Bizzare Bird Migrations

[bngenoh]

Our 2D friends would be the first ones to change their behaviors in response to environmental changes: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1pQPQv-psk

It's not just whooping cranes. In my location (Aberdeen, MD US) other species of birds like geese and starlings have also changed their behaviors.

 

[Voyageur]

[quote author=bngenoh]
...
It's not just whooping cranes. In my location (Aberdeen, MD US) other species of birds like geese and starlings have also changed their behaviors.
[/quote]

Have been watching the wetlands and sky's here in the north and there have been very early migration arrivals; swans, geese and ducks - also some Robins. These arrivals (early Feb) are about 40 +/- days early. Temperatures this past February ranged 0 - -20's (c) with little open water in the wetlands.

 

[bngenoh]

Have been watching the wetlands and sky's here in the north and there have been very early migration arrivals; swans, geese and ducks - also some Robins. These arrivals (early Feb) are about 40 +/- days early. Temperatures this past February ranged 0 - -20's (c) with little open water in the wetlands.

It looks like spring has come early, really really early. There are these flowering plants which i call harbingers of spring, and guess what, they are already flowering.

 

[treesparrow]

Another article documenting unusually early spring arrivals in North America - some species up to a month early.

Birds migrating to area sooner than usual

Migrating shore birds are showing up "remarkably early" at Freezout Lake northwest of Fairfield, giving birders an early peak at species passing through the state en route north, said Mike Schwitters, a longtime birdwatcher.

Schwitters tracks the numbers of birds at Freezout and provides the information to Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks.

Schwitters reported seeing about 6,000 snow geese and 17 swans at Freezout. He said nearly 10 days ago there were about 100,000 snow gees there.

The mild winter is the reason for the early arrival of shore birds, he said, noting that there is no ice on the lakes, so food and habitat are accessible as they move northward.

So far in April, Schwitters has seen about five shore bird species at Freezout.

That's about a month sooner than he usually sees them.

The early return of the birds is good news for birders, but could be bad news for the birds should winter return at some point along the migratory journey, say in Alberta, Schwitters said.

"All of a sudden their habitat is frozen up and their food sources are not accessible, and they die," he said.

On Friday, it was snowing at Freezout, but the lake was in no danger of freezing, Schwitters said.

"If I was a shore bird at Freezout Lake, I wouldn't be happy today," Schwitters said. "They are just going to have to fluff up their feathers and try to stay warm."

Shore birds also have been documented in other locations in Montana already this year, he said.

Schwitters saw two Dunlins on Thursday — April 5. The earliest he has ever spotted a Dunlin is April 11.

The birds typically don't show up until about May 17, he said.

Schwitters also has spotted a Baird's sandpiper and several black-necked stilts.

"The early numbers of shore birds I've seen has got me enthused about seeing a lot of the shore birds early," he said.

Shore birds, which are long-legged wading birds, prefer standing water, but can be spotted at times on the mud flats of the Missouri River near West Bank Park in Great Falls.

About 20 species of shore birds migrate through Montana from southern locations on their way to northern climates such as Canada and Alaska, Schwitters said. For example, Baird's sandpipers fly from as far south as South America to arctic Canada, where they nest.

Schwitters said the migration of snow geese and swans also occurred about a week early this year. Those migrations are about over, but the birds still can be seen.

http://www.greatfallstribune.com/article/20120407/NEWS01/204070314/Birds-migrating-area-sooner-than-usual?odyssey=tab%7Ctopnews%7Ctext%7CFrontpage

 

[Rich]

Another article documenting unusually early spring arrivals in North America - some species up to a month early.

Birds migrating to area sooner than usual

Migrating shore birds are showing up "remarkably early" at Freezout Lake northwest of Fairfield, giving birders an early peak at species passing through the state en route north, said Mike Schwitters, a longtime birdwatcher.

Obvious, but so typical of MSM to begin the article with a positive spin. In this case its great the migration patterns are messed up because twitchers get to see birds they wouldn't normally. :(

 

[treesparrow]

In the UK the extremely wet weather and associated lack of insect food has caused many loses of nests, eggs and chicks, and consequently earlier than normal migration of the adult birds. Seems to be the same for birds migrating from Iceland to the UK.

Bad weather affects bird migration at Llanelli wetland centre

Unpredictable weather has altered bird migration patterns, with many arriving in Wales weeks earlier than expected, say experts.

The National Wetland Centre in Llanelli said 800 curlews, not normally seen until late August, were early arrivals.

About 100 redshank, 90 oystercatcher and 190 black-tailed godwit had also flown in early.

The Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust (WWT) said the weather also affected breeding patterns.

Another reason for the birds' early arrival might be that some of them failed to breed in Iceland.

Pamela Styles, the WWT's learning assistant at Llanelli, said: "2012 has been a year of unpredictable weather, and many birds have already been affected.

"We have heard chiffchaffs singing autumn calls in May, the flamingos have laid their eggs two weeks late, the gull-billed tern showed up having been blown off course, and now we are seeing the arrival of hundreds of autumn migratory birds - returning to us over a month earlier than usual.

"Birds we normally associate with the autumn and winter have arrived on the reserve in numbers usually not seen until at least August, including over 800 curlew, three whimbrel, 10 greenshank, 100 redshank, 90 oystercatchers and 190 black-tailed godwits."

RSPB Cymru said the curlew was in sharp decline in Wales.

A spokesman said: "The curlew appears to have had yet another difficult breeding season. Their numbers are currently in catastrophic decline in Wales as a breeding species."

It is unclear why their numbers have fallen so dramatically, but RSPB Cymru is working with farmers to find out why in the curlew's last stronghold, an area of north Wales called Hiraethog.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-south-west-wales-18779775

 

[treesparrow]

A couple more stories of odd bird migration. The latter involving about 100 razorbills well to the south of their normal winter range.

European birds catch a ride to Mass. on Hurricane Sandy, but can they survive the cold?

By Todd Feathers, Globe Correspondent

Three Northern lapwings, European shore birds that seldom stray into the Western hemisphere, were apparently blown across the Atlantic into Massachusetts by the chaotic winds of Hurricane Sandy and are now in danger of succumbing to the cold New England winter, a bird expert said.

The rare birds, with their colorful plumage and odd-looking head feathers, have drawn bird enthusiasts from across the country.

Two of the birds have taken up residence in a Nantucket pond and one has been sighted by the side of several Bridgewater roads, said Wayne Petersen, director of Mass Audubon’s Important Bird Areas Program.

Petersen, who has seen the Bridgewater bird several times, said it was in severe danger of starving because snow covering the frozen ground makes it nearly impossible for the bird to find worms and other food.

“The extreme cold we’re having right now could spell the demise for the one still hanging on in Bridgewater,” he said. He thought the other two birds might fare better in Nantucket’s milder climate.

Unlike other shore birds, Petersen said, the Northern lapwing is a short-distance migrant. The birds would be incapable of flying back to Europe and probably incapable of flying south to warmer climes, he said.

A total of 11 different lapwings have been sighted on the East Coast, Petersen said.

It isn’t the first time a storm has blown lapwings from Europe to North America, but the number of sightings is a record, Petersen said.

_http://www.boston.com/metrodesk/2013/01/03/european-birds-catch-ride-mass-hurricane-sandy-but-can-they-survive-the-cold/ePKbFMwaZMxAbdUGxi7qPK/story.html

I'm not really sure that Hurricane Sandy may have caused these birds to fly off course. As I recall it traveled up part of the east coast of the US before veering inland. How it could have affected or influenced a short distance migrating bird like the Lapwing in far away Europe is a mystery to me. I may be mistaken though.

Biologists baffled by discovery of penguin-like bird in Brevard


They typically winter no farther south than New Jersey. Maybe Hurricane Sandy steered them off course or disrupted their usual diet of schooling fish.

Biologists aren’t sure why these penguin-like birds, called razorbills, have flocked to the Space Coast and beyond, way farther south than normal.

The black birds with white underbellies have flapped their way to Kennedy Space Center, where Audubon members spotted several during their annual Christmas Bird Count.

“Everybody’s talking about it,” said Ned Steel, who coordinated the Audubon count on Merritt Island, which includes the security area of the space center.

Before this year, there had been only 17 sightings of razorbills reported to Florida’s bird surveillance program. Those were typically one or just a few birds.

This winter, about 100 razorbills have been spotted off Miami. They’ve also been seen from Naples to Pensacola on Florida’s Gulf Coast.

A few perished along the way. The state’s Fish and Wildlife Research Institute in St. Petersburg recently received eight razorbill carcasses. The two juvenile birds examined so far had no food in their stomachs, said the institute's spokeswoman Wendy Quigley.

“It basically looks like those particular ones could not handle the stress of the situation,” she said.

_http://www.floridatoday.com/article/20121226/NEWS01/121226011/Biologists-baffled-by-discovery-penguin-like-bird-Brevard?nclick_check=1

 

[treesparrow]

A couple more odd bird migration stories from North America, this though time involving only 2 individuals, who being summer migrants should be (at this time of the year in the northern hemisphere) wintering in much sunnier climes, far to the south of where these birds turned up. Strange.

Rare bird draws tourists to Queen’s Park

Theresa McManus

Birders from near and far are able to cross an item off their bucket list after viewing a wee bird that lost its way.

A red-flanked bluetail that would normally be in Southeast Asia at this time of year has been causing quite a stir in Queen’s Park. Birders armed with binoculars and photographers equipped with fancy cameras descended on the park in recent days to view the visitor.

“There were a lot of bird watchers – 35 or 40,” New Westminster resident Rob Butler said about the crowd on Wednesday afternoon. “If it hangs around, there would be people coming from across North America – it’s so rare.”

The arrival of the red-flanked bluetail in New Westminster is the first time the bird has been reported in Canada.

“It was pretty neat,” Butler said about seeing the bird. “I have been over to Asia birding. I didn’t see it in Asia.”

A report on the B.C. Rare Bird Alert website stated that the red-flanked bluetail was found Feb. 13 by Colin McKenzie, and later confirmed by George Clulow and Mike Toochin. Both Clulow and Toochin have previously seen the red-flanked blu-etail in Asia.

“People spend their money and fly all over,” Butler said. “People have these lists. It’s pretty esoteric stuff. This is the first in Canada. For George, he was the first person to identify it.”

Butler said some bird watchers set goals of seeing how many species of birds they can view in a year. He noted that was the premise of the 2011 film, The Big Year.

“A lot of bird watchers, they have their life lists,” Butler said. “People have their own lists, they have their North American lists.”

The discovery of the red-flanked bluetail in New Westminster is only the third time the bird has been found in North America. The species normally breeds in Siberia and winters in Southeast Asia, meaning it would normally be in south China, Burma, Thailand, Laos or Indonesia at this time.

Butler, a professional ornithologist who first became interested in birds as a child, is an adjunct professor at Simon Fraser University and a former senior research scientist and biologist with Environment Canada’s Canadian Wildlife Services. He’s also involved with Bird Studies Canada, where his work has included coordinating the British Columbia Bird Atlas.

Butler knows birds – and he also knows birding can be big business. “It’s a huge market, a massive market,” he said. “Vancouver city is really getting into this.”

Sadhu Johnston, the City of Vancouver’s deputy city manager, is the former chief environmental officer with the City of Chicago, where he developed a “bird agenda.” The City of Vancouver’s Greenest City 2020 action plan notes that Vancouver has some of the world’s most important habitat and more than 407 bird species – making it the “perfect place” to lead the country in celebrating World Migratory Bird Day.

Butler contacted a New Westminster city councillor about the presence of the red-flanked bluetail in the Royal City.

“It is important for the city to know this,” he said. “Those people coming into the city will be spending money.”

Butler visited the park on Wednesday afternoon with friends who had come from Vancouver Island to see the bird. Another friend from Toronto is interested in visiting if the bird appears to be staying.

“It’s an unusual year,” Butler said. “There are quite a few Asian species that are showing up this year.”

While there have been sightings of bram-blings, wagtails and other species from Asia, the red-flanked bluetail is the most rare bird to visit the Lower Mainland.

Butler said there’s no way to know whether the visit is a onetime occurrence, or whether more red-flanked bluetails will head this way. There’s also no way of knowing when the bird plans to fly the coop and head elsewhere.

“It’s hard to know. Sometimes they do hang around for a long time. Other times, they just go,” Butler said. “They come and go – that is the way it is with birds.”

Since it was first identified last weekend, the bird has attracted flocks of people to Queen’s Park, including birders from the Okanagan, Vancouver Island and Washington State.

The bird appeared quite at home in its temporary home in the treed area near the children’s playground.

_http://o.canada.com/2013/01/18/rare-bird-draws-tourists-to-queens-park/

A Second Rare Bird Arrives from Central America

The ovenbird attracts gawkers in Northeast Portland.

John McAfee isn’t the only one hiding out in Portland after a long trip from Central America. Another guest from the tropics—this time of the avian variety—has taken up temporary residence in the Pacific Northwest. The Audubon Society of Portland confirmed the sighting of an ovenbird, a species rarely seen outside Central America and the Caribbean during winter months.

Longtime-birder Suzanne Hannam, 84, spotted the warbler treading around the backyard of her Laurelhurst home. The sighting was so unusual the Audubon Society initially didn’t believe Hannam. It was later verified after an official identified the spotted, orange-crowned bird.

And while the little songbird hasn’t attracted the same media attention as McAfee, the other spotted, orange-crowned runaway from Central America, birders have taken notice. Hannam says she’s had about 200 guests over the weekend and into Monday.

“We got so tired of the doorbell ringing we just posted a big sign out front telling birders to head to the backyard and to please not park in my front yard,” says Hannam.

No word yet if the bird can confirm rumors of Hezbollah training camps in Belize. You’ll just have to take McAfee’s word for it.

_http://www.wweek.com/portland/blog-29651-a_second_rare_bird_arrives_from_central_america.html

 

[treesparrow]

Rare migratory bird spotted after 113 years in Himachal

Rare winter migratory bird, whooper swan spotted at Pong Dam Lake wetland this winter. (HT Photo)

Known for being silent or alternatively not-so-musical for most of their lifetime, their musical utterances at the moment of death have been suggested as the origin of the swan song legend. Much for the delight of ornithologists, this melodious rare winter migrant birdie- “whooper swan”
is the new winged guest at Pong Dam Lake wetland this winter.

A pair of whooper swans was spotted in the Nagrota Suriyan on January 29. The bird has been a rare migrant to India and has been recorded at Pong Dam for first time, while in India it was last recorded a century ago in 1900.

“We recorded a pair of the whooper swan (pronounced as hooper). It was a chance discovery and we have taken some photographs of the bird as a proof,” said assistant conservator of forest (wildlife), Dharamsala, DS Dhadwal, adding that “the bird is a rare migrant to India and it normally migrates from Central Asia and Europe”.

“The last record of this bird, shot on the river Beas is by EH Aitken in 1900 before that AO Hume has mentioned the bird in his notes on Swans of India in 1878,” said Dhadwal.

Meanwhile, Dhadwal told that this was the 418th bird species to be recorded at the Pong Dam wetland, 417th being the “Ruddy Breasted Crake” recorded only last month.

The reappearance of the whooper swan, with distinctive long thin neck and yellow bill, at the Pong wetlands has attracted the attention of ornithologists.

"As soon as the news about the sighting of the swans flashed, the official present at the Pong Dam preparing the ongoing two day avian count race, got a number of enquiries from bird lovers across the country," Dhadwal said.

The Red Data Book of the International Union for Conservation of Nature – a compendium of species facing extinction – has put the whooper swan in the least concern category.

Amongst the heaviest flying birds, whooper swan has an average body weight of 9.8-11.4 kg for males and 8.2-9.2 kg for females, and has extremely large range. It prefers shallow freshwater pools, lakes, marshes and swamps.

Whooper swans require large areas of water to live in, especially when they are still growing, because their body weight cannot be supported by their legs for extended periods of time.

The whooper swan spends much of its time swimming, straining the water for food, or eating plants that grow on the bottom. Despite their size, whooper swans are powerful fliers and can migrate hundreds or even thousands of miles to their wintering sites in southern Europe and eastern Asia.

The whooper swan is the national bird of Finland and is featured on the Finnish 1 euro coin.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-news/HimachalPradesh/Rare-migratory-bird-spotted-after-113-years-in-Himachal/Article1-1004611.aspx?utm_source=MigrantWatch+participants&utm_campaign=07be06bf81-MW_newsletter_2013_01&utm_medium=email#.URKcpXsHjLA.facebook

 

[treesparrow]

Another really odd migration, this time by an American tropical and subtropical species that is usually either resident all year round in the area of its distribution range or undertakes relatively short haul, southerly movements. In this instance a Purple Gallinule turned up way to the north in cold Atlantic waters in the middle of winter.

Tropical bird thriving on LI after Atlantic water rescue

Originally published: February 15, 2013 5:18 PM
Updated: February 15, 2013 5:24 PM

By PATRICIA KITCHEN

Photo credit: Doug Kuntz

This Purple Gallinule tropical marsh bird that spends the summer months in the southernmost portion of the United States, and the rest of the year in Central and South America, was plucked from the chilly waters of the Atlantic Ocean, 75 miles south of Nantucket, Mass. by the crew of the commercial fishing vessel "Bookie" on Jan. 16. Frank Green of Oakdale was part of the crew and brought the bird to the Wildlife Rescue Center in Hampton Bays where the bird is recovering, and awaiting transport back to a warmer climate to be released. (Feb. 14, 2013)

The Wildlife Rescue Center in Hampton Bays is nurturing back to health a wayward tropical bird fished out of the cold waters of the Atlantic Ocean.

The Purple Gallinule, a marsh bird ordinarily associated with areas much further south, was chomping on live crickets at the center Friday after a rescue at sea one month ago by a Long Island fisherman.

Found Jan. 16 struggling in the waters..

_http://cfzwatcheroftheskies.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/tropical-bird-thriving-on-li-after.html

 

[treesparrow]

Snowy owl spotted in Cairngorms

The birds of prey are native to Arctic regions, including parts of Norway and North America.

The snowy owl in the Cairngorms was seen on 18 February and reported on the nature website iSpot earlier on Tuesday.

RSPB Scotland said that to see snowy owls in Scotland was rare. The last pair of snowy owls to breed in the UK was on Shetland in 1975.

A spokesman said: "I believe that over the years snowy owls have been seen occasionally in the Cairngorms during the summer months.

"It is unusual to see one high up on the plateau during winter as there would be relatively little food for them - particularly up around Ben Macdui."

He added: "Spotting a white bird like a snowy owl in such a extensive snowy landscape would be a quite a challenge."

In 2011, a male snowy owl appeared on the Western Isles for the eighth year running in a search for a mate.

The large white owl first visited the islands in 2003 and had previously flown around North Uist, Lewis, Harris and St Kilda.

In 2008, birdwatchers' hopes of snowy owls breeding in the UK for first time in more than 30 years were raised when the bird was joined by a female.

However, the pair were later spotted 50 miles apart.

_http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-21589828

 

[thorbiorn]

In China, a conference of birds was observed recently, maybe a sign of migration, or a parallel to the dark suns created in Europe by "celebrating" starlings.

 

[Elfin]

Our 2D friends would be the first ones to change their behaviors in response to environmental changes:

It's not just whooping cranes. In my location (Aberdeen, MD US) other species of birds like geese and starlings have also changed their behaviors.

Hi, I was reading your thread, I have noticed a few different types of birds here in Sc. Even birds that look like they have crossbred with another. It's a strange thing.