Tweets, here is a second account of the same migration spectacle described
by John Arvin earlier. I love the wildness and diversity of the West, but I
sure do miss many aspects of the East. It's a richer, lusher part of the
world, much more like the tropics. I miss all the little cold-blooded
fishes, herps, and insects that are so scarce around here, but the spring
and fall warbler migrations also stack right up there among the most
missable. However, few people in their lifetimes will see anything like the
phenomenon described here.

>> >Team,
>> >
>> >'I suspect that very few people on this planet have seen what I have
>> seen in
>> >the last 12 hours.' So said John this morning (30th). I would
>> reiterate that
>> >- I saw much the same that John saw, and more - the whole event has
>> been
>> >spread over three remarkable nights here at GB189, and also involved
>> >stunningly massive arrival on the platform itself. I'll be brief -
>> the
>> >general vibe has been captured by my earlier 'wow' posting and those
>> of
>> >John. If I seem vague I apologise, I am behind on paperwork for
>> reasons that
>> >will become clear so numbers are rough at present, and it's also due
>> to only
>> >a few hours sleep in the last 48 hours!
>> >
>> >Monday 27th
>> >After two days of zero (I mean zero) the build up of cloud in the
>> evening
>> >(from 1700) was a sight for sore eyes. That evening was very like the
>> 'wow'
>> >event of the 17/18th, with mist, complete cloud cover, and a slow
>> build-up
>> >of a large flock of birds (c.600) dancing in the platform lights,
>> whilst
>> >shorebirds and others blasted north close-by. As I described on 17th,
>> it can
>> >be very hard to determine what species are involved, but some notable
>> birds
>> >were Scissor-tailed Fly, Lesser and Common Nighthawks, Am Kestrel,
>> >Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Osprey, Sora, Mourning and WW doves
>> (again!), YB
>> >Cuckoos, Chestnut-sided and Magnolia warblers, and many tanagers,
>> grosbeaks
>> >and Catharus thrushes. Passing shorebirds included Upland Sands and
>> peeps
>> >(at least one flock probably Semi-p). It was a very impressive show,
>> on a
>> >much bigger scale than the 17th.
>> >
>> >Tuesday 28th
>> >Before dawn there were about 90 birds on the platform, and a few
>> other birds
>> >arrived shortly after dawn. The main species were GRCA, BBWA, MAWA,
>> REVI,
>> >TEWA, BARS, SWTH, WWDO, OVEN. New species were Blackburnian and
>> >Black-throated Green warblers, E Wood-pewee, Grey-cheeked Thrush and
>> Moorhen
>> >(incidentally pushing the GB189 list through 100).
>> >
>> >The weather got progressively wilder through the day, with winds
>> stiffening
>> >from the NE then E to at least 25 knots. Heavy rain started at 1945.
>> >Immediately dozens, then hundreds of birds, appeared. The next four
>> hours
>> >were truly incredible. I spent much time in the lee of the office
>> block
>> >under the helipad. I estimated over 1500 birds were visible flying on
>> the
>> >west side of the platform at any one time. There was some
>> circulation, but
>> >also a lot of turnover. On scurries out into the violent weather to
>> retrieve
>> >birds, I could see the entire platform was surrounded by birds. Most
>> of the
>> >crew came out or watched from windows, having never seen anything
>> like it
>> >(in 25 years, the Super said he had seen something similar only once
>> >before). Subsequent events suggest that at least many thousands of
>> birds
>> >were involved, perhaps well in to five figures. Some birds were
>> landing by
>> >2030, and many after 2200. Shorebirds streaming past involved many
>> SPSAs and
>> >WIPHs, and I even had two Black Terns join in.
>> >
>> >I was tempted to stay up all the way through, but suspecting a busy
>> time the
>> >following day, hit the sack at midnight and got up at 0400. This
>> proved to
>> >be a wise move - one of the crew had to taken off by emergency
>> medical night
>> >flight around 0200, and then lightning hit the flare boom at 0300
>> causing a
>> >small fire - I could well have been in the way of all that!!
>> >
>> >'Big Wednesday' 29th
>> >The morning of the 29th will never be forgotten. To cut a long story
>> short
>> >(and it would be impossible to describe in words anyway), my pre-dawn
>> census
>> >total of live birds on the platform was a conservative 2145 (no, I
>> didn't
>> >put too many digits in!). The South Sub-cellar deck was carpeted in
>> >warblers, and the entire underside of the Cellar Deck was packed. It
>> took a
>> >lot of patience to walk around without stepping on birds (they were
>> >reluctant to fly into a 25 knot wind and rain). The crew was totally
>> amazed.
>> >There were at least 600 Bay-breasted Warblers on the South
>> Sub-cellar! The
>> >next commonest species were OVEN and TEWA. The following were all
>> commonly
>> >represented (by the dozen in most cases): GRCA, BAWW, YWAR, CSWA,
>> MAWA,
>> >BLBW, WEWA, NOWA, LOWA, AMRE, HOWA, KEWA, COYE, SCTA, SUTA, INBU,
>> EAKI,
>> >LEFL, ACFL, SWTH, GCTH, VEER, REVI, RBGR, YBCU, CHSW, BARS and PUMA.
>> Other
>> >notable species included two PEFAs, AMKE, and a female Cerulean
>> Warbler.
>> >Many hundreds of birds were still streaming past over the water up
>> until dawn.
>> >
>> >Attempting bird-by-bird counts in some areas was hopeless. I had to
>> use
>> >estimation, and then sampling to gauge relative abundances, then
>> scans to
>> >find scarcer species. Not ideal, but there was no alternative.
>> Numbers were
>> >declining by 0800, with birds leaving with the E wind to the W or NW.
>> The
>> >entire day was bedlam, trying to count everything and salvage in
>> windy, wet
>> >conditions. For the appalling overnight weather and the vast scale of
>> the
>> >fall-out, it is remarkable that 'only' about 80 dead birds were found
>> (that
>> >was still four times what the preceeding six weeks had produced).
>> >
>> >With the weather not changing and visibility again poor toward dusk,
>> it
>> >happened again for the third night in a row. The scale was back down
>> to that
>> >of Monday night, with 'only' hundreds of birds in the lights, and a
>> steady
>> >stream of shorebirds and others headed north. I couldn't believe how
>> many
>> >Spotted Sands were going past, at times in loose flocks, with their
>> calls
>> >ringing out left and right! Again, there were many medium-sized
>> species as
>> >John described, tanagers, grosbeaks, YB Cuckoos, plus hundreds of
>> warblers.
>> >
>> >I would hypothesise that some of the birds John saw on Wednesday
>> night may
>> >have been those 'grounded' in the Garden Banks area on Tuesday night
>> pushing
>> >on north.
>> >
>> >The rain stopped by 2300, which (thankfully!) reduced the scale of
>> the
>> >fall-out on the platform.
>> >
>> >Thursday 30th
>> >Nevertheless, there was clearly significant arrival of some species
>> >overnight (it would be impossible to say what turnover there was for
>> some
>> >species, as the pool of birds already present was so great). Species
>> that
>> >had been scarcer the preceeding day were now commoner in both
>> absolute and
>> >relative numbers: YWAR, BTNW, GRHE and INBU especially. A few species
>> >arrived that had not been around the previous day, e.g. WOTH, BOBO,
>> LBHE,
>> >BWWA and PROW. There were 'only' about 350 birds on the platform
>> before
>> >dawn. Unlike other similar events, landbirds continued to stream
>> northward
>> >AFTER dawn this morning, at least until 0900.
>> >
>> >A spanking Connecticut Warbler was a nice find on the 0800 census,
>> just
>> >after my second (different) Masked Booby had swung by. By about 1000
>> the sky
>> >was clearing and numbers of birds on the platform fell steadily
>> through the
>> >day. Just to complete the picture, a (3/4 cy) female Frigatebird
>> circled the
>> >platform in blazing sunshine this afternoon.
>> >
>> >Totally mind-blowing. I thought the 17/18th fall-out was impressive,
>> but
>> >that was a stroll in the park compared to events of the preceeding
>> three
>> >days. It is just an immense privelage to witness something like that.
>> Now I
>> >badly need some sleep.
>> >
>> >Best, Jon.
>> >
>> >===============================================================
>> >Jon R. King

Dennis Paulson, Director phone 253-756-3798
Slater Museum of Natural History fax 253-756-3352
University of Puget Sound e-mail dpaulson at ups.edu
Tacoma, WA 98416
http://www.ups.edu/biology/museum/museum.html