Regional Overview Looks like the radar is up! So here is a belated post of the interesting conditions last night. Last night was an interesting night of migration. The north winds at the beginning of the night created what one would guess to be poor migration conditions, however, the birds still decided to fly as the winds died down and changed more from the east. Check out the PA and NY radars to see what looks like a cloud of migrants taking off over the southern part of Pennsylvania and flying up to reach New York by the early morning hours. Pennsylvania Click on the thumbnail to view the full-sized animation. The central PA radar showed a very interesting pattern on the radar, with what appeared to be a concentration of birds moving up through the center part of the state.
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[dc]I[/dc]n late March, my co-worker Aubrey and I travelled to Port Charlotte, Florida to do an annual Florida Scrub-Jay survey in a community that is well-known for its jay population (we are both currently employed by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission…check out their website HERE!). Â Here, there are building restrictions because of the presence of jays. Â There are numerous empty lots that will not be built on because of jays. Â Of course, as with most cases like this, there can be exceptions to development when the builder pays money into a fund for habitat preservation in another area for Florida Scrub-Jays; not an ideal solution for the existing jays, but it keeps developers slightly happy to have this option. Â Over the years, my boss, Dr. Karl Miller, has closely studied the jay population;Â the slow and tedious process of development here has clearly helped the jays.
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The sad news is that the radar site we use to create our animations is currently not working. Hopefully it gets back online soon. Regional Overview Once again north and west winds conspired against those of us who are eagerly anticipating some big pushes of warblers into our region. The winds should begin to have a south component to them starting Monday night and we should see big influxes of birds Tuesday through Saturday if the forecast holds. Check back tomorrow and hopefully the radar situation will be fixed! 40.819637-77.
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Justine doing field surveys [dc]T[/dc]oday we were tromping through the SCCCMA fields, doing a bird survey through the mixed agricultural fields, weedy areas and woods. While walking through some of the game commission fields, Justine happened upon a ootheca and called us over when she noticed that the praying mantises were emerging. I have never seen praying mantises quite as fresh as this batch, usually finding them when they are a day or two old and not quite as green and squishy looking.
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Regional Overview Most of the country saw some heavy migration but from Delaware to eastern Ohio to Maine, north winds denied birds the chance to migrate last night. With the migration going so well to the south, I would think that a fair number of new birds would be showing up into the southern part of the area that showed little migration. Basically, its late April, and regardless of weather conditions or the previous nights flight, birds are around and birding can be great! Check out the eBird BirdCast Migration Forecast for April 27- May 3. Unfortunately I am having difficulties with the radar downloads this morning. Check back later for a more thorough analysis as I get all the images processed. Pennsylvania Click on the thumbnail to view the full-sized animation. North winds prevented much of a movement last night across the entire state.
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The ABA area has it’s fair share of sparrows and I have been fortunate enough to have seen most of them but for some odd reason the one that really gets me excited, and the one that for whatever reason I really like the most, is the Lincoln’s Sparrow. To a beginner birder, the Lincoln’s Sparrow might look identical to a Song Sparrow and would be easily over-looked. However, once you begin to see this species more, and learn the field marks that make it unique, and begin to anticipate is arrival during spring and fall migration, it is easy to see why this species is just so cool.
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Alex, Anna, Justine and I are starting to get really pumped up about the Biggest Week but we haven’t birded Ohio before and are taking suggestions. We would love some suggestions on where we should go, and tactics to use. Should we be somewhere before dawn to listen for birds arriving? Are there certain areas we should hit in the morning versus the afternoon? Any advice is greatly appreciated as we eagerly anticipate our arrival on Sunday.
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On the evening of April 24th I got a text from Michael David asking me to get the word out that he was currently looking at an Eared Grebe at Prince Gallitzin State Park in Cambria County.  My friends and I finally had a chance to run over and try to find the bird and we were lucky enough to find it near the Turtle Cove Mooring Area at the NW portion of the lake. The bird was first seen near the the small dock there, but then floated around Link Point and began heading towards Pickerel Pond, where it had been seen earlier in the day by other birders.
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Regional Overview After a single night of excellent migration, we are back into the pattern of north winds again. Lots of birds arrived yesterday so it is a good bet that they are still around, possibly making small movements towards breeding areas or spots with excellent food resources. Pennsylvania Click on the thumbnail to view the full-sized animation. The eastern portion of the state may have seen some migration last night before the rain rolled in. It wasn’t strong but enough to bring in a few new birds. The rest of the state saw very little migration due to the north winds. However, with the radar lighting up south of us, western and central PA may get a small influx of new birds today. As always, please leave me comments on what you find out in the field. Maryland Click on the thumbnail to view the full-sized animation.
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[dc]T[/dc]here is no doubt about it. Spring is upon us in all of its glorious proliferation. Trees are leafing-out, yards are being mowed, and spring migrants are winging their way back to us in earnest. Frankly, I’m a bit worried about warblering season, as the unseasonably early tree leaves will make the little buggers impossible to see. (And let’s be honest, I don’t need any handicaps in the warblering department.) At any rate, early tree leaves also mean that the push of spring wildflowers is almost over, as the leafy sun-hoggers are the flowers’ signal to gracefully bow out. Wildflowers are the girls-next-door of the plant world: naturally beautiful, often taken for granted, and when you finally begin to appreciate them, they play hard to get. Anyway. If you’re an insufferable nature nerd, like me, you will love this book.
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