Subject: Kingbirds and El Nino
Date: Nov 6 19:41:53 1997
From: Mike Patterson - mpatters at orednet.org




What with 8 Tropical Kingbirds in Oregon, at least 4 in
Washington and 2 in British Columbia along with a Scissor-
tailed Flycatcher in Coos County (a banner year for this
Tyrants.) I thought it was useful to ask: can we blame this on
El Nino like everything else?

I sorted through OBRC records and _Oregon Birds_ field notes
to see what years were kingbird years. One would have, at least,
expected a strong spike in 1982 if there was any close correlation
and there is none. This of course does not exclude the possibility
that this years kingbird push wasn't caused by...say...all
those eastern Pacific hurricanes or the unseasonably pleasant fall
we're having, both of which are El Nino related. It just doesn't
appear to be a pattern followed by previous events.

76 x
77
en---->78
79 x
80
81 xxx
82 xx
en---->83 xx
84 xx
85
86 xx
en---->87
88
89
90 x
91 x
en---->92
93 xx
en---->94 x
95 x
96
en---->97 xxxxxxxx


--
********************************* I am but mad north-north-west;
* Mike Patterson, Astoria, OR * when the wind is southerly,
* mpatters at orednet.org * I know a hawk from a handsaw.
http://www.pacifier.com/~mpatters -ws