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Posted by Michelle Davis on 21:06:58 10/30/11
In Reply to: Re: Fallout Conditions Again! Cape FL Fallout! posted by Jeanette
I must not visit this board enough since I didn't realize 'fallout' was such a controversial term. Today around 0900 when the rains stopped we watched dozens of warblers drop down out of the clouds and land in the hammocks at Cape Florida. They were 'falling out', and were concentrated right afterwards but had dispersed into the landscape by the afternoon, or were hunkered down from the strong wind. There's big fallouts, small fallouts, local fallouts(today), widespread regional fallouts(two weeks ago). Sometimes fallouts are really diverse, and sometimes not so much. Depends on what is migrating at the time when inclement weather grounds birds. One of the biggest fallouts I've seen was in coastal Louisiana after the March 1993 Superstorm, and it was 98% yellowrumps but they covered the ground and were exhausted. To me a 'fallout' happens whenever weather conditions make migrating birds land instead of going on their merry way overhead and depending on the weather event it can be just an extra stop for a few hours for the birds or a sign of a tragic event occurring offshore. Today's birds that landed at Cape Florida were fat and healthy and landed because of the rain here, but most of their flight had apparently gone pretty well(as far as we can tell). The March 1993 birds were the survivors of a Gulf-wide maelstrom that probably killed thousands. Migration is a dangerous activity, but it works out for the birds more often than it doesn't.
Just my $.02. Happy birding, y'all!
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