user3781125/4apr10-lewes The first one is the one that I thought sounded Willow Flycatcher=ish. Also, not sure about the second one - kind of sounds like a Cuckoo - but that would also be pretty early. Any better ID's? Sincerely, Andrew On Tue, Apr 6, 2010 at 1:03 AM, Andrew Albright wrote: > Saturday night, I recorded something that sounded like a "fast" Willow > Flycatcher's "fitzspew" call.  In addition to not sounding exactly > like it, it is a little early for Willow in Southern Delaware. > Location - southern Delaware ~2am. > > However, I checked Evans/Obrien's guide and they give something > different for Willow for NFC. > > 1. Anyone ever record Willow? > 2. What are the closest other choices for me to check? > > Sincerely, > Andrew > -- NFC-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_WELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_RULES ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nfc-l AT cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NFCL.html 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NFC-L Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ -- Subject: Re: blue icicle From: Michael Lanzone <mlanzone AT gmail.com> Date: Tue, 6 Apr 2010 20:12:44 -0400 Hi all, I got a lot of questions about the Blue Icicle. Sorry I should have explained what it was! It is a mic preamp that is powered via the USB voltage (5v). It is nice as when mounted close to the microphone it reduced the noise in the line caused by a long run of an unbalanced XLR or other mic cable. The evans style mic works great, but it is also unbalanced, for a lot of my setups I have no issues at all, however there are some that are near radio stations or simply get the hum in the line. By using this mic preamp and running a 25ft USB cable from the icicle (housed in a waterproof housing in the bucket) to the computer It completely eliminates the noise. The only downside to this mic is you need to adjust the gain before you put up the bucket as it is on the icicle. I simply adjust it about 3/4 of the way up and then adjust the volume on the computers mic input to fine tune. I also use this mic now in autonomous recording units, and it has worked well. Here is a link to the Blue Icicle- http://www.buy.com/prod/icicle-xlr-to-usb-converter/q/listingid/52757425/loc/101/208972092.html Best, Mike Michael Lanzone Biotechnology and Biomonitoring Lab Supervisor Carnegie Museum of Natural History Powdermill Avian Research Center 1847 Route 381 Rector, PA 15677 724.593.5521 Office mlanzone AT gmail.com On Tue, Apr 6, 2010 at 6:25 PM, lesterap AT fuse.net wrote: > what is blue icicle? > > ---------- > Sent from my Verizon Wireless mobile phone > > -- > > NFC-L List Info: > http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_WELCOME > http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_RULES > > ARCHIVES: > 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nfc-l AT cornell.edu/maillist.html > 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NFCL.html > 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NFC-L > > Please submit your observations to eBird: > http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ > > -- > > -- NFC-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_WELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_RULES ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nfc-l AT cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NFCL.html 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NFC-L Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ -- Subject: blue icicle From: "lesterap AT fuse.net" <lesterap@fuse.net> Date: Tue, 06 Apr 2010 22:25:06 +0000 what is blue icicle? ---------- Sent from my Verizon Wireless mobile phone -- NFC-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_WELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_RULES ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nfc-l AT cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NFCL.html 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NFC-L Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ -- Subject: Re: mic setup From: Michael Lanzone <mlanzone AT gmail.com> Date: Tue, 6 Apr 2010 17:00:56 -0400 David, I also use the MP-13 on many of my setups, but like I had talked to you about, with the blue icicle you can elimanate a lot of the noise associated with the traditional EK3029c setup by placing in near the microphone. The Evans style mics are not balanced and unless they are built special it is hard to do. For the engineers out there on this list ;) what we really need is a circuit like bills original one that is balanced AND powered by +48v phantom power! Michael Lanzone Biotechnology and Biomonitoring Lab Supervisor Carnegie Museum of Natural History Powdermill Avian Research Center 1847 Route 381 Rector, PA 15677 724.593.5521 Office mlanzone AT gmail.com On Tue, Apr 6, 2010 at 4:38 PM, Jeff Wells wrote: > I have always used the Rolls MP13 and have found it very reliable and > durable. > > > > Jeff > > > > *From:* bounce-5534450-9874258 AT list.cornell.edu [mailto: > bounce-5534450-9874258 AT list.cornell.edu] *On Behalf Of *David La Puma > *Sent:* Tuesday, April 06, 2010 4:32 PM > *To:* nfc-l AT cornell.edu > *Subject:* [nfc-l] mic setup > > > > Hey All- > > A group of us in Cape May are going to be building some personal recording > setups in the next week(s). I'm interested in what others are using in their > personal setups, especially the mic element (we're ordering the Knowles > EK3029c, but I noticed that Knowles is making several new(?) water-proof > models), pre-amp (currently I'm going with an Blue Icicle XLR->USB to go > directly into a laptop, but considering the Rolls MP13 to go directly to my > stereo receiver), and recording device (recorder, computer, etc.; for now > I'll be going into my MacBookPro, but will probably get a dedicated > computer... some of us are more interested in simply having it stream into > our home stereo, so we can listen in real-time). > > Anyone want to share their setup, pros/cons, and experiences? > > Cheers > > David > ________________________ > > David A. La Puma, Ph.D. > Postdoctoral Associate – Ecology, behavior and conservation of migratory > birds > New Jersey Audubon Society > 600 Route 47 North > Cape May Court House, NJ 08210 > Office: 609.861.1608 x33 > Fax: 609.861.1651 > > Websites: > http://www.woodcreeper.com > http://badbirdz2.wordpress.com > > Photos: > http://www.flickr.com/photos/woodcreeper > > > > -- NFC-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_WELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_RULES ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nfc-l AT cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NFCL.html 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NFC-L Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ -- Subject: Re: Night flight call station results-Maine-April 1-3 From: David La Puma <woodcreeper AT gmail.com> Date: Tue, 6 Apr 2010 16:56:08 -0400 and my response was: when we did dawn surveys of Cape Sable seaside sparrow, on a still morning we could hear them at least to 500m (~1500ft), while on a day with a little wind blowing the sound towards us (~5ks?) we would pick them up out to over 1km (> ~3000ft). Interestingly (and to my surprise, when I thought about it) that's well within the densest part of the nocturnal migrant distribution (according to radar studies). Now the various wrenches: 1. on our morning surveys, the birds were singing "at" us, versus perpendicular to us as one would expect from a nocturnal migrant. 2. both of my observations were when winds were either still, or blowing the sound towards us. In cases when the bird was down wind from us, our detection distance was definitely less. For that reason, we only counted birds within 200m for our surveys. I think I remember talking to Andrew F. and/or Mike L. about this very thing... but I can't remember what, if any, work had been done on it. I look forward to the discussion! Cheers David ________________________ David A. La Puma, Ph.D. Postdoctoral Associate – Ecology, behavior and conservation of migratory birds New Jersey Audubon Society 600 Route 47 North Cape May Court House, NJ 08210 Office: 609.861.1608 x33 Fax: 609.861.1651 Websites: http://www.woodcreeper.com http://badbirdz2.wordpress.com Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/woodcreeper On Tue, Apr 6, 2010 at 4:42 PM, Donald P. Freiday wrote: > This reminds me of a question Dave LaPuma and I were knocking around the > other day. How high can birds making nfc’s be heard by naked ear? By > microphone? Has this been worked out? Of course it is conditions-specific, > so for starters how about a still night and a loudish call, like SWTH? > > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Donald P. Freiday, > > Director of Birding Programs, > > New Jersey Audubon's Cape May Bird Observatory > > (609) 861-0700 x16 > > don.freiday AT njaudubon.org > > www.bircapemay.org/blog > ------------------------------ > > *From:* bounce-5534428-10072643 AT list.cornell.edu [mailto: > bounce-5534428-10072643 AT list.cornell.edu] *On Behalf Of *Michael O'Brien > *Sent:* Tuesday, April 06, 2010 4:29 PM > > *To:* Jeff Wells > *Cc:* NFC-L AT cornell.edu > *Subject:* Re: [nfc-l] Night flight call station results-Maine-April 1-3 > > > > Maybe the robins over your station are typically too high to be heard in > the middle of the night. Just a thought. > > > > Re terns, I have also only herd Caspian. I have heard them both spring in > and fall inland, but I don't recall ever hearing them along the coast. > > > > Michael > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Jeff Wells" > To: "Michael O'Brien" > Cc: NFC-L AT cornell.edu > Sent: Tuesday, April 6, 2010 4:08:38 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern > Subject: RE: [nfc-l] Night flight call station results-Maine-April 1-3 > > Very cool! Makes sense when you see large numbers of robins flying over in > the early morning hours that they would be birds that have been moving at > night. Funny though that over the years I don’t recall picking up any within > the 10 PM-2 AM window that I think of as indicating birds moving through the > night as opposed to in the early morning hours when it is not as clear > whether they just started migrating or are descending. > > > > Speaking of birds that move through the night but are not as readily > detected, have any of you picked up terns other than Caspian Tern migrating > at night? It’s obvious that they migrate at night based on the way they just > appear one morning in a location but it seems like you don’t hear them. > Though at least Caspian Terns in the fall when they have still-dependent > young regularly call back and forth with the trailing young birds at night. > > > > Jeff > > > > *From:* Michael O'Brien [mailto:tsweet AT comcast.net] > *Sent:* Tuesday, April 06, 2010 3:59 PM > *To:* Jeff Wells > *Cc:* NFC-L AT cornell.edu > *Subject:* Re: [nfc-l] Night flight call station results-Maine-April 1-3 > > > > Jeff, > > > > I'm interested in your assertion that American Robin is strictly a diurnal > migrant. Perhaps that is true in some areas, but in Cape May it certainly is > not. We regularly see massive American Robin flights at night, in fall at > least. These flights often continue or resume in the first few hours of the > morning and again in the last hour or so of the day. During particularly > heavy flights, the movements may continue longer into the day, but my > estimation is that the bulk of the movement always takes place at night. I > find their behavior to be much like that of Bobolink, only they seem to be > less vocal. It would be interesting to know what others have observed and if > the situation is different elsewhere. My guess is that the main difference, > if any, is that robins call more frequently in certain situations and fly > more quietly in others. > > > > good listening! > > Michael O'Brien > > > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Jeff Wells" > To: NFC-L AT cornell.edu > Sent: Tuesday, April 6, 2010 2:42:45 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern > Subject: [nfc-l] Night flight call station results-Maine-April 1-3 > > I started my automated recording station for the season here in Maine on > Thursday night, April 1st. Although there were few calls each of the last > three nights, the numbers increased a little each night from about 10 the > night of the 1st to about 30 last night. There were a few Hermit Thrushes > the first night, 6 the 2nd and 12 the night of the 3rd. There were a few > Killdeer each night, a Wood Duck, and 4-10 sparrows each night with Song and > White-throat plus a couple that may be American Tree Sparrow and a junco or > two. A few other items of interest: > > > > -several nights had Herring Gull calls in the middle of the night that I > assume are night migrating birds; > > > > -several nights had the squeal flight calls of American Robins around > midnight. Although I sometimes have what I assume to be local on-the-ground > robins sing and give ground alarm calls in the middle of the night, they > don't give the squeal calls. The acoustics of the recorded squeal calls also > seem more like birds overhead. I suspect that, as unlikely as it seems, that > these were night-flying robins when by all accounts the species is only a > diurnal migrant; > > > > -one night I had what sounded like a bit of song of a night-flying Hermit > Thrush. I typically get some night-flying birds in May that break out in > song or partial song while flying overhead but I had never picked that up > for Hermit Thrush. > > > > I posted some of the call files on my blog at: www.borealbirds.org/blog > > > > Jeff Wells > > > > > -- NFC-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_WELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_RULES ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nfc-l AT cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NFCL.html 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NFC-L Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ -- Subject: Re: Night flight call station results-Maine-April 1-3 From: Michael Lanzone <mlanzone AT gmail.com> Date: Tue, 6 Apr 2010 16:54:58 -0400 Hi All, We do occasionally pick up robins on some of our recordings, but they are few and far between in the night hours (pre 3am) and that is on well over 20k hours of recordings here and in the Appalachians. I tend to hear many more from 3-5am. However, on several occasions here I have observed (visually) on top of Laurel Ridge in PA and Backbone Mtn and Allegheny Front in MD and WV robins during the middle of the night, one time 100s of them flying low in the middle of the night. They were largely silent, I may have heard ~5 calls of 5-600 birds, but may have certainly masked by the high calling rate that night. These birds were forced low because of fog and there was a heavy flight those nights with a lot of flight calling activity, and these spots were lighted and I could readily ID many of the birds coming over with binoculars and naked eye. Almost all of our recording stations are not lit and we purposely do not record in lighted areas as that does inflate call rates, however it would be interesting to compare some of these locations with the darker ones, a study that I had talked about last year, possibly by this fall I can get a few more stations online to do such a comparison. I wonder if robins either call less nocturnally, fly much higher, coastal effects cause a higher calling rate and/or their calls are softer and may be masked by thrushes. Best, Mike Michael Lanzone Biotechnology and Biomonitoring Lab Supervisor Carnegie Museum of Natural History Powdermill Avian Research Center 1847 Route 381 Rector, PA 15677 724.593.5521 Office mlanzone AT gmail.com On Tue, Apr 6, 2010 at 4:34 PM, Jeff Wells wrote: > Maybe but you would think that under certain conditions with low cloud > cover, etc., that over the years I would have picked them up. Maybe it is > one of those things that happens more often late and early in the year when > I am not recording as much….. > > > > Jeff > > > > *From:* Michael O'Brien [mailto:tsweet AT comcast.net] > *Sent:* Tuesday, April 06, 2010 4:29 PM > > *To:* Jeff Wells > *Cc:* NFC-L AT cornell.edu > *Subject:* Re: [nfc-l] Night flight call station results-Maine-April 1-3 > > > > Maybe the robins over your station are typically too high to be heard in > the middle of the night. Just a thought. > > > > Re terns, I have also only herd Caspian. I have heard them both spring in > and fall inland, but I don't recall ever hearing them along the coast. > > > > Michael > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Jeff Wells" > To: "Michael O'Brien" > Cc: NFC-L AT cornell.edu > Sent: Tuesday, April 6, 2010 4:08:38 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern > Subject: RE: [nfc-l] Night flight call station results-Maine-April 1-3 > > Very cool! Makes sense when you see large numbers of robins flying over in > the early morning hours that they would be birds that have been moving at > night. Funny though that over the years I don’t recall picking up any within > the 10 PM-2 AM window that I think of as indicating birds moving through the > night as opposed to in the early morning hours when it is not as clear > whether they just started migrating or are descending. > > > > Speaking of birds that move through the night but are not as readily > detected, have any of you picked up terns other than Caspian Tern migrating > at night? It’s obvious that they migrate at night based on the way they just > appear one morning in a location but it seems like you don’t hear them. > Though at least Caspian Terns in the fall when they have still-dependent > young regularly call back and forth with the trailing young birds at night. > > > > Jeff > > > > *From:* Michael O'Brien [mailto:tsweet AT comcast.net] > *Sent:* Tuesday, April 06, 2010 3:59 PM > *To:* Jeff Wells > *Cc:* NFC-L AT cornell.edu > *Subject:* Re: [nfc-l] Night flight call station results-Maine-April 1-3 > > > > Jeff, > > > > I'm interested in your assertion that American Robin is strictly a diurnal > migrant. Perhaps that is true in some areas, but in Cape May it certainly is > not. We regularly see massive American Robin flights at night, in fall at > least. These flights often continue or resume in the first few hours of the > morning and again in the last hour or so of the day. During particularly > heavy flights, the movements may continue longer into the day, but my > estimation is that the bulk of the movement always takes place at night. I > find their behavior to be much like that of Bobolink, only they seem to be > less vocal. It would be interesting to know what others have observed and if > the situation is different elsewhere. My guess is that the main difference, > if any, is that robins call more frequently in certain situations and fly > more quietly in others. > > > > good listening! > > Michael O'Brien > > > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Jeff Wells" > To: NFC-L AT cornell.edu > Sent: Tuesday, April 6, 2010 2:42:45 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern > Subject: [nfc-l] Night flight call station results-Maine-April 1-3 > > I started my automated recording station for the season here in Maine on > Thursday night, April 1st. Although there were few calls each of the last > three nights, the numbers increased a little each night from about 10 the > night of the 1st to about 30 last night. There were a few Hermit Thrushes > the first night, 6 the 2nd and 12 the night of the 3rd. There were a few > Killdeer each night, a Wood Duck, and 4-10 sparrows each night with Song and > White-throat plus a couple that may be American Tree Sparrow and a junco or > two. A few other items of interest: > > > > -several nights had Herring Gull calls in the middle of the night that I > assume are night migrating birds; > > > > -several nights had the squeal flight calls of American Robins around > midnight. Although I sometimes have what I assume to be local on-the-ground > robins sing and give ground alarm calls in the middle of the night, they > don't give the squeal calls. The acoustics of the recorded squeal calls also > seem more like birds overhead. I suspect that, as unlikely as it seems, that > these were night-flying robins when by all accounts the species is only a > diurnal migrant; > > > > -one night I had what sounded like a bit of song of a night-flying Hermit > Thrush. I typically get some night-flying birds in May that break out in > song or partial song while flying overhead but I had never picked that up > for Hermit Thrush. > > > > I posted some of the call files on my blog at: www.borealbirds.org/blog > > > > Jeff Wells > > > > > -- NFC-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_WELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_RULES ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nfc-l AT cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NFCL.html 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NFC-L Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ -- Subject: RE: Night flight call station results-Maine-April 1-3 From: "Donald P. Freiday" <don.freiday AT njaudubon.org> Date: Tue, 6 Apr 2010 16:42:42 -0400 This reminds me of a question Dave LaPuma and I were knocking around the other day. How high can birds making nfc's be heard by naked ear? By microphone? Has this been worked out? Of course it is conditions-specific, so for starters how about a still night and a loudish call, like SWTH? ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Donald P. Freiday, Director of Birding Programs, New Jersey Audubon's Cape May Bird Observatory (609) 861-0700 x16 don.freiday AT njaudubon.org www.bircapemay.org/blog _____ From: bounce-5534428-10072643 AT list.cornell.edu [mailto:bounce-5534428-10072643 AT list.cornell.edu] On Behalf Of Michael O'Brien Sent: Tuesday, April 06, 2010 4:29 PM To: Jeff Wells Cc: NFC-L AT cornell.edu Subject: Re: [nfc-l] Night flight call station results-Maine-April 1-3 Maybe the robins over your station are typically too high to be heard in the middle of the night. Just a thought. Re terns, I have also only herd Caspian. I have heard them both spring in and fall inland, but I don't recall ever hearing them along the coast. Michael ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jeff Wells" To: "Michael O'Brien" Cc: NFC-L AT cornell.edu Sent: Tuesday, April 6, 2010 4:08:38 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern Subject: RE: [nfc-l] Night flight call station results-Maine-April 1-3 Very cool! Makes sense when you see large numbers of robins flying over in the early morning hours that they would be birds that have been moving at night. Funny though that over the years I don't recall picking up any within the 10 PM-2 AM window that I think of as indicating birds moving through the night as opposed to in the early morning hours when it is not as clear whether they just started migrating or are descending. Speaking of birds that move through the night but are not as readily detected, have any of you picked up terns other than Caspian Tern migrating at night? It's obvious that they migrate at night based on the way they just appear one morning in a location but it seems like you don't hear them. Though at least Caspian Terns in the fall when they have still-dependent young regularly call back and forth with the trailing young birds at night. Jeff From: Michael O'Brien [mailto:tsweet AT comcast.net] Sent: Tuesday, April 06, 2010 3:59 PM To: Jeff Wells Cc: NFC-L AT cornell.edu Subject: Re: [nfc-l] Night flight call station results-Maine-April 1-3 Jeff, I'm interested in your assertion that American Robin is strictly a diurnal migrant. Perhaps that is true in some areas, but in Cape May it certainly is not. We regularly see massive American Robin flights at night, in fall at least. These flights often continue or resume in the first few hours of the morning and again in the last hour or so of the day. During particularly heavy flights, the movements may continue longer into the day, but my estimation is that the bulk of the movement always takes place at night. I find their behavior to be much like that of Bobolink, only they seem to be less vocal. It would be interesting to know what others have observed and if the situation is different elsewhere. My guess is that the main difference, if any, is that robins call more frequently in certain situations and fly more quietly in others. good listening! Michael O'Brien ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jeff Wells" To: NFC-L AT cornell.edu Sent: Tuesday, April 6, 2010 2:42:45 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern Subject: [nfc-l] Night flight call station results-Maine-April 1-3 I started my automated recording station for the season here in Maine on Thursday night, April 1st. Although there were few calls each of the last three nights, the numbers increased a little each night from about 10 the night of the 1st to about 30 last night. There were a few Hermit Thrushes the first night, 6 the 2nd and 12 the night of the 3rd. There were a few Killdeer each night, a Wood Duck, and 4-10 sparrows each night with Song and White-throat plus a couple that may be American Tree Sparrow and a junco or two. A few other items of interest: -several nights had Herring Gull calls in the middle of the night that I assume are night migrating birds; -several nights had the squeal flight calls of American Robins around midnight. Although I sometimes have what I assume to be local on-the-ground robins sing and give ground alarm calls in the middle of the night, they don't give the squeal calls. The acoustics of the recorded squeal calls also seem more like birds overhead. I suspect that, as unlikely as it seems, that these were night-flying robins when by all accounts the species is only a diurnal migrant; -one night I had what sounded like a bit of song of a night-flying Hermit Thrush. I typically get some night-flying birds in May that break out in song or partial song while flying overhead but I had never picked that up for Hermit Thrush. I posted some of the call files on my blog at: www.borealbirds.org/blog Jeff Wells -- NFC-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_WELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_RULES ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nfc-l AT cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NFCL.html 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NFC-L Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ -- Subject: RE: mic setup From: "Jeff Wells" <jwells AT intlboreal.org> Date: Tue, 6 Apr 2010 13:38:20 -0700 I have always used the Rolls MP13 and have found it very reliable and durable. Jeff From: bounce-5534450-9874258 AT list.cornell.edu [mailto:bounce-5534450-9874258 AT list.cornell.edu] On Behalf Of David La Puma Sent: Tuesday, April 06, 2010 4:32 PM To: nfc-l AT cornell.edu Subject: [nfc-l] mic setup Hey All- A group of us in Cape May are going to be building some personal recording setups in the next week(s). I'm interested in what others are using in their personal setups, especially the mic element (we're ordering the Knowles EK3029c, but I noticed that Knowles is making several new(?) water-proof models), pre-amp (currently I'm going with an Blue Icicle XLR->USB to go directly into a laptop, but considering the Rolls MP13 to go directly to my stereo receiver), and recording device (recorder, computer, etc.; for now I'll be going into my MacBookPro, but will probably get a dedicated computer... some of us are more interested in simply having it stream into our home stereo, so we can listen in real-time). Anyone want to share their setup, pros/cons, and experiences? Cheers David ________________________ David A. La Puma, Ph.D. Postdoctoral Associate - Ecology, behavior and conservation of migratory birds New Jersey Audubon Society 600 Route 47 North Cape May Court House, NJ 08210 Office: 609.861.1608 x33 Fax: 609.861.1651 Websites: http://www.woodcreeper.com http://badbirdz2.wordpress.com Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/woodcreeper -- NFC-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_WELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_RULES ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nfc-l AT cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NFCL.html 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NFC-L Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ -- Subject: RE: Night flight call station results-Maine-April 1-3 From: "Jeff Wells" <jwells AT intlboreal.org> Date: Tue, 6 Apr 2010 13:34:51 -0700 Maybe but you would think that under certain conditions with low cloud cover, etc., that over the years I would have picked them up. Maybe it is one of those things that happens more often late and early in the year when I am not recording as much….. Jeff From: Michael O'Brien [mailto:tsweet AT comcast.net] Sent: Tuesday, April 06, 2010 4:29 PM To: Jeff Wells Cc: NFC-L AT cornell.edu Subject: Re: [nfc-l] Night flight call station results-Maine-April 1-3 Maybe the robins over your station are typically too high to be heard in the middle of the night. Just a thought. Re terns, I have also only herd Caspian. I have heard them both spring in and fall inland, but I don't recall ever hearing them along the coast. Michael ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jeff Wells" To: "Michael O'Brien" Cc: NFC-L AT cornell.edu Sent: Tuesday, April 6, 2010 4:08:38 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern Subject: RE: [nfc-l] Night flight call station results-Maine-April 1-3 Very cool! Makes sense when you see large numbers of robins flying over in the early morning hours that they would be birds that have been moving at night. Funny though that over the years I don’t recall picking up any within the 10 PM-2 AM window that I think of as indicating birds moving through the night as opposed to in the early morning hours when it is not as clear whether they just started migrating or are descending. Speaking of birds that move through the night but are not as readily detected, have any of you picked up terns other than Caspian Tern migrating at night? It’s obvious that they migrate at night based on the way they just appear one morning in a location but it seems like you don’t hear them. Though at least Caspian Terns in the fall when they have still-dependent young regularly call back and forth with the trailing young birds at night. Jeff From: Michael O'Brien [mailto:tsweet AT comcast.net] Sent: Tuesday, April 06, 2010 3:59 PM To: Jeff Wells Cc: NFC-L AT cornell.edu Subject: Re: [nfc-l] Night flight call station results-Maine-April 1-3 Jeff, I'm interested in your assertion that American Robin is strictly a diurnal migrant. Perhaps that is true in some areas, but in Cape May it certainly is not. We regularly see massive American Robin flights at night, in fall at least. These flights often continue or resume in the first few hours of the morning and again in the last hour or so of the day. During particularly heavy flights, the movements may continue longer into the day, but my estimation is that the bulk of the movement always takes place at night. I find their behavior to be much like that of Bobolink, only they seem to be less vocal. It would be interesting to know what others have observed and if the situation is different elsewhere. My guess is that the main difference, if any, is that robins call more frequently in certain situations and fly more quietly in others. good listening! Michael O'Brien ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jeff Wells" To: NFC-L AT cornell.edu Sent: Tuesday, April 6, 2010 2:42:45 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern Subject: [nfc-l] Night flight call station results-Maine-April 1-3 I started my automated recording station for the season here in Maine on Thursday night, April 1st. Although there were few calls each of the last three nights, the numbers increased a little each night from about 10 the night of the 1st to about 30 last night. There were a few Hermit Thrushes the first night, 6 the 2nd and 12 the night of the 3rd. There were a few Killdeer each night, a Wood Duck, and 4-10 sparrows each night with Song and White-throat plus a couple that may be American Tree Sparrow and a junco or two. A few other items of interest: -several nights had Herring Gull calls in the middle of the night that I assume are night migrating birds; -several nights had the squeal flight calls of American Robins around midnight. Although I sometimes have what I assume to be local on-the-ground robins sing and give ground alarm calls in the middle of the night, they don't give the squeal calls. The acoustics of the recorded squeal calls also seem more like birds overhead. I suspect that, as unlikely as it seems, that these were night-flying robins when by all accounts the species is only a diurnal migrant; -one night I had what sounded like a bit of song of a night-flying Hermit Thrush. I typically get some night-flying birds in May that break out in song or partial song while flying overhead but I had never picked that up for Hermit Thrush. I posted some of the call files on my blog at: www.borealbirds.org/blog Jeff Wells -- NFC-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_WELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_RULES ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nfc-l AT cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NFCL.html 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NFC-L Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ -- Subject: Re: Night flight call station results-Maine-April 1-3 From: Tom Johnson <tbj4 AT cornell.edu> Date: Tue, 6 Apr 2010 16:34:12 -0400 Jeff, I've heard Common Tern at night once in southeastern Pennsylvania well away from water (so clearly migrating). This was in spring, probably May. On the robin front, in addition to coastal movements, I've heard them in Ithaca while circulating over the lights of the football stadium here several times in the fall, though always greatly outnumbered by Savannah Sparrows, etc. Cheers, Tom On Tue, Apr 6, 2010 at 4:29 PM, Michael O'Brien wrote: > Maybe the robins over your station are typically too high to be heard in the > middle of the night. Just a thought. > Re terns, I have also only herd Caspian. I have heard them both spring in > and fall inland, but I don't recall ever hearing them along the coast. > > Michael > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Jeff Wells" > To: "Michael O'Brien" > Cc: NFC-L AT cornell.edu > Sent: Tuesday, April 6, 2010 4:08:38 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern > Subject: RE: [nfc-l] Night flight call station results-Maine-April 1-3 > > Very cool! Makes sense when you see large numbers of robins flying over in > the early morning hours that they would be birds that have been moving at > night. Funny though that over the years I don’t recall picking up any within > the 10 PM-2 AM window that I think of as indicating birds moving through the > night as opposed to in the early morning hours when it is not as clear > whether they just started migrating or are descending. > > > > Speaking of birds that move through the night but are not as readily > detected, have any of you picked up terns other than Caspian Tern migrating > at night? It’s obvious that they migrate at night based on the way they just > appear one morning in a location but it seems like you don’t hear them. > Though at least Caspian Terns in the fall when they have still-dependent > young regularly call back and forth with the trailing young birds at night. > > > > Jeff > > > > From: Michael O'Brien [mailto:tsweet AT comcast.net] > Sent: Tuesday, April 06, 2010 3:59 PM > To: Jeff Wells > Cc: NFC-L AT cornell.edu > Subject: Re: [nfc-l] Night flight call station results-Maine-April 1-3 > > > > Jeff, > > > > I'm interested in your assertion that American Robin is strictly a diurnal > migrant. Perhaps that is true in some areas, but in Cape May it certainly is > not. We regularly see massive American Robin flights at night, in fall at > least. These flights often continue or resume in the first few hours of the > morning and again in the last hour or so of the day. During particularly > heavy flights, the movements may continue longer into the day, but my > estimation is that the bulk of the movement always takes place at night. I > find their behavior to be much like that of Bobolink, only they seem to be > less vocal. It would be interesting to know what others have observed and if > the situation is different elsewhere. My guess is that the main difference, > if any, is that robins call more frequently in certain situations and fly > more quietly in others. > > > > good listening! > > Michael O'Brien > > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Jeff Wells" > To: NFC-L AT cornell.edu > Sent: Tuesday, April 6, 2010 2:42:45 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern > Subject: [nfc-l] Night flight call station results-Maine-April 1-3 > > I started my automated recording station for the season here in Maine on > Thursday night, April 1st. Although there were few calls each of the last > three nights, the numbers increased a little each night from about 10 the > night of the 1st to about 30 last night. There were a few Hermit Thrushes > the first night, 6 the 2nd and 12 the night of the 3rd. There were a few > Killdeer each night, a Wood Duck, and 4-10 sparrows each night with Song and > White-throat plus a couple that may be American Tree Sparrow and a junco or > two. A few other items of interest: > > > > -several nights had Herring Gull calls in the middle of the night that I > assume are night migrating birds; > > > > -several nights had the squeal flight calls of American Robins around > midnight. Although I sometimes have what I assume to be local on-the-ground > robins sing and give ground alarm calls in the middle of the night, they > don't give the squeal calls. The acoustics of the recorded squeal calls also > seem more like birds overhead. I suspect that, as unlikely as it seems, that > these were night-flying robins when by all accounts the species is only a > diurnal migrant; > > > > -one night I had what sounded like a bit of song of a night-flying Hermit > Thrush. I typically get some night-flying birds in May that break out in > song or partial song while flying overhead but I had never picked that up > for Hermit Thrush. > > > > I posted some of the call files on my blog at: www.borealbirds.org/blog > > > > Jeff Wells > > > > -- Thomas Brodie Johnson Ithaca, NY tbj4 AT cornell.edu mobile: 717.991.5727 -- NFC-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_WELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_RULES ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nfc-l AT cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NFCL.html 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NFC-L Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ -- Subject: mic setup From: David La Puma <woodcreeper AT gmail.com> Date: Tue, 6 Apr 2010 16:32:29 -0400 Hey All- A group of us in Cape May are going to be building some personal recording setups in the next week(s). I'm interested in what others are using in their personal setups, especially the mic element (we're ordering the Knowles EK3029c, but I noticed that Knowles is making several new(?) water-proof models), pre-amp (currently I'm going with an Blue Icicle XLR->USB to go directly into a laptop, but considering the Rolls MP13 to go directly to my stereo receiver), and recording device (recorder, computer, etc.; for now I'll be going into my MacBookPro, but will probably get a dedicated computer... some of us are more interested in simply having it stream into our home stereo, so we can listen in real-time). Anyone want to share their setup, pros/cons, and experiences? Cheers David ________________________ David A. La Puma, Ph.D. Postdoctoral Associate – Ecology, behavior and conservation of migratory birds New Jersey Audubon Society 600 Route 47 North Cape May Court House, NJ 08210 Office: 609.861.1608 x33 Fax: 609.861.1651 Websites: http://www.woodcreeper.com http://badbirdz2.wordpress.com Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/woodcreeper -- NFC-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_WELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_RULES ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nfc-l AT cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NFCL.html 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NFC-L Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ -- Subject: Re: Night flight call station results-Maine-April 1-3 From: "Michael O'Brien" <tsweet AT comcast.net> Date: Tue, 6 Apr 2010 20:29:01 +0000 (UTC) Maybe the robins over your station are typically too high to be heard in the middle of the night. Just a thought. Re terns, I have also only herd Caspian. I have heard them both spring in and fall inland, but I don't recall ever hearing them along the coast. Michael ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jeff Wells" To: "Michael O'Brien" Cc: NFC-L AT cornell.edu Sent: Tuesday, April 6, 2010 4:08:38 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern Subject: RE: [nfc-l] Night flight call station results-Maine-April 1-3 Very cool! Makes sense when you see large numbers of robins flying over in the early morning hours that they would be birds that have been moving at night. Funny though that over the years I don’t recall picking up any within the 10 PM-2 AM window that I think of as indicating birds moving through the night as opposed to in the early morning hours when it is not as clear whether they just started migrating or are descending. Speaking of birds that move through the night but are not as readily detected, have any of you picked up terns other than Caspian Tern migrating at night? It’s obvious that they migrate at night based on the way they just appear one morning in a location but it seems like you don’t hear them. Though at least Caspian Terns in the fall when they have still-dependent young regularly call back and forth with the trailing young birds at night. Jeff From: Michael O'Brien [mailto:tsweet AT comcast.net] Sent: Tuesday, April 06, 2010 3:59 PM To: Jeff Wells Cc: NFC-L AT cornell.edu Subject: Re: [nfc-l] Night flight call station results-Maine-April 1-3 Jeff, I'm interested in your assertion that American Robin is strictly a diurnal migrant. Perhaps that is true in some areas, but in Cape May it certainly is not. We regularly see massive American Robin flights at night, in fall at least. These flights often continue or resume in the first few hours of the morning and again in the last hour or so of the day. During particularly heavy flights, the movements may continue longer into the day, but my estimation is that the bulk of the movement always takes place at night. I find their behavior to be much like that of Bobolink, only they seem to be less vocal. It would be interesting to know what others have observed and if the situation is different elsewhere. My guess is that the main difference, if any, is that robins call more frequently in certain situations and fly more quietly in others. good listening! Michael O'Brien ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jeff Wells" To: NFC-L AT cornell.edu Sent: Tuesday, April 6, 2010 2:42:45 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern Subject: [nfc-l] Night flight call station results-Maine-April 1-3 I started my automated recording station for the season here in Maine on Thursday night, April 1st. Although there were few calls each of the last three nights, the numbers increased a little each night from about 10 the night of the 1st to about 30 last night. There were a few Hermit Thrushes the first night, 6 the 2nd and 12 the night of the 3rd. There were a few Killdeer each night, a Wood Duck, and 4-10 sparrows each night with Song and White-throat plus a couple that may be American Tree Sparrow and a junco or two. A few other items of interest: -several nights had Herring Gull calls in the middle of the night that I assume are night migrating birds; -several nights had the squeal flight calls of American Robins around midnight. Although I sometimes have what I assume to be local on-the-ground robins sing and give ground alarm calls in the middle of the night, they don't give the squeal calls. The acoustics of the recorded squeal calls also seem more like birds overhead. I suspect that, as unlikely as it seems, that these were night-flying robins when by all accounts the species is only a diurnal migrant; -one night I had what sounded like a bit of song of a night-flying Hermit Thrush. I typically get some night-flying birds in May that break out in song or partial song while flying overhead but I had never picked that up for Hermit Thrush. I posted some of the call files on my blog at: www.borealbirds.org/blog Jeff Wells -- NFC-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_WELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_RULES ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nfc-l AT cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NFCL.html 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NFC-L Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ -- Subject: Re: Night flight call station results-Maine-April 1-3 From: Laura Erickson <lle24 AT cornell.edu> Date: Tue, 6 Apr 2010 16:27:00 -0400 The BNA for American Robin entry implies that robins do migrate occasionally at nighttime (which is what I learned in ornithology back in the 70s--that they're like Canada Geese in that they can migrate whenever they darned-well feel like it). BNA says, "Migrating in flocks primarily during the day, birds strike television towers less often than do regular nocturnal migrants," and "Captive robins kept on a near-normal spring photoperiod of 12:12 to 16:8 h develop migratory restlessness that lasts through both the daytime and nighttime hours (Kemper and Taylor 1981). More information needed." When I counted migrating songbirds along Lake Superior during autumns in the 1980s and early 90s, robins were often on the move when we first arrived at or before sunrise. Best, Laura Erickson On Tue, Apr 6, 2010 at 4:08 PM, Jeff Wells wrote: > Very cool! Makes sense when you see large numbers of robins flying over > in the early morning hours that they would be birds that have been moving at > night. Funny though that over the years I don’t recall picking up any within > the 10 PM-2 AM window that I think of as indicating birds moving through the > night as opposed to in the early morning hours when it is not as clear > whether they just started migrating or are descending. > > > > Speaking of birds that move through the night but are not as readily > detected, have any of you picked up terns other than Caspian Tern migrating > at night? It’s obvious that they migrate at night based on the way they just > appear one morning in a location but it seems like you don’t hear them. > Though at least Caspian Terns in the fall when they have still-dependent > young regularly call back and forth with the trailing young birds at night. > > > > Jeff > > > > *From:* Michael O'Brien [mailto:tsweet AT comcast.net] > *Sent:* Tuesday, April 06, 2010 3:59 PM > *To:* Jeff Wells > *Cc:* NFC-L AT cornell.edu > *Subject:* Re: [nfc-l] Night flight call station results-Maine-April 1-3 > > > > Jeff, > > > > I'm interested in your assertion that American Robin is strictly a diurnal > migrant. Perhaps that is true in some areas, but in Cape May it certainly is > not. We regularly see massive American Robin flights at night, in fall at > least. These flights often continue or resume in the first few hours of the > morning and again in the last hour or so of the day. During particularly > heavy flights, the movements may continue longer into the day, but my > estimation is that the bulk of the movement always takes place at night. I > find their behavior to be much like that of Bobolink, only they seem to be > less vocal. It would be interesting to know what others have observed and if > the situation is different elsewhere. My guess is that the main difference, > if any, is that robins call more frequently in certain situations and fly > more quietly in others. > > > > good listening! > > Michael O'Brien > > > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Jeff Wells" > To: NFC-L AT cornell.edu > Sent: Tuesday, April 6, 2010 2:42:45 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern > Subject: [nfc-l] Night flight call station results-Maine-April 1-3 > > I started my automated recording station for the season here in Maine on > Thursday night, April 1st. Although there were few calls each of the last > three nights, the numbers increased a little each night from about 10 the > night of the 1st to about 30 last night. There were a few Hermit Thrushes > the first night, 6 the 2nd and 12 the night of the 3rd. There were a few > Killdeer each night, a Wood Duck, and 4-10 sparrows each night with Song and > White-throat plus a couple that may be American Tree Sparrow and a junco or > two. A few other items of interest: > > > > -several nights had Herring Gull calls in the middle of the night that I > assume are night migrating birds; > > > > -several nights had the squeal flight calls of American Robins around > midnight. Although I sometimes have what I assume to be local on-the-ground > robins sing and give ground alarm calls in the middle of the night, they > don't give the squeal calls. The acoustics of the recorded squeal calls also > seem more like birds overhead. I suspect that, as unlikely as it seems, that > these were night-flying robins when by all accounts the species is only a > diurnal migrant; > > > > -one night I had what sounded like a bit of song of a night-flying Hermit > Thrush. I typically get some night-flying birds in May that break out in > song or partial song while flying overhead but I had never picked that up > for Hermit Thrush. > > > > I posted some of the call files on my blog at: www.borealbirds.org/blog > > > > Jeff Wells > > > > > -- -- Laura Erickson Science Editor Cornell Lab of Ornithology 159 Sapsucker Woods Road Ithaca, NY 14850 607-254-1114 If you've found this information useful, I hope you'll consider supporting our work on behalf of birds and other wildlife. In addition to knowing that you'll be making a difference for conservation, you'll receive our award-winning Living Bird magazine and informative BirdScope newsletter four times a year. We invite you to join our "force for nature." To sign up or watch our video about membership, visit http://www.birds.cornell.edu/NetCommunity/membership or call us at 1-800-843-2473. For the love, understanding, and protection of birds There is symbolic as well as actual beauty in the migration of birds. There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of nature--the assurance that dawn comes after night, and spring after the winter. --Rachel Carson Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail. -- NFC-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_WELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_RULES ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nfc-l AT cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NFCL.html 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NFC-L Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ -- Subject: Virginia Rail FOY night migrant From: "Jeff Wells" <jwells AT intlboreal.org> Date: Tue, 6 Apr 2010 13:15:14 -0700 Seems amazingly early to me but on Monday night my automated nocturnal flight call set-up at my house picked up a Virginia Rail passing over. Jeff Wells Gardiner, Maine -- NFC-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_WELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_RULES ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nfc-l AT cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NFCL.html 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NFC-L Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ -- Subject: RE: Night flight call station results-Maine-April 1-3 From: "Jeff Wells" <jwells AT intlboreal.org> Date: Tue, 6 Apr 2010 13:08:38 -0700 Very cool! Makes sense when you see large numbers of robins flying over in the early morning hours that they would be birds that have been moving at night. Funny though that over the years I don’t recall picking up any within the 10 PM-2 AM window that I think of as indicating birds moving through the night as opposed to in the early morning hours when it is not as clear whether they just started migrating or are descending. Speaking of birds that move through the night but are not as readily detected, have any of you picked up terns other than Caspian Tern migrating at night? It’s obvious that they migrate at night based on the way they just appear one morning in a location but it seems like you don’t hear them. Though at least Caspian Terns in the fall when they have still-dependent young regularly call back and forth with the trailing young birds at night. Jeff From: Michael O'Brien [mailto:tsweet AT comcast.net] Sent: Tuesday, April 06, 2010 3:59 PM To: Jeff Wells Cc: NFC-L AT cornell.edu Subject: Re: [nfc-l] Night flight call station results-Maine-April 1-3 Jeff, I'm interested in your assertion that American Robin is strictly a diurnal migrant. Perhaps that is true in some areas, but in Cape May it certainly is not. We regularly see massive American Robin flights at night, in fall at least. These flights often continue or resume in the first few hours of the morning and again in the last hour or so of the day. During particularly heavy flights, the movements may continue longer into the day, but my estimation is that the bulk of the movement always takes place at night. I find their behavior to be much like that of Bobolink, only they seem to be less vocal. It would be interesting to know what others have observed and if the situation is different elsewhere. My guess is that the main difference, if any, is that robins call more frequently in certain situations and fly more quietly in others. good listening! Michael O'Brien ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jeff Wells" To: NFC-L AT cornell.edu Sent: Tuesday, April 6, 2010 2:42:45 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern Subject: [nfc-l] Night flight call station results-Maine-April 1-3 I started my automated recording station for the season here in Maine on Thursday night, April 1st. Although there were few calls each of the last three nights, the numbers increased a little each night from about 10 the night of the 1st to about 30 last night. There were a few Hermit Thrushes the first night, 6 the 2nd and 12 the night of the 3rd. There were a few Killdeer each night, a Wood Duck, and 4-10 sparrows each night with Song and White-throat plus a couple that may be American Tree Sparrow and a junco or two. A few other items of interest: -several nights had Herring Gull calls in the middle of the night that I assume are night migrating birds; -several nights had the squeal flight calls of American Robins around midnight. Although I sometimes have what I assume to be local on-the-ground robins sing and give ground alarm calls in the middle of the night, they don't give the squeal calls. The acoustics of the recorded squeal calls also seem more like birds overhead. I suspect that, as unlikely as it seems, that these were night-flying robins when by all accounts the species is only a diurnal migrant; -one night I had what sounded like a bit of song of a night-flying Hermit Thrush. I typically get some night-flying birds in May that break out in song or partial song while flying overhead but I had never picked that up for Hermit Thrush. I posted some of the call files on my blog at: www.borealbirds.org/blog Jeff Wells -- NFC-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_WELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_RULES ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nfc-l AT cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NFCL.html 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NFC-L Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ -- Subject: Re: Night flight call station results-Maine-April 1-3 From: "Michael O'Brien" <tsweet AT comcast.net> Date: Tue, 6 Apr 2010 19:59:24 +0000 (UTC) Jeff, I'm interested in your assertion that American Robin is strictly a diurnal migrant. Perhaps that is true in some areas, but in Cape May it certainly is not. We regularly see massive American Robin flights at night, in fall at least. These flights often continue or resume in the first few hours of the morning and again in the last hour or so of the day. During particularly heavy flights, the movements may continue longer into the day, but my estimation is that the bulk of the movement always takes place at night. I find their behavior to be much like that of Bobolink, only they seem to be less vocal. It would be interesting to know what others have observed and if the situation is different elsewhere. My guess is that the main difference, if any, is that robins call more frequently in certain situations and fly more quietly in others. good listening! Michael O'Brien ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jeff Wells" To: NFC-L AT cornell.edu Sent: Tuesday, April 6, 2010 2:42:45 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern Subject: [nfc-l] Night flight call station results-Maine-April 1-3 I started my automated recording station for the season here in Maine on Thursday night, April 1st. Although there were few calls each of the last three nights, the numbers increased a little each night from about 10 the night of the 1st to about 30 last night. There were a few Hermit Thrushes the first night, 6 the 2nd and 12 the night of the 3rd. There were a few Killdeer each night, a Wood Duck, and 4-10 sparrows each night with Song and White-throat plus a couple that may be American Tree Sparrow and a junco or two. A few other items of interest: -several nights had Herring Gull calls in the middle of the night that I assume are night migrating birds; -several nights had the squeal flight calls of American Robins around midnight. Although I sometimes have what I assume to be local on-the-ground robins sing and give ground alarm calls in the middle of the night, they don't give the squeal calls. The acoustics of the recorded squeal calls also seem more like birds overhead. I suspect that, as unlikely as it seems, that these were night-flying robins when by all accounts the species is only a diurnal migrant; -one night I had what sounded like a bit of song of a night-flying Hermit Thrush. I typically get some night-flying birds in May that break out in song or partial song while flying overhead but I had never picked that up for Hermit Thrush. I posted some of the call files on my blog at: www.borealbirds.org/blog Jeff Wells -- NFC-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_WELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_RULES ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nfc-l AT cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NFCL.html 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NFC-L Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ -- Subject: Night flight call station results-Maine-April 1-3 From: "Jeff Wells" <jwells AT intlboreal.org> Date: Tue, 6 Apr 2010 11:42:45 -0700 I started my automated recording station for the season here in Maine on Thursday night, April 1st. Although there were few calls each of the last three nights, the numbers increased a little each night from about 10 the night of the 1st to about 30 last night. There were a few Hermit Thrushes the first night, 6 the 2nd and 12 the night of the 3rd. There were a few Killdeer each night, a Wood Duck, and 4-10 sparrows each night with Song and White-throat plus a couple that may be American Tree Sparrow and a junco or two. A few other items of interest: -several nights had Herring Gull calls in the middle of the night that I assume are night migrating birds; -several nights had the squeal flight calls of American Robins around midnight. Although I sometimes have what I assume to be local on-the-ground robins sing and give ground alarm calls in the middle of the night, they don't give the squeal calls. The acoustics of the recorded squeal calls also seem more like birds overhead. I suspect that, as unlikely as it seems, that these were night-flying robins when by all accounts the species is only a diurnal migrant; -one night I had what sounded like a bit of song of a night-flying Hermit Thrush. I typically get some night-flying birds in May that break out in song or partial song while flying overhead but I had never picked that up for Hermit Thrush. I posted some of the call files on my blog at: www.borealbirds.org/blog Jeff Wells -- NFC-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_WELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_RULES ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nfc-l AT cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NFCL.html 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NFC-L Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ -- Subject: Willow Flycatcher or similar nfc? From: Andrew Albright <andrew.albright AT gmail.com> Date: Tue, 6 Apr 2010 01:03:16 -0400 Saturday night, I recorded something that sounded like a "fast" Willow Flycatcher's "fitzspew" call. In addition to not sounding exactly like it, it is a little early for Willow in Southern Delaware. Location - southern Delaware ~2am. However, I checked Evans/Obrien's guide and they give something different for Willow for NFC. 1. Anyone ever record Willow? 2. What are the closest other choices for me to check? Sincerely, Andrew -- NFC-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_WELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_RULES ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nfc-l AT cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NFCL.html 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NFC-L Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ -- Subject: Common Poorwill flight call? From: Jay K <azure.jay AT earthlink.net> Date: Sat, 3 Apr 2010 22:53:02 -0400 (EDT) Does anybody have a recording of a Common Poorwill flight call? I can't find one online and I need to compare it with a sound I just heard overhead (a quick, upslurred whistle, reminiscent of someone calling for a dog). If not that, will be a deeper mystery... Thanks, Jay Keller, San Diego -- NFC-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_WELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_RULES ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nfc-l AT cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NFCL.html 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NFC-L Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ -- Subject: Re: Fw: Big Migratory Push Next Week Eastern U.S?? From: Dave Slager <dave.slager AT gmail.com> Date: Fri, 2 Apr 2010 09:55:36 -0400 Funny you mention robins getting in the way--I thought I was the only one. Here in Columbus, OH this week the robins have been starting up between 1:30 and 2:30am. One has been singing directly over my microphone and its distorted notes make automated call detection impossible at all frequencies. Although radar has indicated heavy migration the last 3 nights, I only picked up flight calls on my mic last night. Before the robins started up last night I recorded some Savannah Sparrows, Chipping Sparrows, and a brief wing twitter of an American Woodcock was a personal first. I am in a very urban setting where the Woodcock was definitely a migrant. Dave Dave Slager Graduate Student Terrestrial Wildlife Ecology Lab School of Environment and Natural Resources The Ohio State University 210 Kottman Hall, 2021 Coffey Road Columbus, OH 43210-1085 slager.4 AT osu.edu On Fri, Apr 2, 2010 at 8:24 AM, Andrew Albright wrote: > Bryan, Thanks for that easy-to-read website.  It is pretty simple afterall. > > Anyone record last night?  I was all excited for spring recording > minus all the insects like I hear in the fall.  However, I didn't > fully realize how early the American Robins start up.  I'm estimating > that it was about 3:30am and if I'm reading David's woodcreeper site > correctly, migration in my area was heaviest from 3 until dawn. > > I listened pre-midnight and even moonwatched (only a few days past > full moon) and saw and heard nothing.  And listening for about 30 > minutes of last night's tape, only some Canada Geese. > > Sincerely, > Andrew > > On Thu, Apr 1, 2010 at 9:46 PM, Bryan Guarente wrote: >> Andrew and others, >> Reading the wind barbs/"thingies" is a simple process.  Here is a website >> that makes it easy to understand the surface observations like David (either >> one) posted. >> >> http://ww2010.atmos.uiuc.edu/%28Gh%29/guides/maps/sfcobs/home.rxml >> or >> http://tinyurl.com/yk25236 >> (same site just tiny). >> >> Bryan Guarente >> Meteorologist/Instructional Designer >> The COMET Program >> University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR) >> Boulder, CO >> >> > > -- > > NFC-L List Info: > http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_WELCOME > http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_RULES > > ARCHIVES: > 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nfc-l AT cornell.edu/maillist.html > 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NFCL.html > 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NFC-L > > Please submit your observations to eBird: > http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ > > -- > > -- NFC-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_WELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_RULES ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nfc-l AT cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NFCL.html 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NFC-L Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ -- Subject: Re: Fw: Big Migratory Push Next Week Eastern U.S?? From: Andrew Albright <andrew.albright AT gmail.com> Date: Fri, 2 Apr 2010 08:24:27 -0400 Bryan, Thanks for that easy-to-read website. It is pretty simple afterall. Anyone record last night? I was all excited for spring recording minus all the insects like I hear in the fall. However, I didn't fully realize how early the American Robins start up. I'm estimating that it was about 3:30am and if I'm reading David's woodcreeper site correctly, migration in my area was heaviest from 3 until dawn. I listened pre-midnight and even moonwatched (only a few days past full moon) and saw and heard nothing. And listening for about 30 minutes of last night's tape, only some Canada Geese. Sincerely, Andrew On Thu, Apr 1, 2010 at 9:46 PM, Bryan Guarente wrote: > Andrew and others, > Reading the wind barbs/"thingies" is a simple process.  Here is a website > that makes it easy to understand the surface observations like David (either > one) posted. > > http://ww2010.atmos.uiuc.edu/%28Gh%29/guides/maps/sfcobs/home.rxml > or > http://tinyurl.com/yk25236 > (same site just tiny). > > Bryan Guarente > Meteorologist/Instructional Designer > The COMET Program > University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR) > Boulder, CO > > -- NFC-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_WELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_RULES ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nfc-l AT cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NFCL.html 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NFC-L Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ -- Subject: RE: Fw: Big Migratory Push Next Week Eastern U.S?? From: Meena Haribal <mmh3 AT cornell.edu> Date: Thu, 1 Apr 2010 22:02:23 -0400 Bryan, Thank you so much for enlightening us about weather symbols. After reading David L's post, I looked at weather the figures and was wondering what they mean and was going to look up on the web. Now it is clear. Meena ________________________________ From: bounce-5512181-10061541 AT list.cornell.edu [bounce-5512181-10061541 AT list.cornell.edu] On Behalf Of Bryan Guarente [dafekt1ve AT yahoo.com] Sent: Thursday, April 01, 2010 9:46 PM To: NFC Subject: Re: Fw: [nfc-l] Big Migratory Push Next Week Eastern U.S?? Andrew and others, Reading the wind barbs/"thingies" is a simple process. Here is a website that makes it easy to understand the surface observations like David (either one) posted. http://ww2010.atmos.uiuc.edu/%28Gh%29/guides/maps/sfcobs/home.rxml or http://tinyurl.com/yk25236 (same site just tiny). Bryan Guarente Meteorologist/Instructional Designer The COMET Program University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR) Boulder, CO -- NFC-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_WELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_RULES ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nfc-l AT cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NFCL.html 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NFC-L Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --