Re: [MDOsprey] Brant flight at Conowingo!
Marcia Watson-Whitmyre (mww@UDel.Edu)
Tue, 26 Oct 1999 09:06:28 -0400
Scott Crabtree wrote:
> So...a flock of 50 BRANT flying down the river. At approximately 10:30,
> we had 50 BRANT at Turkey Pt. Coincidence? Probably around one hour's
> flying time between Conowingo and Elk Neck, maybe more.
Hmmm. Conowingo and Turkey Point are closer than one might think, at least
for birds (and boats). I used some nifty topo map software (TopoScout) to
plot a course as the Brant would fly from the dam to TP. The projected
course ran down the middle of the river and bay; not quite a straight line,
since there would be a major turn to the south at the mouth of the river.
The distance is 16.7 miles. I couldn't find a reference for flight speed of
Brant specifically, but Terres' Encyclopedia of North American Birds gives
migration speed of geese in general as 40 to 60 mph. If we split the
difference and say 50 mph, it would take roughly 20 minutes to fly from the
dam to the Point, assuming no snack stops.
It will be interesting to see if the large numbers of Brant seen on Sunday
are the start of a population buildup in the Bay.
Marcia Watson-Whitmyre
Cecil County