Date: Mon, 15 Sep 2003 10:56:14 -0400 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Walter Ellison Subject: Re: Late breeding? MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Hi Everybody, The answer to the main question is - yes, quite a few birds appeared to nest later that average in 2003. Answers on causes without any systematically collected data are, of course, speculative. 1) I would say the most likely explanation for most late nesting this year was indeed the wet May and June this year. Nesting cut off earlier for most pairs during the 2002 drought. Of course nest dates are a purely statitstical phenomenon of averages, some individual pairs nested pretty late in 2002 as well. Swallows are particularly prone to nesting season shifts because flying insects are in short supply when it's raining; as it was in May/June. I also think many pairs of other songbird species were forced to re-nest late because of rain-induced nest failure in June. 2) The "bumper crop" of insects almost every year is in June and early July. I doubt this spring's rains produced a late season feeding bonanza. I think late-nesting birds were making the best of a bad job. With no field data to test this, this is only speculation based on knowledge of prior literature on the subject. 3) Probably not both, but see my equivocation on #2 above. I imagine if we see another rainy spring during the next three years of the atlas, we will see this phenomenon again. It probably is not all that rare. BTW I had two separate confirmations of Blue Grosbeak yesterday at Eastern Neck. Although this species often has a few birds still nesting in September I think there are more September nesters around this year than last. Good Birding, Walter Ellison MD-DC Atlas Coordinator - MOS 23460 Clarissa Road Chestertown, MD 21620 phone: 410-778-9568 e-mail: rossgull@crosslink.net "A person who is looking for something doesn't travel very fast" - E. B. White (in "Stuart Little") ----- Original Message ----- From: "Janet Millenson" To: Sent: Sunday, September 14, 2003 6:17 PM Subject: [MDOSPREY] Late breeding? > I'm still seeing lots of fledgling Cardinals being fed by their > parents, beyond what I recall as typical for mid-September. I get the > impression there's anecdotal evidence that this year many birds have > nested later than > usual, but it's unclear if this is because (1) their early attempts > failed due to the cool, rainy weather, or (2) the resulting bumper > crops of insects > and plant seeds made conditions favorable for rearing additional > young, or maybe (3) both. Or perhaps 2003 isn't atypical at all, but > now that we're doing the Atlas we pay more attention to young birds! > > You scientists out there -- is there or will there be hard data to > support any of these guesses? Thanks. > > Janet Millenson > Potomac, MD (Montgomery County) > janet@twocrows.com > ------------------------------------------------------------------ > "Look at the birds!" -- Pascal the parrot > > ====================================================================== > = > To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com > with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey > ======================================================================= > ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================