Date: 10/21/24 8:01 am From: Maeve Kim <maevekim7...> Subject: Re: [VTBIRD] migration/less migrating birds
Yes, Pat! For the last several years, whenever I’m out in nature, I say - aloud - “Hold on. We won’t be around much longer”, and the thought gies me peace.
Maeve Kim, Jericho Center
> On Oct 21, 2024, at 10:55 AM, Patrick Phillips <phillipspatj...> wrote:
>
> Ali,
> Thanks for sharing and expressing this so well. I fear that the only
> complete reversal of all this damage is when our species has gone the way
> of the dinosaurs. Nature will always find a way- even if it is without us!
> Pat
>
> On Mon, 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
>>
