Not at all in banding reports which show lower numbers on average in some places, more in others and a healthy bunch of birds. Uniform agreement that weather caused a strange migration with both flyovers and late, if much at all, movers after a blocking front(s). All of this is localized and some happened around here las year as well whereas other areas are just fine. The mix of species here as I mentioned, tends to agree with that idea. Even here, some areas are reporting normal species and numbers. I doubt the disease theory as there is no evidence. The weather mortality reports are minimal and confined to birds landing in awkward place like parking lots. I have only looked at Saw-whet breeding and it appears its cyclic self and very dependent on prey populations.
John --- John and Sue Gregoire Field Ornithologists Kestrel Haven Migration Observatory 5373 Fitzgerald Rd Burdett, NY 14818 42.443508000, -76.758202000 On 2018-06-20 16:43, David Nicosia wrote: > I remember this conversation last year. If there is a marked rapid decline in > song birds as reported, then something has occurred in the past couple years > that is wiping our birds out. Habitat loss is a gradual slow process that > would not be so readily noticed on a wide scale from year to year. The > weather patterns, I don't believe were bad enough for massive mortality > events (although I haven't looked into this in full depth). Wind farms keep > popping up, but again its a gradual pressure that wouldn't manifest itself in > 1-2 years for such reported rapid declines. The only thing I can think of is > if there is a disease (west nile?) that is affecting songbirds and other > species? This could explain two poor breeding seasons. Does anyone know if > this is being reported in species of songbirds??? > > Dave > > On Tue, Jun 19, 2018 at 2:10 PM <[email protected]> wrote: > > The current "record" based on banded birds returned to the wild is 8 years 2 > months. That said, Nancy may well have been enjoying the progeny of that > first pair as their site fidelity is high. > > John > > --- > John and Sue Gregoire > Field Ornithologists > Kestrel Haven Migration Observatory > 5373 Fitzgerald Rd > Burdett, NY 14818 > 42.443508000, -76.758202000 > > On 2018-06-19 17:17, Asher Hockett wrote: > Likely "your" pewee was at least two different birds, as their lifespan is ~7 > years. > > On Mon, Jun 18, 2018 at 7:57 PM, Nancy Cusumano <[email protected]> > wrote: > > It really is an odd summer! We also are missing "our" peewee, who has been > here reliably for the 14 years I have lived in this house. Missing him! > There are at least 2 pair of great crested flycatchers and on Friday an > Indigo bunting showed up and is still around singing his head off from the > tops of the black locust trees. > There are sapsucker babies (that sound like they are humming in morse code > from inside the tree) and bluebirds too. So down one peewee, up a bunting? > Guess I would call that OK....but I want my peewee back. > > thanks for everyone's comments on this thread. > > Nancy > > Cayuga Dog Rescue has saved more than 578! dogs since 2005! Learn more at > cayugadogrescue.org [1] > On Mon, Jun 18, 2018 at 1:28 PM, <[email protected]> wrote: > > Hi! > > Over 30years of banding, migration and population study here and we > experienced and ever increasing paucity of birds. About 15 years ago I wrote > a report citing these losses. While many can be linked to loss of habitat > mainly due to factory farming, that didn't account for the lack of song. We > prognosticated at the time that populations within species were undergoing a > drastic diminishment.That has since been shown to be even worse than we > guessed ( based on American Bird Conservancy data sets). > > A result most noticeable was in song. With fewer competitors, birds in lesser > numbers arrive on native land and , if they find it still existent, establish > a territory. With little or no competition, the territorial song is short > lived -after all, why expend energy needlessly? Defense of territory is > seldom needed so in season song is greatly diminished. > > That doesn't mean it stops entirely but certainly far less than what we new > 50, 40 or 30 years ago. > > Fast forward to the crazy migration we experienced this spring. Expected > species have still not checked in and we guess they either overflew or were > content to our south. We have the same experience with Veery here and Wood > Thrush has been declining steadily. Least Flycatcher, Warbling Vireo are all > missing and the fancy Thrushes once a stopover certainty haven't been seen > for several years. Yesterday, we finally had a single Pewee. On the positive > side we are inundated with Grosbeaks, Purple Finch, Great-crested > Flycatchers, cuckoos and others that are normally here in much smaller > numbers. > > Looking South to the greater DC area, many of these species are still there > and that's abnormal. Check the ADK reports and they are also having a strange > year although I've not seen any thoughts on the subject from that area. > > The short answer is an unusual migration window with lots of weather effect, > rapidly declining populations creating an environment where our old > expectations are no longer valid. > > I liked it much better several decades ago. We have stopped banding > passerines and happy we did as the disappointment would be even greater. > > Best, > > John > > --- > John and Sue Gregoire > Field Ornithologists > Kestrel Haven Migration Observatory > 5373 Fitzgerald Rd [2] > Burdett, NY 14818 [2] > 42.443508000, -76.758202000 > > On 2018-06-18 15:45, W. Larry Hymes wrote: > I have noticed, as have others, that the woods have not been as plentiful > with bird song as normal. On my recent walks at Upper Buttermilk I have been > very disappointed in the total absence of Wood Thrush, Veery, and Scarlet > Tanager. By this time in past years I've always have several of these birds. > On my most recent walk (Friday) I was wonderfully surprised to hear 2 Wood > Thrush and 2-3 each of Veery and Scarlet Tanager. Why the sudden > "reappearance"?? I know I'm going to be criticized for asking, but could > some birds (species) still be migrating in? If not, then why did they > finally "show up"? Some could argue they were busy with nesting. But I've > never experienced birds remaining completely mum during the nesting season. > Another argument could be that they are now moving around after the first > brood. I doubt that would explain the numbers of these species I had all of > a sudden plopping down in Upper Buttermilk? By the way, we picnicked at > Upper Treman yesterday and bird song was relatively infrequent. Do any of you have any thoughts on this subject?? > > Larry > > -- > > ================================ > W. Larry Hymes > 120 [3] Vine [3] Street, [3] Ithaca, [3] NY [3] 14850 [3] > (H) 607-277-0759, [email protected] > ================================ > > -- > > 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/[email protected]/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 [4] > Rules and Information [5] > Subscribe, Configuration and Leave [6] > ARCHIVES: > The Mail Archive [7] > Surfbirds [8] > BirdingOnThe.Net [9] > PLEASE SUBMIT YOUR OBSERVATIONS TO EBIRD [10]! > -- -- CAYUGABIRDS-L LIST INFO: Welcome and Basics [4] Rules and Information [5] Subscribe, Configuration and Leave [6] ARCHIVES: The Mail Archive [7] Surfbirds [8] BirdingOnThe.Net [9] PLEASE SUBMIT YOUR OBSERVATIONS TO EBIRD [10]! -- -- asher -- CAYUGABIRDS-L LIST INFO: Welcome and Basics [4] Rules and Information [5] Subscribe, Configuration and Leave [6] ARCHIVES: The Mail Archive [7] Surfbirds [8] BirdingOnThe.Net [9] PLEASE SUBMIT YOUR OBSERVATIONS TO EBIRD [10]! -- -- CAYUGABIRDS-L LIST INFO: Welcome and Basics [4] Rules and Information [5] Subscribe, Configuration and Leave [6] ARCHIVES: The Mail Archive [7] Surfbirds [8] BirdingOnThe.Net [9] PLEASE SUBMIT YOUR OBSERVATIONS TO EBIRD [10]! -- Links: ------ [1] http://cayugadogrescue.org [2] https://maps.google.com/?q=5373+Fitzgerald+Rd+Burdett,+NY+14818&entry=gmail&source=g [3] https://maps.google.com/?q=120+Vine+Street,+Ithaca,+NY+14850&entry=gmail&source=g [4] http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME [5] http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES [6] http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm [7] http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.html [8] http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds [9] http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html [10] http://ebird.org/content/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/[email protected]/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/ --
