Here in the Albany, NY area I had the highest number of calls for a single night on 10 Sep in my four years of recording, but my numbers (460) are lower than other reports. That may be because my location is in the Hudson River valley at a relatively low elevation (100m), and most birds were flying high. Also, the thrush detector I've been using doesn't seem very efficient -- it's something I need to work on.
At 10PM, the presumed bird reflectance on the Albany radar image extended out >100km. The elevation of the Albany radar antenna is 589m (1934 ft). So, at 100km the radar was detecting birds between 1400 and 3100m above sea level (4500 -- 10,200 ft). David Martin On 9/16/2010 9:38 AM, Jeff Wells wrote: > > We have one station running up here in Maine but interestingly > although it picked up good numbers (600+ calls) on the night of the > 10^th , it picked up more calls on the 7^th (752) and also 600+ calls > on the 2^nd . > > Jeff Wells > > *From:* bounce-6309122-9874...@list.cornell.edu > [mailto:bounce-6309122-9874...@list.cornell.edu] *On Behalf Of *Mike > Powers > *Sent:* Wednesday, September 15, 2010 11:06 PM > *To:* Benjamin Van Doren > *Cc:* David La Puma; Bill Evans; NFC-L@cornell.edu > *Subject:* Re: [nfc-l] reflections on a monumental nocturnal migration > > Hi all, > > Ditto (almost) to what Benjamin wrote: we (Andrew Farnsworth, Anne > Klingensmith, and I) have several microphones out in the Ithaca area > hope to analyze the night of the 10th shortly. We're looking forward > to comparisons with the various recording stations around the northeast! > > Earlier this evening it was quite active in the southern tier of NY, > with a good flight of thrushes: mostly Veery followed by Swainson's > Thrush with a couple of Gray-cheeked as well. > > Cheers, > Mike > > -- > Mike Powers > Horseheads, NY > > On Wed, Sep 15, 2010 at 9:21 PM, Benjamin Van Doren > <nimajn...@gmail.com <mailto:nimajn...@gmail.com>> wrote: > > Bill & David - > > Andrew Farnsworth and I have 6 ARUs deployed within the greater NY > metro area, so we too have recordings for that night. Can't wait to > see what they hold (though everything may not be extracted and > classified for few months). I was listening for about an hour on the > night of the 10th and heard many more flight calls than I've ever > heard from my house, so the flight should be interesting to quantify > (and interesting to compare to the Cape May mics). > > Good listening, watching, and predicting, everyone! > > Benjamin Van Doren > > White Plains, NY > > On Wed, Sep 15, 2010 at 8:17 PM, David La Puma <woodcree...@gmail.com > <mailto:woodcree...@gmail.com>> wrote: > > 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 <mailto: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/ > > -- > > > > -- > Benjamin > ------------------------------- > nimajn...@gmail.com <mailto:nimajn...@gmail.com> > -- 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/ --
