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Posted by Toe on 08:48:56 11/23/10
In Reply to: Re: C-357 and Cutler Wetlands 11/20: Slim Pickings posted by Alex Harper
Don't hold your breath for any of these northern birds down here. Every year we say the same thing, "This is the year we get Golden-crowned Kinglet", "This is the year we get Pine Siskin", "This is the year...". Well, we are still waiting. While the rest of the country enjoys winter, we are stuck in perpetual summer. The forecst for the remainder of the week is the same: 80's with scattered showers, typical summer weather anywhere in the country.
The birds we hope to get this time of year are TEMPERATE species, which means they do NOT like TROPICAL weather or habitats. Whether they be pineland songbirds or seaducks and pelagics, they need cool to cold climate and temperate habitats. Some seaducks will overshoot when taking a ride on a cold front, but will shoot back north once they realize they are in clear warm water surrounded by mangroves. It's back up to the cold, murky, nutrient-rich waters up north where the food is.
A strong Arctic blast coinciding with a southbound movement of these birds may push some our way, but we need it to happen now that they are still moving and not later once they've settled on their wintering area. This way, some may overshoot here before going back north. But, I don't see such a blast anywhere in the forecast. The next cold front is probably going to make it to north Florida and stall, just like all the others.
With the neotropical migrants already down south for the winter, and the northern temperate birds stopping in northern Florida, we are left with......
Hey, at leas there's always spring migration!
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