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Posted by John Boyd on 08:53:31 03/26/11
In Reply to: Re: Some thoughts on low warbler count posted by Carlos Sanchez
One should also keep in mind that Toe has cherry-picked in order to support his latest whine. E.g., birds such as MacGillivray's Warbler and the odd gull are ignored for 2011, but honeycreepers of uncertain origin and even wintering birds are included for other years.
One should also keep in mind that Toe bitterly complained about the lack of birds throughout the best spring migration in over a decade.
As far as actual data goes, I have some numbers for diversity in March, I have been birding the same area on a more-or-less daily basis since mid-2004. This year is currently tied for second highest March diversity even though the month is not over yet (low 45, high 58, average 51.6, this year 55). Highlights from today's walk in the fog included a stunning adult male Baltimore Oriole, a young male Summer Tanager, Brown Thrasher (FOY in my neighborhood), a lingering Ruby-throated Hummingbird, and a Myrtle Warbler in full song (most years I do not hear them sing in S. Florida). Palm numbers seem to be down. The tanager has been here all winter. I'm less sure about the oriole, which was in a new location, but it may have wintered here too (if so, he didn't look so stunning earlier).
If one looks at the picture for the whole year, it's also hard to see a trend. However, over the last year, most months were above average.
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