Hi Tweets,

Chris Chappell writes:

>If your count of black-bellied plovers is accurate at 700, that
>would certainly represent a migratory concentration, as
>opposed to wintering birds. 200-300 or so winter at that site.
(snip)

In an average year, such an increase above the average would likely signal
the arrival of the northbound migration, but this has been an unusually warm
El Nino winter, with many birds wintering further N than usual. Could the
numbers beyond the average be such a wintering group? Was there regular
monitoring of the plover numbers at this site to establish the size of this
year's wintering population as compared to the average? I wish I knew what
the situation was at Boundary Bay this winter, whether the wintering plover
numbers were higher than average; that would give a point of comparison, too.

Michael Price A brave world, Sir,
Vancouver BC Canada full of religion, knavery and change;
mprice at mindlink.net we shall shortly see better days.
Aphra Behn (1640-1689)