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Oriole Migration Update: April 16, 1998 Just a quick update this week to say: We're still waiting........ Although many warblers are arriving in places throughout the Southern and Central states over two weeks earlier than normal, so far we haven't had an enormous surge of oriole migration. Orioles are tropical migrants, and their migration is closely timed with daylength. Even so, every now and then we get a weird bird that jumps the gun. Such as the report of a Baltimore oriole seen during the first week of April in Minneapolis. This is a full month before they normally arrive--and a record early date for this species by nearly two weeks. Map by Macalester College Stationed on the Gulf Coast, Winnie Burkett, Sanctuary Manager of the Houston Audubon Society noted, "It was a great weekend for migrating birds but not for the migrating birders. Strong southeast winds blew birds inland, so birders had to work hard to find any land birds in the woods." See this week's weather report from Dr. David Aborn One of the interesting birds to turn up in Texas, in Rangerville, on April 10, was a Fork-tailed Flycatcher. These beautiful birds truly belong in the tropics, in Central and South America. But for some mysterious reason, every year one or two seem to turn up somewhere in North America, usually in autumn. No one knows if the individuals who make their way up here are lost, are just traveling for fun, or if they ever find their way home again. Reminder: Challenge Question # 5 How do Birds Forecast the Weather? When they're about to leave on migration, birds don't have access to the WWW. So they can never be completely certain what the weather is like where they're going. But they can judge what the weather is like right where they are. You must be wondering: Challenge Question # 5 "How do birds sense weather conditions, and know whether good or bad migration weather might be coming?" How to Respond to Today's Challenge Question 1. Address an e-mail message to: jn-challenge-oriole@learner.org 2. In the Subject Line of your message write: Challenge Question # 5 3. In the body of your message, answer today's question. The Next Oriole Update Will be Posted on April 23, 1998. Copyright 1998 Journey North. All Rights Reserved.