Date: 4/19/26 7:17 pm From: Lucy & Bob Email via groups.io <RobertADuncan...> Subject: [ALbirds] High hopes dashed
Hi all,
Lucy and I were at Dauphin Is. this weekend for the Alabama Ornithological Society's Spring meeting. This morning we awoke to a blistering cold N wind 25 to 30 mph and light rain. Fallout conditions!! A check of radar and weather map showed the front about 100 miles south of the coast and rain extending somewhat off shore. Perfect conditions to catch incoming trans-Gulf migrants. A classic fallout was in order. Sure enough, at the east end of the island we watched a flock of over 50 E. Kingbirds fly in from the Gulf, then hunker down out of the wind along with one bedraggled Gray Kingbird. Kingbirds are considered the vanguards of a trans-Gulf movement since they are strong flyers and are among the first to arrive. High hopes for the dozens of birders on the island! There were a few straggler species present on the island, probably left overs from yesterday. But by the time we left the island around noon, there was no sign of a fallout expected from the severe conditions except for a few migrants. For "old timers" what was present was a "trickle" compared to the fallouts of the 70s and 80s. Why?
There were no fallouts at Ft. Pickens nor when we got home around 2 pm except for three species of warblers at our pond. Kingbirds had been reported locally however. A check of the conditions in S Gulf, Yucatan and W. Cuba did not indicate adverse conditions for takeoff. Winds had been N during the morning but by noon had veered to the NNE. The birds, if they left Yucatan around dusk yesterday, should have hit the bad weather in the n. Gulf, and although the easterly component could have shifted any movement to our west, it was not too far off due N. Furthermore, any birds flying N on a broad front, including those in the east central Gulf, should have come our way, as evidenced by the presence of the Gray Kingbird which made it.
It should be noted that this condition had happened back in the "old days" and was baffling to us old timers back then. But then, birds were far more plentiful then and I have the nagging feeling that what happened today was a result of fewer birds leaving the tropics each Spring. But then maybe that was not the cause of today's disappointment.
Regarding Kingbirds, E. Kingbirds winter as far south as Bolivia and as strong flyers they do not have to leave from n. Yucatan (where about the northern 30 miles is semi-arid). This can account for odd arrival times sometimes (normal arrival time for trans-Gulf birds is late morning early afternoon, depending on wind direction and velocity). So whatever reason there was for our dismay, we will never know the cause. Only the birds know.
Bob DuncanGulf Breeze, FL
