Tweeters,

On July 09, Michael Price said:

(snips)
>southbound birds from the south coast of Alaska
>*could* fly out into the Northern Pacific in a south*westerly* direction,
>pick
>up favorable tailwinds on the western side of the High and make landfall


On July 10, Jack Bowling said in response:

(snip)
>Just a slight correction. This would be the eastern side of the North Pacific
>High. Winds flow clockwise around a high pressure area in the northern
>hemisphere so the north winds are on the eastern side of highs. There is a
>little homily that can help you remember this called Buys Ballot's Law after
>the guy who thought it up: "Back to the wind; low on the left." High on the
>left in the southern hemisphere.

I knew that. I just forgot which hemisphere I was in. And wasn't the whole
law "Back to the wind; low *and outside* on the left-handed batters in
Candlestick Park--" when Ballot was pitching for the Giants? ;-)

Yeah, Jack's right: I erred in the details, but I think the *idea* of
offshore shorebird migration is still in place, sort of, and I *still* think
that Santa Maria Rufous-necked Stint (RNST) migrated from Alaska offshore
with strong tailwinds associated with that big High, just closer to land
than in my original speculation. Let's find some Alaska nesting RNST's and
some adjacent nesting Western Sandpipers (WESA), radio-collar them, and see
what they do.

As far as I know there's lots of really sophisticated military surveillance
technology aimlessly goofing around in, under, and above the sea with
nothing much to do in the last few years. Surely there can be some use of it
that could complement but not interfere with bona fide military missions.

I think there's been similar accommodations and assistance in the British
services, and I know that the Royal Air Force and Royal Navy *both* have
flourishing amateur ornithological organisations (i.e., RAFOS, the Royal Air
Force Ornithological Society) which have done very good, pioneering work, as
well as doing some good world-birding, given their cosmpolitan range of
operations. Do any of the US services have equivalent organisations? Or is
anything to do with birds still seen as a wimpy, non-macho thing? Deep,
exasperated sigh. I'd think it a natural.

>Speaking of northerly winds, the current weather pattern may be conducive to
>an offshore wave or two. There has been a northerly flow traversing the
>northern edge of the Gulf of Alaska the past few days which then turns
>southward along about 130W and swings onshore around northern California
>and southern Oregon. Perhaps some pelagic trips off Cascadia would turn up
>good numbers of seabirds now along and past the continental shelf (e.g.
>Sabine's Gulls, stray Short-tailed Albatross <g>, etc.).

Boy, do I detect the wistfulness of someone living hundreds of miles inland
in those last few lines... This pattern would explain why some years see
Sharp-tailed Sandpipers arriving in Oregon & California well before they hit
SW BC.

There's *lots* more to this subject. Does anyone know any sites where I can
pull out maps showing western North American Highs, Lows, and jet stream
positions for any given day since, say, 1975? For *free* and without having
to be a Supernova-level computer programmer? I'd ask our local weather guys,
but the Canadian Federal Gov't, fearlessly fighting the deficit from the
back seats of its limousines, has ordained that a member of the public now
gets no weather service other than the public taped messages for free, and
has to pay even to talk to a live meteorologist on the danged *telephone*.
Phooey.

Michael Price
Vancouver BC Canada
michael_price at indlink.bc.ca