Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!qt.cs.utexas.edu!yale.edu!think.com!spool.mu.edu!uunet!edsews!edsdrd!gss From: gss@edsdrd.eds.com (Gary Schiltz) Newsgroups: rec.birds Subject: Re: Earlybirds and Where is everyone? Message-ID: <330@dominion.edsdrd.eds.com> Date: 27 Jun 91 17:25:20 GMT References: Organization: Research and Development, Auburn Hills, MI 48326 Lines: 80 In article , randall@proteus.CAM.ORG (Randall Reid) writes: > I used to read rec.birds about 1.5 years ago and then stayed away from > Usenet for quite a while. I restarted reading rec.birds a couple of > weeks ago and really notice a change. Where did everyone go? Things > used to be pretty active here both for the birders and the pet bird > types. Maybe my news feed is broken but I only receive 1-3 articles per > day. Is this right? I've tried to quit reading rec.birds too, but I keep falling off the wagon; here I am again :-) But seriously, I've always noticed a summer drop in the postings; not many birds to post about, and too many other distractions, I suppose. > [...] But it seems to me that there were MUCH fewer birds this year. > Can anyone comment on this? I wish I could say that it was just your being there later in the day, but I can't. I was there early (caught the early transits to the point) the weekends of May 11-12 and May 18-19 and my observations were much the same. The number of species seemed about the same as in past years (from the species board at the visitors' center), but the numbers seemed down a lot. Whereas only two or three years ago I usually could see 30-35 warbler species there in a day, this year I had to work to get 20. The species were probably all there, but the low numbers made it hard to find them all. > [...] Another thing I noticed was that the park > didn't have any deer or other critters wandering around freely. Deer have been a persistent problem for Pt. Pelee. A population of, I believe, around 200 in this very small park were doing a lot of damage to the flora. What to do was debated for a long time, and it was finally decided to cull the herd. A high percentage (more than half, maybe three quarters) were removed before this spring. > One thing that came to mind was the unusually warm weather we had > this spring. Perhaps the migrations stayed for shorter periods on > the Point or maybe they came earlier than usual. I was at Pt. Pelee on April 28 and there were few warblers then. The warm weather may indeed have made them skip over the point. I noticed overall many fewer warblers and other neotropical species this year. I certainly hope it isn't a trend, but I fear that it is. > Despite my bad luck I noticed that the > visitors' center sighting board was filled up with birds of all kinds.. > I just didn't see 'em. Can any of you more experienced birders tell me > if one really has to be up at the crack of dawn to have a good birding > day... I personally can't even see the little critters that early morning. > even with my new B&L Elites! Last year I found that 9am seemed like an > ideal time for birding.. after that it seemed to die down quite a bit. As I mentioned earlier, the species seemed to mostly be there, although in lower numbers. Personally, it has always seemed to me that the birding at the point has been better at 7:30 or so than at 6:00. Although, the shorebirds seem to leave by about 5:00 or so. > Regardless of my lack of success this year I did have one nice lifer.. a > wimbrel flying over Hillman's marsh.. he must have been an overly > enthusiastic individual and at the extreme northerly edge of his range. Whimbrels seemed to be unusually plentiful this spring. I also saw two along the north shore of Lake Michigan this spring (near Manistique, MI). > That seemed to make it all worth the 2 day drive and I'll be back again > next year, this time with my alarm clock. You didn't say where you have to drive from. My wife and I bird Pelee quite a bit in the Spring, being only a two hour drive away. Next time you plan to come up, let me know if I can be of any assistance. Rondeau Provincial Park (about an hour east of Pelee) has nearly as good migrant watching, with much less people pressure. ---- /\ What cheer, /\ | Gary Schiltz, EDS R&D, 3551 Hamlin Road | / o< cheer,