While I concur with the natural foods theory we are forgetting that at this time of year many of "our" passerines have dispersed or moved southward to some degree. Many of our fall and winter feeder birds are those that have bred in Canada and come south for the winter. While that's just beginning around here, the ADK has had a growing influx. Over the course of 31 years of banding here we determined three groups of Black-capped Chickadees, a small year around group, another that breeds here and moves as far south and west as Kentucky/Tennessee for the winter and a third that breeds in Quebec and Ontario and comes here for the winter. A few other species do the same. I'm sure everyone has noted the huge congregate flocks of Robins that will soon move SSW while some will remain. There is so much food up north that I have little hope for the projections of a finchy winter here although they are all in the ADK in nice numbers.
Lastly, a slightly irreverent explanation from the West Side is gaining in popularity. See <http://www.gocomics.com/closetohome/2017/10/24> John --- John and Sue Gregoire Field Ornithologists Kestrel Haven Migration Observatory 5373 Fitzgerald Rd Burdett, NY 14818 42.443508000, -76.758202000 On 2017-10-25 19:08, t...@fltg.net wrote: > Our (mostly red) oak trees had a huge mast year two years ago, but last year > and this year the acorns have been at more normal production levels. Red oaks > have a two year cycle for acorn production - the flowers from this year are > next year's acorns - so it could be that 2018 will be another big year for > acorns in our woods. > > Cones & other nuts do seem abundant wherever we look, but I assumed it was > because this has been the first year in several that we didn't have an > ill-timed cold snap or drought during a crucial part of the growing season. > On our property we had almost no walnuts last year & I am certain that was > b/c of a bad cold snap just after pollination that seemed to kill most of the > tiny fruit, followed by an extended period without rain later in the growing > season. There have been a couple of cold/warm/cold/warm periods in early > spring during the past five years and several kinds of fruit and nut trees > were affected. Perhaps the trees have energy on hand from those years when > they couldn't develop fruit, and can pour that energy into extra production > this year? > > While cold snaps & droughts also are connected to climate change, my guess is > that this year's abundance had more to do with these factors rather than with > warming - it wasn't all that warm in central NYS this summer [1], for one > thing! > > Alicia > > P.S. Birders on the Maine bird list have similar complaints about the > disappearance of their feeder birds, with similar conclusions that it likely > is due to unusual amounts of food in the wild. > > ----- Original Message ----- > > From: Betsy Darlington <darlingtonb...@gmail.com> > To: "Marc Devokaitis" <mdevokai...@gmail.com> > Cc: "Barbara B. Eden" <b...@cornell.edu>, "CAYUGABIRDS-L" > <cayugabird...@list.cornell.edu> > Sent: Wed, 25 Oct 2017 12:47:44 -0400 > Subject: Re: [cayugabirds-l] Where are all my feeder birds > > I wonder if all these trees are putting out "stress cones/seeds," caused by > the accelerating warming. Or do they just like being so warm? > Betsy > > On Wed, Oct 25, 2017 at 11:54 AM, Marc Devokaitis <mdevokai...@gmail.com> > wrote: > > Hi All, > Re-opening this thread--I thought I'd share with the list a comment from > Donald Leopold, Chair of the Department of Environmental and Forest Biology > at SUNY-ESF (I was asking him about something else, but this came up.) > > "Not only are conifers producing an extraordinary abundance of cones but I > have never seen such an abundance of walnuts, hickories, oak acorns, sugar > maple and white ash samaras, and other tree fruits and seeds. Interestingly, > I've seen this above average production across the Northeast." > > Hopefully this goes a long way to explaining the increase in decreases this > year. > > Marc Devokaitis > > On Wed, Oct 18, 2017 at 12:46 PM, Barbara B. Eden <b...@cornell.edu> wrote: > > For the past 2 months the resident birds that I daily feed have dropped in > population This is the first time this has happened and even those pesky > squirrels have left I live in Cayuga Heights and my backyard is a bird > friendly habitat > Any thoughts would be appreciated > Thanks > Barbara Eden > > Sent using OWA for iPhone > -- > CAYUGABIRDS-L LIST INFO: > Welcome and Basics [2] > Rules and Information [3] > Subscribe, Configuration and Leave [4] > ARCHIVES: > The Mail Archive [5] > Surfbirds [6] > BirdingOnThe.Net [7] > PLEASE SUBMIT YOUR OBSERVATIONS TO EBIRD [8]! > -- > -- > CAYUGABIRDS-L LIST INFO: > Welcome and Basics [2] > Rules and Information [3] > Subscribe, Configuration and Leave [4] > ARCHIVES: > The Mail Archive [5] > Surfbirds [6] > BirdingOnThe.Net [7] > PLEASE SUBMIT YOUR OBSERVATIONS TO EBIRD [8]! > -- -- CAYUGABIRDS-L LIST INFO: Welcome and Basics [2] Rules and Information [3] Subscribe, Configuration and Leave [4] ARCHIVES: The Mail Archive [9] Surfbirds [6] BirdingOnThe.Net [7] PLEASE SUBMIT YOUR OBSERVATIONS TO EBIRD [8]! -- -- CAYUGABIRDS-L LIST INFO: Welcome and Basics [2] Rules and Information [3] Subscribe, Configuration and Leave [4] ARCHIVES: The Mail Archive [10] Surfbirds [6] BirdingOnThe.Net [7] PLEASE SUBMIT YOUR OBSERVATIONS TO EBIRD [8]! -- Links: ------ [1] http://www.syracuse.com/weather/index.ssf/2017/08/central_ny_summer_ends_up_slightly_cooler_than_normal.html [2] http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME [3] http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES [4] http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm [5] http://wwwmail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html [6] http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds [7] http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html [8] http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ [9] http://www.mail-archivecom/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html [10] http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html -- 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/ --
