As some may know I'm doing my master's at the University of Waterloo, studying 'reverse migration' and the effects of weather during the spring. I've spent the last two springs on the island, both 2009 and 2010, staying from April 25-May 20. What started out as a fun idea, turned eventually into my undergrad topic, and now has morphed into my master's thesis. Basically what I've done the past 2 springs is ID what species are and how many are 'reverse migrating' aka flying south in a 'reorientation flight' in the first few hours of light.
I've seen some pretty cool things, and the numbers don't lie. Over 52 days of coverage I've tallied the following species and numbers. See anything interesting???? Based on my calculations, it takes about 1,100-1,500 birds to get something 'good'....though it depends on what you think is good. That might seem like alot, but it averages out to a good bird per day.
| Species | Total | ||
| Mourning Dove | 16 | ||
| Ruby-throated Hummingbird | 96 | ||
| Red-headed Woodpecker | 28 | ||
| Red-bellied Woodpecker | 3 | ||
| Northern Flicker | 3 | ||
| Eastern Wood-Pewee | 2 | ||
| Eastern Phoebe | 2 | ||
| Least Flycatcher | 1 | ||
| Great Crested Flycatcher | 4 | ||
| Eastern Kingbird | 263 | ||
| Yellow-throated Vireo | 6 | ||
| Blue-headed Vireo | 8 | ||
| Warbling Vireo | 41 | ||
| Philadelphia Vireo | 9 | ||
| Red-eyed Vireo | 18 | ||
| Blue Jay | 569 | ||
| American Crow | 2 | ||
| Horned Lark | 4 | ||
| Ruby-crowned Kinglet | 5 | ||
| Blue-gray Gnatcatcher | 39 | ||
| Eastern Bluebird | 3 | ||
| American Robin | 298 | ||
| European Starling | 864 | ||
| American Pipit | 94 | ||
| Cedar Waxwing | 149 | ||
| Blue-winged Warbler | 1 | ||
| Tennessee Warbler | 12 | ||
| Orange-crowned Warbler | 2 | ||
| Nashville Warbler | 684 | ||
| Northern Parula | 28 | ||
| Yellow Warbler | 282 | ||
| Chestnut-sided Warbler | 138 | ||
| Magnolia Warbler | 286 | ||
| Cape May Warbler | 14 | ||
| Black-throated Blue Warbler | 33 | ||
| Yellow-rumped Warbler | 640 | ||
| Black-throated Green Warbler | 55 | ||
| Blackburnian Warbler | 71 | ||
| Pine Warbler | 1 | ||
| Kirtland's Warbler | 1 | ||
| Palm Warbler | 279 | ||
| Blackpoll Warbler | 8 | ||
| Bay-breasted Warbler | 32 | ||
| Black-and-white Warbler | 25 | ||
| American Redstart | 53 | ||
| Prothonotary Warbler | 2 | ||
| Ovenbird | 2 | ||
| Hooded Warbler | 1 | ||
| Wilson's Warbler | 7 | ||
| Canada Warbler | 6 | ||
| Summer Tanager | 3 | ||
| Scarlet Tanager | 111 | ||
| Chipping Sparrow | 43 | ||
| Clay-colored Sparrow | 1 | ||
| Field Sparrow | 3 | ||
| Savannah Sparrow | 5 | ||
| Lark Sparrow | 1 | ||
| Rose-breasted Grosbeak | 25 | ||
| Indigo Bunting | 443 | ||
| Dickcissel | 5 | ||
| Bobolink | 168 | ||
| Red-winged Blackbird | 5051 | ||
| Eastern Meadowlark | 2 | ||
| Rusty Blackbird | 5 | ||
| Common Grackle | 2349 | ||
| Brown-headed Cowbird | 1219 | ||
| Orchard Oriole | 82 | ||
| Baltimore Oriole | 1648 | ||
| Purple Finch | 1 | ||
| House Finch | 12 | ||
| Pine Siskin | 21 | ||
| American Goldfinch | 630 | ||
| House Sparrow | 4 | ||
| Flycatcher sp. | 2 | ||
| Vireo sp. | 50 | ||
| Warbler sp. | 4425 | ||
| Sparrow sp. | 59 | ||
| Blackbird sp. | 16271 | ||
| Small Bird Sp. | 668 | ||
| Total | 38497 |
according to my calculations, it may also mean you've had 2-3 ORBC rarities pass overhead in the "un-ID" category.. What were they???
ReplyDeleteI'm already pretty pumped for this spring
yeah totally, was pretty sure I had a male (adult) BLGR fly over once (2009), but likely something cosmic....
ReplyDeleteYeah this should be a sweet year, should be a few of us down there.
I believe that Wormington had 600 Nashvilles reversing off
ReplyDeletePoint Pelee one morning. I went to Rondeau that day, and it
wasn't as big as Pelee.
Fred Urie
Yeah there seems to be a fair difference from location to location. This year I'm going to be doing surveys at Fish Point, Pelee Island, and Josh Vandermeulen will be doing surveys from Point Pelee - so we should have an interesting comparison.
ReplyDelete