Heavy and low avian migration in Jamestown
This past Wednesday, October 15, I was outside in downtown Jamestown, New York, for much of the night. An area of low pressure had moved by earlier in the day and precipitation had cleared. Clouds were thinning and moving east. There are plenty of unnatural noises to hear on a typical night in the City of Jamestown – music, people shouting, vehicles and often large trucks passing by. There was also an incessant yet subtle chorus of noises coming from the low levels of the sky in the form of avian flight calls! Birds were moving south and in strong numbers with almost endless peeps and...
Read MoreSevere thunderstorm in Jamestown
In the 5:0o PM hour today, August 2, 2014, we had a very severe thunderstorm in the Jamestown area despite it not being warned as one. Apart from nonstop cloud to ground lightning strikes and torrential rain dumping inches in a short period it had severe hail at least quarter-sized and perhaps nearing golf ball in some locations with vehicle damage reported, downed trees and lines, flooding and a host of other problems. Here was the cell on radar as it peaked regionally and close-up as it hammered Jamestown – pink and purple, over 70dBZ at times! We’ll show you some of hail and...
Read MoreBuffalo’s Brown Booby
By now you’ve likely heard of the Brown Booby (Sula leucogaster) that has been hanging out near Buffalo in Lake Erie and the Niagara River since being discovered on Monday, October 7. It may be gone at the moment with no sightings being reported since Tuesday, October 22. This extreme rarity, an adult female believed to be a first for the Great Lakes and Ontario, has been enjoyed by probably thousands of birders on both sides of the border by this point. She primarily stays on distant locations in the water associating with Double-crested Cormorants. As a species the Brown Booby has...
Read MoreHermit Thrush (Catharus guttatus) by Scott Kruitbosch
This Hermit Thrush (Catharus guttatus) was at the Times Beach Nature Preserve in Buffalo on October 13. The reddish tail of the common fall migrant always contrasts with their duller body. This routine sighting will nevertheless be recorded for all-time having been entered into eBird and counted on the Buffalo Ornithological Society’s October Count in Section 11. What conservation monitoring and citizen science programs do you participate in?
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