I believe Robins could be the answer. I live in a rural area south east of
Portland and there has been a real uptake in Robins within the last month.
And this is not unusual, it happens most Winters here.
And being accompanied by Varied Thrushes is an additional possibility.
I grew up on the San Francisco peninsula and Robin's frequently flew over
at altitudes of several hundred feet in flocks of 10 to maybe 50. In some
Winters they were indeed joined by varied thrushes. These are easily
detected among the robins because they show a faint white wing stripe
underneath. This was in the daytime of course because they wouldn't be
visible to the human eye at night.
Bob O'Brien Portland
On Friday, March 6, 2020, B Boekelheide <
bboek at olympus.net> wrote:
>
Hello, Tweeters, et al,
>
>
What about robins? Even though many robins stay in WA through the winter,
>
many more begin to pass through around this time, particularly
>
brightly-colored males on their way north that probably spent the winter in
>
CA and OR. The early bird catches the territory, you know. On the
>
Wednesday morning bird walks in RR Bridge Park near Sequim, there is a
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distinct increase in robins in late winter, like in February and March. In
>
the last week around here we have noticed more robins on territories and
>
more robins singing in the morning.
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>
And we all know there are a lot of robins out there.
>
>
Just a guess.
>
>
Bob Boekelheide
>
Dungeness
>
>
*Subject: Bird Migration on Radar*
>
Date: Fri Mar 6 2020 18:05 pm
>
From: jdanzenbaker AT gmail.com
>
>
>
Hi Tweeters and Dennis,
>
>
I'm just reading this thread with interest. To answer the question from
>
>
Dennis, nope, didn't notice any appreciable increase in any species or
>
>
family of birds down here in Clark County yesterday. However, three other
>
>
Clark County birders and I were birding in Skamania County all day! This
>
>
morning, I visited the Vancouver Lowlands and witnessed about 15,000 geese
>
>
(Snow and Cackling) feeding in the corn fields. However, these are
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(probably) birds that winter here so they wouldn't have triggered a
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>
migration alert since I think most only commute between Suave Island,
>
>
Oregon and the Vancouver lowlands - about 3 miles as the goose flies.
>
>
There were also about 600 Sandhill Cranes but they are diurnal fliers. The
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>
number of cranes may have increased in the last several days - but maybe
>
>
not since I'm not there every day to count them. Also, as Dennis stated,
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most (if not all) goose and crane commute time is during daylight hours.
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>
True goose migration is nocturnal. I don't think there was any nocturnal
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goose migration going on since there were no reports on OBOL of goose
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>
flocks heard overhead at night. Good numbers of swallows started arriving
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>
several weeks ago but its impossible to know what the daily turnover is
>
>
with Tree and Violet-green Swallows.
>
>
>
Seems like there was an uptick in sparrows this morning - Savannah Sparrows
>
>
have arrived and blackbird flocks were more numerous. However, blackbirds
>
>
have nocturnal roosts even during migration - I think.
>
>
>
Keep your eyes and ears skyward and on those migration computer screens!
>
>
>
Jim
>
>
Battle Ground, WA
>
>
>
> Hi Andy and tweeters,
>
>
> Very interesting to read Cliff Mass�s blog. But I expressed puzzlement a
>
>
> while back when a spectacular radar signal was shown in the Florida Keys in
>
>
> late February that people attributed to bird migration. When I lived in
>
>
> Miami for 15 years, the only incoming migrants in late February were Purple
>
>
> Martins and Swallow-tailed Kites, both of which are diurnal migrants and in
>
>
> any case wouldn�t give a radar signal like that.
>
>
> I�ll ask the same question here. The only migrants that normally come into
>
>
> this area in early March are swallows and a few Rufous Hummingbirds, which
>
>
> are diurnal migrants. I would expect no movements other than that. Thus I�m
>
>
> still not entirely convinced, unless someone can point out something I have
>
>
> missed. Possibly waterfowl? But of course they also do a lot of their
>
>
> migration in the daytime and would not start at dusk and stop at dawn.
>
>
>
> Jim Danzenbaker, you�re looking at the sky. Any massive arrivals in your
>
>
> area yesterday?
>
>
> And what could it be if not birds?
>
>
>
> Dennis Paulson
>
>
> Seattle
>
>
>
> Date: Fri, 6 Mar 2020 08:13:19 -0800
>
>
> From: "Andy Stepniewski"
>
>
> To: "TWEETERS"
>
>
>
>
> Tweeters,
>
>
> Cliff Mass in his 6 March 2020 weather blog documents substantial numbers
>
>
> of birds migrating north from Portland OR on Wednesday night (4 March).
>
>
> Further, he explains the weather pattern that night was conducive for
>
>
> migration, giving the ?birdies? as he calls them, a tailwind.
>
>
>
> See ?Weather Radar Shows Spring Bird Migration:?
>
>
> https://cliffmass.blogspot.com... <https://cliffmass.blogspot.com/2020/03/weather-radar-shows-spring-bird.html>
>
>
>
> Pretty cool stuff!
>
>
>
> Andy Stepniewski
>
>
> Yakima WA
>
>
> steppie at nwinfo.net
>
>
>
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