Scientists in the northern boreal forests have noted widespread crops of evergreen cones this year.

We do not need to go into the field to find birds — bird feeders and shallow water will attract them to our yards.

We had warm weather in October, which is great weather for searching for migrating birds.

Birders tend to go where they find interesting birds. Susan Whiting, Lanny McDowell, Bob Shriber, Nancy Nordin and myself teamed up to find 60 species on the morning of Oct. 27, most of which were songbirds. We generally do not find that many species in three hours. Some of us were looking in one direction when others were looking elsewhere and finding other species.

The beauty of fall migration is that some migrants unexpectedly persist. Of course daytime temperatures in the low 70s, help.

The Oak Bluffs pumping station used to be a go-to site for finding migrating songbirds.

The southbound migration is becoming more intense.

Migration will peak in these next couple of weeks, so this is a good time to be out and about looking for birds.

What a difference one week makes. Last week included 14 species, eight of which were migrating through rather than species that nest on the Island.

The 14 species of warblers seen this week shows that songbird migration has increased tremendously.