For whatever it's worth, I've also had larger numbers of MoDos this year 
than usual, but the numbers do fluctuate from year to year, and this 
doesn't seem wildly out of the range.

It does seem a little odd when I think about it though since the entire 
month of May was exceptionally wet, so you'd think, if anything, 
breeding success would be down a bit this year.  (I've read that in a 
good year, these guys can nest as many as *5 times* over the course of 
the summer!)  But perhaps all that water doesn't significantly affect 
nesting success.  You'd think, too, that the wet weather would have 
rotted a lot of the fallen seeds they mostly eat.

Aha....  Maybe that is the explanation?  Could it be that the rain in 
May and then Irene flooding at the end of summer destroyed more seeds 
than usual and they're coming to feeders in larger numbers and more 
often as a result of a natural food shortage?

My area escaped significant damaged by Irene, but the clay soil in the 
Champlain Valley drains slowly, so fields remained soggy and puddled for 
weeks afterwards.

(I confess that as a raptor lover, I'm not above spreading cracked corn 
on the ground to attract MoDos and thus hawks...)

Jane
Shoreham