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nocturnal migration/moonwatch
- To: carolinabirds@duke.edu
- Subject: nocturnal migration/moonwatch
- From: Mike Schultz <ross.gull@verizon.net>
- Date: Thu, 17 Apr 2003 21:02:58 -0400
- Delivered-to: pardo@metalab.unc.edu
- Sender: carolinabirds-owner@acpub.duke.edu
C-birders:
Last night I found myself wide awake about 2:00am. As I debated if I
should just get up and read for a while, it struck me it was a clear night
with a full moon, a south wind, and it was mid April! Just right for
taking a peek at the moon for nocturnal migrants. My folly of sitting in
the back yard with my scope focused on the moon at 2:00am was well
rewarded. I was a bit to groggy for accurate timing and counting, but I
saw about a dozen birds of various shapes and sizes fly past the moon in
about 20-30 minutes. It seemed to average about one bird per transit of
the moon through the field of my 20X scope.
I was also hoping to here some flight calls, but the birds were either not
calling or to high for me to hear them. It is amazing to think of how many
birds must have been up there (and what they were!) if I saw that many in
such a short time looking through such a narrow slit of sky.
Mike Schultz
sleepy in Durham, NC