Hi all,
Just thought I would mention a tidbit I got from some ornithologists up at
Patuxent Reasearch Refuge regarding the height of migratory birds above the
ground. According to them, a given group of birds roughly maintains the
same height above sea level as it migrates regardless of the topography
below. I got that from a discussion on recording migrating bird calls, as
the scientists were taking advantage of that fact and placing their
microphone arrays on WV ridge tops to get them as close as possible to the
birds passing overhead.
Best,
Frank Fogarty
Smithfield
On Mon, Mar 10, 2014 at 11:07 AM, David Davis <daviszepp@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
John Fox of Winchester reported: "Heard at 3:20, never saw them. They must
have been fairly low for me to
pick them up." [emphasis added]
Unless Mr. Fox is alluding to a hearing defect, he may have heard them
from much farther away than he realizes. In the cold, clear air of the
mountains of Shenandoah County where I hear and/or see a flock or two most
years during deer season in November, I sometimes hear them calling from
considerable distance. For some of the flocks that I have spotted after
hearing them first, I've estimated that they may be half a mile (perhaps
more) distant. In fact, I have never seen them low at that location. They
are usually far above the ridges--perhaps twice their height--and the
higher local ridges are over 2000 feet in elevation. In other areas,
perhaps where Mr. Fox birds, they may be a lot lower, but given their known
fall migration route across the northern Shenandoah Valley region, I
suspect that they maintain a rather high flight line. I don't usually
encounter them in the spring, so I don't know whether their flight path and
behavior are different in the spring.
Dave Davis
Arlington and Cedar Creek
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