Date: 11/13/25 7:37 pm From: Mark Chappell <markchappell666...> Subject: Re: [MBBIRDS] Seawatch at Pt Pinos
And notwithstanding 6 or 7 decades of intense scientific interest, we still have little or no understanding of many of the key aspects of bird navigation.
> On Nov 13, 2025, at 7:22 PM, Pete Sole <pete...> wrote:
>
> Thanks for sharing this story Fred.
>
> First, kudos to Alison Vilag and the team of counters, and to Katie Rodriguez for such a nice write up.
>
> Second, imho, bird migration is one of the perhaps unappreciated, but most incredible wonders of the natural world. The list of mind blowing things that birds do for migration.... I just can't help but just shake my head. A few herculean feats in no particular order:
> Bristle-thigh Curlews, staging on the coast of Alaska to fly to relatively small or tiny islands in the Pacific, non-stop. Oh, and by the way, the curlews can't swim, the birds go through a "radical" molt shortly after arriving on their wintering grounds, and juveniles migrate a month or two later than the adults.
> Ruby-throated Hummingbirds staging on the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico, flying across the Gulf of Mexico to land in Florida, non-stop, of course.
> Blackpoll Warblers staging on the North Eastern US and South-eastern Canada to fly, in some cases non-stop, over the Western Atlantic to land in northern South America.
> Some Sooty Shearwaters, flying a figure 8 migration pattern over the Pacific. Some, when they leave our area, head south for a bit, and then cross the mid-Pacific at the equator, to land in the islands just of the coast of New Zealand, not bothering to fly along the rest of the Pacific coast of the Central and South America.
> These are astounding navigational examples, all from the class "aves", species with a small, marble sized brain.
>
> Birds, just incredible fauna!
>
> Pete Solé
>
> In awe of bird migration...
>
>
> On 11/13/25 5:35 PM, Alfred Hochstaedter wrote:
>> "On Halloween, the night before her first day on the job, Alison Vilag opted for a dark-and-stormy cocktail at the Sandbar & Grill, a favorite pitstop with friends when she’s in town for the migration. It is a spiritual decision of sorts, to summon ideal weather for birds soon to be traveling south."
>>
>> https://www.montereycountynow.com/news/local_news/one-of-the-nation-s-most-challenging-seabird-counts-is-underway-in-pacific-grove/article_e72cfa8c-9067-426c-92b6-1857d14c0355.html >>
>> -Fred Hochstaedter
>>
>> "Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities."
>> -Voltaire
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