The past week was relatively quiet in bird activity: no big waves of migrants moving through green branches, no sudden rush in our nets, no skeins of geese striping the sky. The weather continued to provide us with cool nights …
The past week brought us some remarkable weather, with a succession of intense thunderstorms during the weekend, finally breaking the heat wave, and ushering in stable conditions of clear skies, light North wind and perfect temperatures. We can feel the …
It is hot! Very hot! I know that this is not breaking news but I’ve rarely felt such heat at Cabot Head. Being on the shore of a deep pool of cold water (aka Georgian Bay), temperatures are usually not …
On August 15th, with all 15 mist nets set up and ready to go, I was out at 6am to start a new season of bird migration monitoring 30 minutes before Mister Sun was up and shining. A clear dawn …
The end of another bird migration monitoring is now upon us: nets were furled one last time on June 10th, taken down and stored away for the summer. It is almost hard to believe but summer is now here with …
It is now June, when spring is rushing to an end, when days are getting longer and longer, birds are singing louder and louder, and migration is becoming thinner and thinner. It is the normal order of things, the usual …
(I can’t live through) The slow moving of the end of migration Read more »
Fat is the primary fuel for bird migration. To sustain the immense energy demand of sustained flight, fat provides, weight for weight, 7-9 times more energy than alternative fuels, and thus ensures the maximum energy storage for the minimum weight …
The arrival of hummingbirds (May 7 this spring) heralds for me a new phase of spring, which could be dubbed the “warm spring”: it is when warmth indeed returns (albeit tentatively sometime), when flowers bloom and trees leaf out, and …
Like a great tidal wave, bird migration in spring can wash over the land and fill every twig, bough, and branch with birds. Or it could retreat and leave you straining your eyes and ears for a sign, a song, …
If you recall, I left my story in mid-morning of April 28. Well, that day was not over yet and we did see many more birds moving and feeding under a grey sky at Cabot Head. In the afternoon, there …