So beautifully written, Ali, and so true, sadly. Like you, my decades of watching and being dazzled by birds has made me painfully aware of their precipitous decline, all courtesy of us, the humans. Rachel Carson must be turning over in her grave, thinking that we just don’t ever seem to learn.
Lucie Lehmann
> On Oct 21, 2024, at 9:33 AM, alison wagner <alikatofvt...> wrote:
>
> Dear Rachel Carson,
>
> You were so right about DDT and its impacts on the natural world. Your work was critical, and people finally listened. Now I think of you every time I hear birders say: "Where are all the birds?" or "they must be nesting somewhere else," or "maybe the winds are taking them on a different route north." I have been hearing birders say this for years. Springs may not be silent, but the quietness is loud.
>
>
> What Kaye mentioned, about being outside "pretty much from dawn until dark," and NOT observing what she expects, makes a very good point. We should be seeing more birds, especially in the fall due to the end of the nesting season. We should all be alarmed by this trend. Recently, on The Hidden Brain, there was a program that explained how by very slowly altering a negative change, we are more likely to accept that change and eventually reset our concept of what is expected as "normal." Specifically for birds, the multitude of factors affecting their decline is staggering: Outdoor cats, window strikes, light pollution, human-made chemicals, climate change, habitat destruction (just to name a few). There is always more we can do as individuals to lessen these threats.
>
> A relatively new-to-birder once mentioned seeing "a ton of White-throated Sparrows" during a fall migration. To them, a ton meant 10. I have been observing birds for only a mere 30+ years, and I would expect about 15 times that many. I wonder how many folks that have been birding for half a century would interpret "a ton."
>
> I have seen an alarming absence of "huge" flocks of Red-winged Blackbirds. In the fall of 2014, I submitted an eBird report at Charcoal Creek estimating 2,000 Red-wings, which I am sure was only a fraction of the actual total. I was only able to calculate the birds along the edge, and the flock basically covered the entire region of the vast wetland (they did not fly in single file). My scope was set and as they flew across my view, I tried to count them by tens...no, fifties...no, hundreds. Next they flew up into the riparian edge along the far end of the wetland, banked a turn, instantly exposing the red on their wings and in that one beautiful synchronized move, the deciduous trees' leaves magically turned from green to peak foliage. It took my breath away. Rachel, I miss moments like this.
>
> In more recent years, when I am in perfect Red-wing habitat, and see a flock of 30, or 10, or 3, my first thought is, "there they are!" but then I catch myself and rethink: "There should be many more."
>
> Rachel, if only you were still with us today...You are my hero, the ultimate canary in a coal mine.
>
> Fondly,
> Ali
> Huntington VT
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Kaye Danforth" <000003762748b609-dmarc-request...>
> To: "Vermont Birds" <VTBIRD...>
> Sent: Sunday, October 20, 2024 11:08:25 AM
> Subject: Re: [VTBIRD] migration
>
> Our property skirts a ridgeline in the foothills to the Green Mountains, and I’ve also noticed an absence of warblers this year. Usually, small waves of them begin here in late August thru early October, but this year, none. I’m outside in the garden almost daily pretty much from dawn until dark, so it’s unlikely I’d have missed at least one or two waves moving thru. I’ve been concerned.
> Kaye with an “e" in Hinesburg
>
>> On Oct 20, 2024, at 11:00 AM, David Gusakov <dgusakov...> wrote:
>>
>> I’ve been going up Mount Philo for decades to catch the fall migration
>> but this year have seen very little. From mid-Sept. to mid-Oct. I was
>> up there 5 or 6 times on the most likely days with poor results.
>>
>> Did anyone have better luck? Any other reports on migration?
>> Are the raptors just staying put?
>>
>> Thanks for any info!
>>
>> David Gusakov
