Later in autumn, storm systems get stronger because the temperature difference between Arctic and the tropics is rapidly increasing as the Arctic cools. With stronger storms, the winds associated with storms become stronger. Both ahead of a storm (which brings southerly winds) and behind a storm (which brings northerly winds) the winds are stronger as autumn progresses. So with stronger winds in general, maybe there is more likely to be vagrant birds later in autumn? This is just one thought on this.
These cattle egrets likely are riding the northerly winds back south. They simply could be birds that wandered north after breeding and are heading south on strong northwest winds or it is possible, I suppose, they were blown north with last week's strong south winds. One thing is for sure...you never know what is out there or what the next vagrant will be. That is why birding is so exciting especially this time of year! On Tuesday, November 5, 2013 12:10 AM, Dave Nutter <nutter.d...@me.com> wrote: Yes, it's very possible the weather pattern brought the Cattle Egrets. Like most birds they may have ridden the winds which they chose. But the pattern was of strong and shifting winds, so I wondered, did they ride the recent winds from the south to arrive here, or were they already north of here and rode the even-more-recent winds from the north? Or both? Or were they here all along and we were just lucky to find them after some winds? --Dave Nutter On Nov 04, 2013, at 07:48 AM, Meena Madhav Haribal <m...@cornell.edu> wrote: Hi Dave and all, >It may be the weather pattern that brought the Cattle Egrets to the town. I >believe there were two more Cattle Egrets in the Buffalo region in last two >days (reported to Genesee Birds). > >Meena > >Meena Haribal >Ithaca NY 14850 >http://haribal.org/ > >http://meenaharibal.blogspot.com/ > > > >________________________________ > >From: bounce-110150910-3493...@list.cornell.edu >[bounce-110150910-3493...@list.cornell.edu] on behalf of Dave Nutter >[nutter.d...@me.com] >Sent: Sunday, November 03, 2013 10:33 PM >To: CAYUGABIRDS-L >Subject: Re: [cayugabirds-l] Cattle Egret(s)? > > >The CATTLE EGRET which we saw on the east side of NYS-96 a short distance >north of Bromka Rd in Romulus had a slight wash of blond on the forehead. The >bird on the dock across Treman Marina was much farther away, so it was hard to >see whether it had this wash or not, but Jay showed me a photo he took by >going much closer (after noticing that it did not move when a guy with a big >active dog walked along that side of the marina), and that photo showed a much >whiter forehead. I bet the bird we saw in Romulus will come back again to the >same field, even though the cows are a bit unwelcoming. It came back after >Marty saw it leave yesterday. As for how crazy it is for Cattle Egrets to be >around this late, there seems to be a pattern of them showing up in the basin >well into autumn. I once found one at Goose Haven (along NYS-89 south of South >Spring Pool by Montezuma NWR) in mid-December. I welcome others' theories as >to whether these birds got blown north on the recent strong south winds or just happened to show up now on their way south from somewhere else. > >--Dave Nutter > >On Nov 03, 2013, at 03:44 PM, Ann Mitchell <annmitchel...@gmail.com> wrote: > > >Around 11:30 a.m.Dave and I saw the Cattle Egret Marty spotted yesterday near >Romulus. It gave us great views next to the road with 20 plus cows. The cows >seemed to harass it a bit. It then flew to the west side of the road over some >trees. An hour plus later one was reported at Treman Marina. We stopped to see >that egret. It is hard to say if it was the same bird we saw up north. >>Good birding, >>Sent from my iPhone >>-- >> >>Cayugabirds-L List Info: >>http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME >>http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES >>http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm >> >>ARCHIVES: >>1) >>cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html'>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/ >> >>-- >> >> >-- >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: >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: 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/ --
