Glad to see you guys out west are catching up with us. ;.)
I remember the nocturnal field trips Bill Evans used to do in Ithaca back in the 1990's......though Ithaca has always been an anomaly everywhere! The crickets are in high gear around here in Maine making use of automatic detectors pretty tough. Jeff From: bounce-4165846-9874...@list.cornell.edu [mailto:bounce-4165846-9874...@list.cornell.edu] On Behalf Of Ted Floyd Sent: Wednesday, August 12, 2009 1:30 PM To: Michael Lanzone; Steve Kelling Cc: nfc-l@cornell.edu Subject: RE: [nfc-l] NFCs in Caroline And last night was just about our *slowest* thus far this season... :-( Eight field trip participants (yes, we really do nocturnal migration field trips in Colorado...) heard no migrants at all between 4:15 and 5:00 a.m. MDT, Wednesday, 12 August 2009. Location: Greenlee Preserve, Boulder County, Colorado. (A little flock of Chipping Sparrows pulsed over at 5:22; not sure if they were wrapping up overnight migration, or just getting going in the dawn's early light, or what.) A south wind overnight was surely to blame. Nice meteors, by the way, despite the moon. Brief trip report at http://www.birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/COLO.html#1250080203 The "day" before, Tuesday, 11 August 2009, was a little better, with no wind to speak of overnight. Along with Chipping Sparrows, there was one of those birds that I think is a Brewer's Sparrow. Despite what I might have expected a few years ago, Brewer's Sparrow flight calls are distinct from those of Chipping Sparrows. See attached, 2 sonograms. Note the distinct "double banding," even triple-banding, plus a less-symmetrical "upward arch" (sensu Evans & O'Brien); there's more of a terminal upslur and an introductory downslur. (Sonograms by Nathan Pieplow, recorded in Colorado.) Back on Sunday, 9 August, my son and I were down in southeastern Colorado, and "several" (might have been more like "a lot of"--hard to know) Upland Sandpipers migrated over La Junta, Otero County, in the middle of the night. The species is considered to be unexpected there, but maybe migrants are missed. After all, they are expected in fall migration SSW of La Junta, in New Mexico (or at least they were, when I lived there 15 years ago), and La Junta lies on a line between there and the breeding grounds. For additional context, winds were out of the northeast, with lowering clouds. Meanwhile, south winds are forecast to continue here indefinitely. Well, when they finally relent, I imagine we'll have a fine few nights of listening. Best, Ted ________________________________ From: bounce-4164608-9667...@list.cornell.edu [mailto:bounce-4164608-9667...@list.cornell.edu] On Behalf Of Michael Lanzone Hi Steve and others, Last night I think was the best we have had here yet this season, at least one of our mics was recording 5-10 calls per minute. Early not a lot though as we had some showers in the area, it picked up later around 11:30pm or so. I am anxious to check our ridge station (on Laurel Mtn) as radar was ~25dBz there and that often gets a lot more activity than here with these conditions. It will have to wait till I get back from AOU though.... :( -- NFC-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_WELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_RULES --
