[Maine-birds] Fall migration

Kristen and Derek certainly have good points concerning the poor birding this autumn.  One can't make generalizations about bird populations based on one season in which migrants either flew over or just weren't there.  Breeding birds population studies would be a better indicator.  See here:  https://www.pwrc.usgs.gov/bbs/.

That said, however, this fall was eerily reminiscent of the widespread concern for the drop in neotropical migrant numbers observed in the 1970s.  Those of you who don't remember birding in the 50s (or even 70s) might not realize how neotrops have dropped in numbers.  I'd guess at least by 50% since the middle of the twentieth century.  Anyone with more specific information please correct me.  I wrote an article on the Breeding Bird Survey program for the Portland Press Herald and quoted the BBS for population decline of the Olive-sided Flycatcher, which was then 4% per year.  A 2% decline per year halves a population every 25 years.   

Too, a friend who is a birder commented recently that we used to have bug spots on our car windows when driving in the summer months and that doesn't seem a very big problem anymore.  I don't think I'm overreacting to say that's truly worrying.  I don't believe that climate change could affect insect numbers that drastically, although I'm no entomologist.  My first guess would be changing agricultural patterns (planting fence to fence and using Round-up resistant seed) and the widespread use of pesticides on crops, lawns, and forests.  There again, I know of no studies that signify that to be the case, but I'm hoping that more communities will pass laws restricting the use of lawn chemicals.  And I just read that Monsanto is about to introduce grass seed that is resistant to Round-up.  Oh, great.

I suspect this past migration was a bit of a fluke, and not indicative of even more habitat loss in Central America and the Caribbean.  But there may be other factors.  We'll see in a year or so :).

BAB      

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Bruce Bartrug
Nobleboro, Maine, USA
bbartrug@gmail.com
www.brucebartrug.com

•The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing.  - Albert Einstein

•In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends. -Martin Luther King

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