Out in New Mexico, reader Linda Calhoun is experiencing environmental anomalies, and asked me to pose a question to readers who like birds. To wit:
I would like to hear from my fellow WEIT birders if possible.
Questions: Are you experiencing unusual weather in your area? And if you are, is it affecting what you’re seeing at your bird feeders?
It has been VERY warm here. The juncos are almost gone, the pine siskins are completely gone, and I’m already seeing goldfinches, which don’t usually show up on their way through until mid to late April.
Answer in the comments, please.
Just a few notes on March 4. On this day in 1519 Hernan Cortés landed in Mexico, soon to wreak havoc on the locals. In 1789 the first U.S. Congress met in New York City, making the Constitution and Bill of Rights (including freedom of/from religion and freedom of expression) into law. And, in 1837, the City of Chicago was incorporated! Births on this day included Knute Rockne (1888) and Rick Perry (1950); deaths included those of Nikolai Gogol (1852), Knut Ångström (1910), and Minnie Pearl (1996, “How-DEEE!”). Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, Hili looks very suspicious about philosophy, though I’m not sure she’s actually read Plato:
A: What do you think of Plato?
Hili: I do not trust him one tiny bit.
(Photo: Sarah Lawson)
In Polish:
Ja: Hili: co sądzisz o Platonie?
Hili: Nie ufam mu ani za grosz.
(Zdjęcie: Sarah Lawson)
Lagniappe: A photo from theFacebook site Meanwhile in Canada :
And Gus in the sun:
Reader George Boley has a “spot the. . .” photo:
Can you spot the cat? It’s Cowboy. He’s 17 this year!
And a cartoon tw**ted by Godless Spellchecker:
Re Plato ….. I totally agree, not to be trusted. By the way, very influential in Christianity as well as philosophy, and beloved of Metaphysics
Diogenes on the other hand – THERE was a man!
In NYC we have had an incredibly warm winter with only a few cold snaps. Our feeder station in Prospect Park, Brooklyn has only attracted a few American Goldfinches, White-breasted Nuthatches, Black-capped Chickadees and Downy Woodpeckers. We had almost no Juncos and White-throated Sparrows,birds that migrate out of the nearby Catskill Mountains. Also the local House Sparrows have moved in and are now the most numerous bird at the feeders.
Almost no boreal birds came down to visit this winter (no Pine Siskins, Crossbills, Purple Finches,Red-breasted Nuthatches, etc)as up north in the Adirondacks and Canada the temperature remained above average and there was little snow to cover ground food. Cone crops were good way up north as well so they had plenty to eat where they were.
El Nino.
It is something of a mystery why house sparrows disappeared from London. It used to be the second most common bird after the feral pigeons, then possibly because of the loss of communal nesting sites perhaps, or …
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/nature/mystery-of-the-vanishing-sparrows-still-baffles-scientists-10-years-on-2056309.html
I see the same is happening in Asia –
http://southasia.oneworld.net/news/disappearing-sparrow-common-bird-goes-uncommon#.VtmGxuYhF2E
The canary in the coal mine?
The bird equivalent of, “So long, and thanks for all the fish.”
The juncos, mourning doves, crows, seagulls, Cooper’s hawks, and sparrows have been abundant in Southwestern Ontario. Had some woodpeckers and starlings pass through too, and a few chickadees, cardinals and pine siskins. Lots of Mallards and Canada geese that stay all year. No goldfinches here yet.
We’ve had wonky weather, with relatively little snow all winter, and a couple of Chinook-esque warm spells. Whenever there’s been a significant snowfall or snowstorm, they’ve been followed within days or weeks by a melt-off.
In the Minneapolis area (suburbs, not in the city where they use pumps to keep some lakes open) we had over-wintering ducks and Canada geese too — very unusual for this area.
They’re beautiful, aren’t they? Of course, I know people who view them as pests; they do poop all along the sidewalks in some neighbourhoods.
Here’s a ‘little brown bird with an effervescent voice’ that I’m not sure if I’ve seen this winter. I haven’t heard any exquisite riffing like this recently, only in the warmer months.
Click on the audio to hear… you might know of this already.)
https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/House_Wren/id
Oh, oh, just saw a pair of cardinals at the suet feeder! They’re back! There are lots of little birdies picking up seeds in the snow. It’s now ‘warmimg’ up for the coming week.
I invite everybody to join the Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s Project FeederWatch, and you can contribute to, and at the end of the season compare, data on birds from all over the US and Canada. BTW, here in Greece (NY!) I am seeing roughly the same species and numbers that I did last year. Also squirrels.
Despite the warm weather, my squirrels have not yet emerged. I’m always surprised at the photos of squirrels in snow that are posted here. Mine hunker down until it’s really spring. L
We’ve had squirrels out all winter, every day, except for a few cold days (Minneapolis area).
Love the cartoon.
The first Congress was just slightly confusing, probably just me. The Constitution was already made, prior to the first congress meeting, however the bill of rights was still to come and was completed during the first congress.
Weather in southwest Iowa, warmer than normal and very little snow this year. Lots of the usual birds at the feeders – goldfinches, juncos, nuthatches, doves, woodpeckers. Saw the first Robin yesterday. Plenty of squirrels and absolutely no rabbits here. Lots of ducks and geese on the water and more eagles than you can count.
On the weather:
We are not big birders (though we (I) do keep a list of sightings made from our home (house, deck, and yard only are counted and it’s quite long).
It’s been the shortest and warmest winter I can recall (having lived here 1969-1984 and 2002-present). Here being the Minneapolis-St. Paul area in Minnesota.
We did not get snow (that stayed) until 24-Dec, we’ve had only one significant snow storm (about 12 inches in one storm over about 24 hours), and the ground has been bare for a couple of weeks now. It was 58°F (14°C) on 28-Feb-16. We only had a couple of days that dipped below 0°F (-18°C), and those not very far below zero.
The shortest, “easiest” winter I’ve ever experienced in Minnesota.
They had the local meteorologist PhDs on the radio yesterday and they were saying, basically, that it’s been insanely warm (they used those words — are scientists supposed to do that? 🙂 in the Arctic this winter, 20+°F (11+°C) above average.)
They also noted that the supposed “stasis” of recent years never happened. It was just a hiccup in the data. 2014 was the hottest year globally on record and 2015 whipped it convincingly for that title. 2016, after this winter? Hold on for the ride!
I should have noted that we had some over-wintering (or nearly over-wintering) American robins and blue jays this winter, which I have never seen before here.
We had (I use the past tense tentatively) a very similar winter here in SE South Dakota except we had record-breaking snow fall amounts. Blue jays showed up at our feeder about a month ago which is very unusual; male robins have been around here for about 2 weeks. We usually get considerable over-winter diversity at our feeders including cardinals, juncos, pine siskins, chickadees, nuthatches, hairy and downy woodpeckers, the occasional flicker, and Eurasian collared doves. Our local sharp-shinned hawk seems to appreciate the diversity as well.
Here in NE Florida the winter has been very warm and our winter snowbird visitors (avian type) are way down. We are seeing much lower than average numbers of goldfinches and chipping sparrows and our resident cardinal population has dropped. Visiting thrushes are down and yesterday I heard a hermit thrush singing in a wild section of the property. Gray squirrel numbers, on the other hand, are much higher as is the feral cat population.
Linda: Here on the Virginia Peninsula, we have had semi-odd winter weather with more storm action and swings in temperature. Earlier this week it was in the low 70s. Last night it snowed. Juncos numerous. Cardinals, less numerous than most years. Woodpeckers seem to be more numerous and especially more active (downy, red-bellied, red-headed, pileated). Male bluebirds showed up a little earlier than usual. Many brown thrashers. Owls, usually common around my house, are rare.
And here is a pro tip from Jerry’s death list: Never tell your girlfriend’s mother that she reminds you of Minnie Pearl. Especially if she does.
Yikes – including the hat?
No, but she even had that little gap between upper incisors and we lived in Appalachia, so the accent was close. This was my high school girlfriend and I remember the frost to this day.
Here in the middle of Saint Paul, MN we don’t get a big variety of birds at our feeder, partially due to the large gang of house sparrows that mob the feeder and discourage other birds. I did manage to find a solution the the sparrow problem, though, by hanging some weighted wires around the feeder perimeter. This worked like a charm. The sparrows are affraid to approach the feeder now and hang out around it waiting for other birds that are undetered by the defenses to drop seed and nuts on the ground. We now have a group of six chickadees the come to the feeder several times a day. You can set your watch by their schedule. We also had several house finches and three female goldfinches at the feeder two weeks ago (very early for the goldfinches it seemed). Nearby, a neighbor has a Mountain Ash tree. Two weeks ago a group of fifty or sixty robins spent several days there feeding. There have been similar large groups of robins there in the past several years, but never as early as mid February as I recall. They have usually been there in Mid March.
It’s been an unusually warm and dry winter here. Minnesota is famous (at least in our own minds) for legendary state high school baketball and hockey tournament blizzards in March. Back in my youth there was indeed some hregularity to these events. Can’t remember when the last time one of those happened. It’s been awhile. It’s more likely that the blizzards will be replaced by deluges.
A friend reports that the orchid Calypso bulbosa is blooming now, about 4 weeks before it usually does.
Oops. The orchid is blooming early in Corvallis, Oregon.
El Niño has made things warmer in the PNW this year also. I haven’t worn a coat here in Vancouver since early January (although jackets and rain gear are certainly still required).
The main effect the warmer weather has had on the local bird life is that everyone is getting into nesting mode a lot earlier. The glaucous-winged gulls returned to their nesting territories about two weeks earlier than usual (beginning of February). I also spotted a Rock Pigeon nest with babies last month in a parking garage overhang.
It’s already room temperature here in Colorado, morning hours, 6,300 feet up. We had one cold bit all winter. Not even a deep freeze. In short, we’re screwed. It’s going to be a scorcher.
Here being on the south shore of the Rappahannock in esatern Virginia a few miles from teh Bay, we had a warm December and it has been around average to below average since then. Birds at the feeder are the usual for this time of year; gold finches, house finches, white breasted nuthatches, cardinals, tufted titmouses,redwing blackbirds, grackles, cowbirds, mourning doves, whitethroat sparrows, chipping sparrows, downy hairy and red-bellied woodpeckers, carolina chickadees and carolina wrens. Not coming to feeder are robins, cedar waxwinga, eastern bluebirds and northern flickers. On the creek; buffleheads, hooded, red-breasted and common mergansers, mallards, tundra swans, an occasional loon, blue herons, double-crested cormorants, bald eagles.
There are others but these are the ones I can think of without having to look at the records. The only unusual sighting was of an osprey around Feb 23rd which seems quite early but we haven’t seen it again. All in all a normal winter except December which was warmer than average but far from unprecedented.
NB: warmth this winter is attributable to a very strong el Nino systemm that is just now fading.
Here in Seattle, WA its been a pretty normal winter. The only thing unusual is that it has rained heavier, but not more frequently, for a couple weeks. Heavy rains normally occur in the fall.
George, cute shot of Cowboy! 🙂 Nice to see him again and I’m glad he’s doing fine as a senior citizen.