[wisb] Re: Upnorth Birding Changes
- From: Jesse Ellis <calocitta8@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: timarytm@xxxxxxxxx
- Date: Mon, 6 Aug 2012 10:43:20 -0500
Mary, and all-
Soem up-northers should corroborate, but what you describe seems pretty
typical for the north woods in August (and can happen elsewhere, too!). I
was in the BWCA in northern MN twice in the first week of August three and
four years ago, and basically had to scrounge hard for woods birds. I think
a major issue is detectability. Most of the young ones have fledged and
many are foraging on their own, which means that mom and dad have no reason
to stick around and sing to defend territories, and little reason to mob
predators. And because migration has not yet picked up, the birds may not
be concentrated yet. However, as you also noted, they may be grouping up
into mixed flocks, and these are the moments when you'll finally find all
the birds you're missing.
Tips for finding mixed flocks: listen for them, especially for chickadees.
The chickadees will be in little family groups, and make a bit of noise
still. Along with them may be the quieter passerines. Stick to edges, which
can concentrate birds and can also make them much more visible (rather than
looking up into the canopy).
Tips for birding them: Eyes and ears are both key, but maybe your eyes
moreso. You have to be willing to NOT look at the chickadees to see what
else is there. Let your eyes find the motion and quickly decide whether the
bird is something you've seen or not (that is, whether you want to look at
it). The reason here is that flocks can move startlingly quickly. If you
want you can certainly spend all your time on one bird, but if you do,
don't be surprised to look up and find the flock has suddenly left you.
When you do look, you may only have a few moments before the bird moves
again, and this is where it can be useful to use gestalt to decide if you
should keep trying to track that individual. If it looks like it might have
been the fifth redstart of the flock, than it probably was, and you might
want to step back and look for other individuals.
Sounds can make a difference, allowing you to eliminate chickadees and
perhaps tell if there are warblers or vireos or other species you'd like to
target. Even if you don't know the chip notes of every bird, learning those
of black-capped chickadee well can allow you to determine if you're NOT
hearing BCCH, so, I would start there. They have a short tsip note they use
for contact that in my ear can sound a lot like a warbler.
Also, mixed foraging flocks are even more common in the tropics, so these
tips can be useful when traveling...
I am not a photographer, but these flocks seem to me to be a dismal
prospect for good photos. The moments are often too short, and you can
barely process field marks, let alone focus and frame. I could be wrong,
though - perhaps some photographers can weigh in. Two people can often look
opposite directions and therefore cover more of the flock (anyone who's
done a Big Day should be doing this!) but you then have to prepare for
spinning around and trying to see the rarity the other person has found as
it weaves and chases and generally makes things difficult for the second
observer. In doing fall Big Days, I've been in groups where not one of the
four has gotten on the same Cape May warbler, but all managed to
independently find one in a massive flock. It is sometimes really hard to
refind specific individuals.
Okay, I ramble. Can you tell I'm excited for fall migration?
Good birding,
Jesse Ellis
Madison
On Mon, Aug 6, 2012 at 7:47 AM, <timarytm@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> We went on our usual morning walks this past weekend (August 4-5)and were
> amazed at the lack of our usual birds. We had no least flycatchers, no
> veerys or ovenbirds, no warblers songs at all, two hermit thrush calls, two
> robins, no chipping sparrows, no song sparrows, 1 yellow bellied sapsucker,
> 1 downy, no hairy woodpeckers in 2 days!! Not one of our indigo buntings or
> wood warblers were in their usual spots. The woods were quiet. Bugs are
> still in abundance, however! Since this is our first year of active
> birding, this may be typical for this time of year but can't say I liked
> it! We also did not have any rose-breasted grosbeaks at the feeders or
> anyplace else.
> We did find two mixed flocks of birds moving through, one on each day,
> with probably around 30 birds in each group. We picked out black capped
> chickadees, many red-eyed vireos and eastern wood peewees, black-throated
> green warblers, a black and white warbler and a mourning warbler.
>
> Any tips on how to get the most out of a moving mixed flock of birds?
>
> The Peewees and chickadees seemed to be the only birds calling. None of
> the birds sat still long at all. There were groups of two to four birds
> everywhere it seemed. I soon realized that I needed to put the camera away
> and grab my binoculars. Typically, my husband uses the binoculars and I
> bird with the camera, both of us working on the same bird. We had the
> feeling splitting up the birds some way is the way to go. We have no idea
> how to get a species count. The birds were mostly mid-level in the trees.
>
> Mary Maertz
> Forest County
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--
Jesse Ellis
Post-doctoral Researcher
Dept. of Zoology
University of Wisconsin - Madison
Madison, Dane Co, WI
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