Awesome, Bill. Might I add that tonight should be an excellent flight for the same region; the largest since the Sept 10-11 flight. If you find me tomorrow in the early AM, I'll have a Rogue Northwestern Ale freshly chilled.
Cheers- and good listening! David ps. we have data from several mics around Cape May for that night- so we should talk about comparing our analysis once we bring in the recordings. ________________________ 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 Wed, Sep 15, 2010 at 4:05 PM, Bill Evans <wrev...@clarityconnect.com>wrote: > Nfcers, > > I begin by stating simply that if anyone ever substantiates a future > nocturnal vertebrate migration over interior northeastern US (in the first > two weeks of September) bigger than what occurred the night of Sep 10-11, > 2010.....I will buy fine ale for the whole nfc listserv membership at a pub > of consensual choice somewhere on the planet. So, for those who have an ear > to hear and an eye to see in this manner, take note of future fall > migrations over northeastern US in case of cashing in on my offer. I wager, > given the rarity of such large nocturnal migrations in the past 20 years, > and the crushing inertia of human civilisation, that a flight the density > and breadth of Sep 10-11 2010 will not happen again in our lives across > interior northeastern USA. If so, I will be singing "kumbaya" in reverance. > > As I recall, it was about a week in advance that I began preparations to > surf the then subtley-evident behemoth wave. Allocation of spousal attention > was reduced; the kids welfare rationalized circularly by my pending > documentary actions. We walk a thin line of sanity in this nocturnal > migration preoccupation, especially so during wartime and amidst other human > tragedies on our nerve within a keystroke. But we prevail in the bigger > picture, imprinting earth with our natural history activities, respectfully > & nonetheless. > > The pulse of migration over central New York State on the night of Sep > 10-11 rocked the relative historic framework. My initial calculations were > off (http://www.birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NFCL.html#1283970775), but > you only lose in such events when you miss them. The flight happened two > nights later than I thought, and Catharus fuscescens y Wilsonia pusilla > flight calling turned out to be normal for the time of year, instead of the > higher numbers and proportions I had guessed. But the number of migrants > aloft burst forth with full remnant ebullience. That density was nature-born > and the species composition a delightfully telling ancient echo. The flight > is now just a memory for a few of us, but indicative records remain: > > Radar reflectivity and velocity images from the night are available for > download for another 24 hours or so at: > http://www.rap.ucar.edu/weather/radar/. Specifically, the NEXRAD records > from Albany, Watertown, Binghamton, and Buffalo, NY along with State > College, PA show sign of sustained 28+ dBZ biological reflectivity crossing > the breadth of interior NY (Albany to Buffalo) and moving southward across > central PA. > > The link below leads to a thermal image video I made during a period of > peak passage in the flight (11:15-12:00 EDT) from 610 m asl at the > Connecticut Hill Wildlife Management Area (15 km east of Ithaca, NY, US). > The flight activity shown in the video likely represents the lower portion > of 28+ dBz radar reflectivity that was occurring on this clear sky night -- > targets were noted passing at a rate >100 per 5 minute period. This thermal > video was made with a rented FLIR P65 camera with a 23-degree lens. The > camera was pointed vertically toward the sky and positioned so that birds > heading from the NNE toward the SSW would appear heading in straight line > vertical motion from the bottom to the top of the screen of view. > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wpv4OVYDz0 > > Anne Klingensmith & family operated an acoustic monitoring station in > Alfred, NY during the flight from 8PM to 6AM. Anne indicated to me that the > Old Bird tseep detector extracted more than 1000 flight calls of warblers > and sparrows during the ten hours. This is one of the highest clear night > tseep call totals ever documented by this station, which has been in > operation for 20 fall migration seasons. This calling is estimated to be > largely from birds migrating within 300 m of the ground. Anne carried out a > preliminary species analysis and reported 15 Wilson's Warbler flight calls > among the 1000+ tseep notes (~1.5%). The acoustic data from this Alfred, NY > station are planned to be put online at Oldbird.org in the near future. > > I ran an acoustic monitoring station for five hours from 9PM-2AM at my > house near Ithaca, NY (~500 m asl), which is not the best location in the > area to record flight calls during such relatively high altitude migration > events. I logged 219 tseep notes of which 5 were from Wilson's Warblers > (~2.3%). I also ran the Old Bird Thrush detector and in spectrographic > analysis using GlassOFire I noted the following species' flight calls: > Swainsons Thrush 38, Rose-breasted Grosbeak 28, Veery 14, Gray-cheeked > Thrush 0, and about 30 unknown thrush type flight calls. This composition is > typical for Sep 10 in central NY except that I would have expected a few > Gray-cheekeds in the mix. > > In signing off I reiterate that for the diligently tuned I offer a chance, > albeit I think a very small one, for free beer & a joyous occasion. > > Regards and best wishes for the remainder of the fall 2010 migration > season, > > Bill E > > > > -- > > 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@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@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/ --
