James: It does seem very lush on the south end as well. I believe my Father-in-law has related to me that the spring there was cool but really not very wet. In his now-annual spring morel mushroom foraging activities (he also sugars there and picks the local berries endlessly) he found things to be fairly dry and.... he both heard and later saw fairly good numbers of birds. He takes that to mean better-than-average nesting success.... which (from experience) I now translate into very good bird numbers in September & October.
