Bob,

I remember that how wet or dry a summer is can affect the breeding
populations of species like Le Conte's and Baird's Sparrows, and Yellow
Rails, in the prairies. In Manitoba, I've seen Le Conte's in sedgy marshes
with shrubs (where they occasionally perch). I imagine that some of the
information that you're interested in is being gathered by the researchers
in Michigan's UP, but I've not seen any of it, so will have to wait until
they publish results.

Allen Chartier
[log in to unmask]
1442 West River Park Drive
Inkster, MI  48141
Website: http://www.amazilia.net
Michigan HummerNet: http://www.amazilia.net/MIHummerNet
===============================================
Every day, the hummingbird eats its own weight in food.
You may wonder how it weighs the food. It doesn't.
It just eats another hummingbird.
---Steven Wright

----- Original Message -----
From: "Robert Royse" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Saturday, October 27, 2007 11:37 AM
Subject: Re: [Ohio-birds] LeConte's Sparrows on Monday


> Allen,
>
> Thanks for your response. Yes, finding birds that were banded in Michigan
> would be a great way to find out if the LeConte's showing up in Ohio came
> from there. I was just wondering where the birds came from from a more
> general standpoint. They really do seem to fluctuate in their numbers at
> various points in their breeding range. I was just wondering if when they
> nest further east in numbers than usual that results in more of them
> showing
> up in Ohio during the fall. I wish I could find more data on them. This
> web
> page gives some figures from the ND/MT part of their range but it's over
> 10
> years old :
>
> http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/birds/popchng/index.htm#tab1
>
> Is anyone keeping track of the general abundance of LeConte's in the UP
> from
> year to year?  Of course there is a huge chuck of the LeConte's eastern
> range further north in Canada that is inaccessible and probably gets no
> attention at all from anyone. The UP probably gets more rain and more
> regularly than the western part of the LeConte's range, but some years is
> it
> too much for LeConte's? Henslow's probably moved around in a similar way
> back in the days when the prairies were undisturbed and before reclaimed
> strip mines provided reliable habitat for them annually. The habitat used
> by
> LeConte's is similar to Henslow's in that they always use only grasslands
> that have a lot of dead grass on the ground for nesting and avoid annually
> mowed grasslands.  The year I distinctly remember not finding any
> LeConte's
> at the Muniscong Bay WMA was a year that they did burns and no dead grass
> was available to them.
>
> In any case, they're beautiful and fascinating birds and would make a
> great
> project for someone to study.
>
> Bob Royse
>
>
> Robert Royse
> [log in to unmask]
> www.roysephotos.com
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Allen Chartier" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: "Robert Royse" <[log in to unmask]>; <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Friday, October 26, 2007 11:09 AM
> Subject: Re: [Ohio-birds] LeConte's Sparrows on Monday
>
>
>> Bob,
>>
>> I had planned to reply to this earlier.
>>
>> You wrote, in part:
>>
>>>>>They can usually be found in the eastern UP of Michigan in Chippewa
>>>>>County, but their numbers seem to fluctuate there a lot too from what I
>>>>>have ever been able to tell. The most reliabe place for them is the
>>>>>Muniscong Bay WMA east of Rudyard, but they're certainly not a
>>>>>guarantee. I was up there in late May every year between from
>>>>>2000-2005,
>>>>>and I think I found them every year but one or two. One year (I forget
>>>>>which one now) there seemed to be a big influx of them and could be
>>>>>found in fallow fields all over the area including Centerline Rd. of
>>>>>Snowy Owl fame in the winter. Of course those birds are sporadic
>>>>>singers
>>>>>and maybe I just overlooked them on some visits or the weather wasn't
>>>>>good, but they really do seem unpredictable. If someone has access to
>>>>>records of when they occur in Ohio in good numbers, it would be
>>>>>interesting to see what their breeding distribution was that year. Are
>>>>>Ohio LeConte's coming from due N in Michigan? Maybe there's no
>>>>>realationship at all between their breeding range and migration
>>>>>movements. Who knows?<<<
>>
>> I am acquainted with a Michigan bander who has been working with the Le
>> Conte's Sparrows at Munuscong Bay for several years. As far as I know,
>> very few (if any) researchers are working with this species. Just this
>> year, one of the sparrows he'd previously banded was recaptured, which
>> was
>> the first recapture ever for this species. This shows how little has been
>> done so far. I would suggest that to answer the question of whether the
>> Leconte's Sparrows at Funk Bottoms are coming from Michigan is for some
>> Ohio bander to attempt to capture as many as possible in that area, and
>> any other "hotspot" for the species in the state.
>>
>> Allen Chartier
>> [log in to unmask]
>> 1442 West River Park Drive
>> Inkster, MI  48141
>> Website: http://www.amazilia.net
>> Michigan HummerNet: http://www.amazilia.net/MIHummerNet
>> ===============================================
>> Every day, the hummingbird eats its own weight in food.
>> You may wonder how it weighs the food. It doesn't.
>> It just eats another hummingbird.
>> ---Steven Wright
>>
>>
>> __________ NOD32 2620 (20071027) Information __________
>>
>> This message was checked by NOD32 antivirus system.
>> http://www.eset.com
>>
>>
>
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