Hi all, During Kevin McGowan's great presentation about why the Cayuga Basin is such a good birding area last night at the SFO kickoff event, he described how formerly "southern" species (such as Northern Cardinal and Northern Mockingbird) have expanded their ranges northward over the years. And when they first arrive, they have tended to stick to the lowlands, around the lake with its more moderate winter temperatures...Tufted Titmouse for instance has only recently (in terms of decades) found its way up to the higher elevations, and Carolina Wren is still mostly tied to the lower elevations. Imagine my surprise, then, when some days ago I started seeing a Carolina Wren feeding under my blue spruce here in the yard...up here on the mountain, 2000' above sea level! This is only the second time I've had a wintering Carolina Wren in the 29 years I've been living up here in arctic climes(the first was 2009).
The bird is probably being helped by the fact that I am feeding a mix that includes small sunflower chips rather than whole seeds. I bet it finds them easier to eat. Another surprise, yesterday, was a Brown Creeper on the ground under the spruce also picking up these sunflower pieces. With climate change happening at an alarming rate, what will show up here in the wintery mountains next? !! Marie Marie Read Wildlife Photography 452 Ringwood Road Freeville NY 13068 USA Phone 607-539-6608 e-mail m...@cornell.edu http://www.marieread.com ***NEW*** Music of the Birds Vol 1 ebook for Apple iPad now available from iTunes http://itunes.apple.com/us/book/music-of-the-birds-v1/id529347014?mt=11 -- 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/ --
