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Posted by Toe on 08:35:34 03/29/11
In Reply to: Meterology and Migration posted by Alex Harper
Could changing weather patterns be affecting migration for us down here? Unfortunately, I did not get into birding until 1999, but I was involved in fishing and stronomy for a number of years before and both these activities demand attention to weather. That said, I recall previous springs where cold fronts would continue reaching south Florida into May. I particularly remember May 17, 1996 where I went to Hahogany Hammock for astronomy and enjoyed clear skies and 59 degree temp thanks to the cold front that passed the night before. Another day that comes to mind was in late April ~2001 where I birded Matheson and the trees were dripping with birds thanks to the cold front that was passing at that vere moment.
Point is, we haven't had a serious cold front this year since January, and the last several years, in my observation, have seen fewer and weaker late-season cold fronts for us. This also coincides with the slow spring migrations, so the perceived slowness to our spring migration could just be caused by shifting weather patterns that no longer cuase the birds to drop in our area. Hence, we see huge flocks on radar flying right over us.
One last point, years past we had no radar or othr technologies to track birds or decide where to go birding, and we had plenty of very productive days during migration. Similarly, when I started fishing I had many HUGE catches without the help of GPS, color sonar, satellite current tracking, or water temperature gauges. When the abundance is there, who needs all those doohickies!
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