How early is early?

I've been hearing from most hummingbird watchers how early the hummingbirds
appear to be this year. But how early? Using data collected over the last
three seasons, I compared the previous earliest records to those sent in
this year, all but 4 are earlier and the average is 7 days ahead of past
records. This is an el Ni?o year and very incomplete data from years prior
to 2000 suggests that very early arrivals occurred in 1992 and 1998, also
el Ni?o years.

2003 prev diff
earliest
New River,OR 33 40 7
Waldport, OR 33 35 2
Florence, OR 39 41 2
Astoria, OR 39 55 16
Gig Harbor, WA 39 67 28
Nahcotta, WA 42 57 15
Coos Bay, OR 44 47 3
Lyngstad Heights, OR 45 45 0
Nanaimo, BC 48 51 3
Portland, OR 49 55 6
S. Salem, OR 50 66 16
Vancouver, WA 50 62 12
Merlin, OR 51 58 7
Olympia, WA 53 63 10
Castle Rock, WA 53 62 9
Corvallis, OR 54 45 -9
South Beach, OR 56 45 -11
N.Albany, OR 56 76 20
Seaside, OR 56 63 7
McMinneville, OR 56 60 4
Newberg, OR 57 61 4
Montesano, WA 58 67 9
Philomath, OR 58 58 0

average 7


To follow along with the hummingbird migration for 2003 and report
hummingbird arrivals in your area, visit:
http://home.pacifier.com/~neawanna/humm/count.html

--
Mike Patterson
Astoria, OR
celata at pacifier.com

A child who becomes acquainted with the birds about him
hears every sound and puzzles out its meaning with a cleverness
that amazes those with ears who hear not.

-Neltje Blanchan

http://www.pacifier.com/~mpatters/bird/bird.html