Yesterday noon my feeders were briefly mobbed by about 15 Blue Jays, which I took to be migrants, as the local Jays are already carrying nest material.
-Geo > On Apr 28, 2023, at 2:38 PM, Dave Nutter <nutter.d...@me.com> wrote: > > Yesterday in the late afternoon I saw a small quiet flock of 8 Blue Jays > moving eastward into the treetops of the northeast part of Allan H Treman > State Marine Park, a similar path to the migrating Black-capped Chickadees I > reported recently going around the southeast end of Cayuga Lake. This morning > around 9:25am I saw a quiet flock of 32 Blue Jays flying north over the south > end of Cass Park, also clearly migrating. They were over a field approaching > a woodlot just above treetop level. > > Blue Jays migrate in the daytime, and they fly quietly in rather spread-out > flocks, each bird keeping a distance of a several feet to a few yards from > all of its neighbors. They flap constantly in what looks to me like weak > flight aimed at conserving energy. > > An interesting place to watch migrant Blue Jay flocks is around the Braddock > Bay banding station, where they must turn generally east in order to get > around Lake Ontario, but in that specific area must go southeast, leading so > some apparently confused and circuitous travel. > > Migration is made when the wind is from a helpful direction, like today and > the day I saw the Chickadee movement, generally from the south. > > In autumn I have watched Blue Jays fly south over the east end of Stewart > Park, presumably having been gathered and guided by Cayuga Lake’s diagonal > “east” shore, and over downtown Ithaca as well. > > To me, it’s a thrill to see the migration phenomenon played out. > > - - Dave Nutter > -- > Cayugabirds-L List Info: > Welcome and Basics > Rules and Information > Subscribe, Configuration and Leave > Archives: > The Mail Archive > Surfbirds > BirdingOnThe.Net > Please submit your observations to eBird! > -- -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
