Thanks to Bill for sharing this important story. The news story from Winnipeg is well worth reading, as it gives a lot of detail about what's happening in northern Manitoba and Ontario, and parts of the eastern Canadian Arctic. As Bill points out, this could have a perceptible impact on what we see here in Ohio. This is especially true as regards birds that have a substantial part of their breeding range in the eastern Canadian Arctic, such as Snow Goose, Cackling Goose, Hudsonian Godwit, the two eastern subspecies of Short-billed Dowitcher, Greater Yellowlegs, even Dunlin. It will be worthwhile for Ohio birders to pay close attention to Short-billed Dowitcher and Greater Yellowlegs in particular, since they occur here in large enough numbers for us to detect changes. Adult Short-billed Dowitchers normally start showing up at the end of June, with peak numbers of adults in early to mid July, and large numbers of juveniles in August. Adult Greater Yellowlegs start to show up in early July (slightly later than the first push of Lessers) and probably peak here in late July and early August; juveniles arrive here mostly in early August and peak during September. Based on what's happening in the eastern Canadian Arctic, it's quite possible that we'll see adults of these two species showing up earlier than normal (as they give up on any possibility of breeding) and that numbers of juveniles will be sharply reduced from normal, especially for the dowitcher. Later in the fall, we'll certainly want to scrutinize the Snow Goose flocks to check the percentage of young birds. The newspaper story doesn't give an idea of just how extensive an area is affected (I couldn't figure out the headline's reference to "90 percent of the north"). But it evidently doesn't extend all the way across the North American Arctic. Young Ohio birder Ethan Kistler is working in Barrow, Alaska, this summer, and he has been posting updates on his blog ( http://nomadicbirder.blogspot.com/ ). Barrow is a lot farther north than most of the areas discussed in the Winnipeg newspaper story, but of course it's a lot farther west as well. Ethan's photos show a lot of the ground snow-free on June 3rd. For June 10th, he has photos of many nests (nest-searching is part of his research job). Barrow birds seem to be enjoying a normal breeding season so far. The fact that there were still patches of snow on June 3 is no big deal -- on some of my Barrow visits I've seen patches of snow as late as the end of June. So this season's weather may not be affecting migrants that breed farther west, like Long-billed Dowitcher and Western Sandpiper, and it may be a mixed bag for those with broad breeding distributions across the north. At any rate, a lot of interesting things to think about as we head into the fall shorebird migration, which starts in less than two weeks! Kenn Kaufman Oak Harbor, Ohio ----- Original Message ----- From: "Bill Whan" <[log in to unmask]> To: <[log in to unmask]> Sent: Sunday, June 21, 2009 9:00 AM Subject: [Ohio-birds] Disastrous breeding season in the Arctic > There's a strong possibility many Arctic-breeding birds will return > without offspring this year. There is a narrow window of opportunity to > bring off a clutch at those high latitudes, and persistent cold temps > may prevent many birds from reproducing this summer. Here's a > biologist's interesting article from a Winnipeg newspaper: > http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/westview/big-chill-in-churchill-47992231.html > Will we see a southbound shorebird migration early this summer? > Either > way, will we see nearly all the migrants are adults? Other high Arctic > breeders like geese may include very few young birds this year, too, and > their schedule may be affected; given the figures offered in the > article, numbers of migrant snow and Canada geese may be cut in half. > Longspurs, some sparrows, loons, and numerous pelagic species seem to be > at great risk as well. > Bill Whan > Columbus > > ______________________________________________________________________ > > Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society. > Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list. > Additional discussions can be found in our forums, at > www.ohiobirds.org/forum/. > > You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at: > http://listserv.muohio.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS > Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask] ______________________________________________________________________ Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society. Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list. Additional discussions can be found in our forums, at www.ohiobirds.org/forum/. You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask]