Unusual density of specific bird species and seasonal shift in their
presence have been noted throughout N. America, Robert. We are
currently completing a paper for peer-reviewed publication on the
subject which, we hope, will see print next Fall in a major scientific
journal. It will address the changes not only in population density,
but also diversity and richness. Moscow is a lovely rural area and it
is not surprising that the shift is occurring there, also. In our area
-- N. California -there were literally thousands of American Robins
through our property over a period of 48 hours in mid-January.
On the opposite side of the coin, frog density has fallen off greatly
in other areas such as the valley in which we live. Except for an
occasional individual, hardly any vox this year. Since January, we've
been recording every few weeks at a spot usually pretty rich with many
species of birds (32 as Kevin and Martyn can attest) but even though
the weather has been spectacular, the density and diversity at that
spot has fallen off to the point yesterday, that it was almost silent
at dawn...the first year in two decades of recording, there.
Bernie
On Mar 12, 2009, at 8:53 AM, Robert Heckendorn wrote:
> I live at the top of a small hill in a residential neighborhood in
> Moscow, Idaho (North Central Idaho). I live about 1/4 mile from a
> stream and about 1/2 mile from a wetland. We have been having record
> setting low temperatures the last couple of weeks. We have also been
> having a flock of red wing black birds show up every evening about
> 30 min before sunset. They start with a single bird and slowly the
> trees fill and they start singing intricate songs. It is like a
> hundred conversations at a loud party. In my neighbor's tree I
> counted 120 birds at the very top singing away. This hasn't happened
> in my 10 years here that I recall. Is this normal? Maybe our red
> wing blackbird population has increased over the years. Maybe the
> cold is increasing the pressure to flock. Any thoughts or comments?
>
> I have a couple of bad recordings of their vocalizations but it is a
> neighborhood in town so their is *lots* of man-made noise. Their
> songs sound like the sounds they make in the wetlands but amplified
> by being so close together and in such numbers (probably around 200
> birds).
>
>
>
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