[cobirds] Re: Good migration kick tonight

Good stuff, Bryan. I always appreciate these tips. And, blast, I was planning on getting some sleep overnight, but you've ruined that... ;-)

For those of you who are up early tomorrow (Friday) morning, look east for a spectacular showing by Mercury. The planet achieves maximum western elongation (confusing term--that means look for it in the east) at 7pm this evening. Don't look for it tonight, but, rather, tomorrow morning from 6:15-6:30am; should be stunning. As if that we're good enough, Mercury also achieves maximum brightness tomorrow morning, magnitude -2.6, three times brighter than Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky.

Bird-wise, I heard a single American Tree Sparrow-like flight call at about 5:30 this morning, Greenlee Preserve, Boulder County. A bit early for that species, but not out of the question.

And a nice male "Prairie" Merlin after sunrise at Greenlee Preserve. Pix here:

http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S25426239

Ted Floyd

Lafayette, Boulder County

On Thursday, October 15, 2015 at 11:46:35 AM UTC-6, Bryan Guarente wrote:

CoBirders,

I have heard the conversations so far about this being a slow migration pattern.  I agree it has been a slow migration thus far, but I would propose that it is because our upper-level wind patterns (about 1.5km up from the ground) haven't been ideal for migration except for birds that fly on thermals (think raptors, cranes, and pelicans) or really strong fliers (geese).  Be careful when expressing that this is climate change in action.  We cannot make a statement from a single season without comparing it to other seasons and MANY other years quantitatively.

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