By far the best bird of the day was a breeding plumage adult eastern/yellow Palm Warbler seen relatively close to the visitor center as the main gravel trail walks back along the south edge of the old gravel pit. The other main evidence of spring was the return of Tree Swallows. Otherwise the preserve was relatively quiet - all the migrant geese have left, leaving just a few breeding Canadas and there was one Belted Kingfisher along the shoreline. The woods were predictably quiet, mainly Dark-eyed Juncos and White-throated Sparrows, with the diversity enlivened a bit by Northern Flicker and Eastern Bluebird.
Notable also were at least two Mourning Cloaks sunning themselves along sheltered parts of the main trail.
Showing posts with label early Spring Migration. Show all posts
Showing posts with label early Spring Migration. Show all posts
Sunday, March 25, 2012
Monday, March 19, 2012
The Month of Hope Denied impersonates April
My instinctive reaction to 70 degree days in early spring is to run, run to a migration hotspot and start tracking down Northern Parulas. However it's still mid March and there's barely a Parula north of Florida. So here we are in March, with a largely typical array of March migrants (Pine Warbler, Tree Swallow, Eastern Phoebe) in weather that we normally associate with the ramp-up of migration in mid-late April. I've been colder than this in May.
Since warblers in central America don't surf Accuweather for the boreal forest weather forecast, it seems likely that spring will be only a little early in terms of warbler migration - they still have to fly trans-Gulf and up the Atlantic coast before making it to NYC and it's not an overnight job. Warmer weather might accelerate that by a few days or a week. The birds that might turn up early would be things like Eastern Phoebe and Louisiana Waterthrush (and even N. Parula) that have significant continental wintering populations - things that you can see in FL in February. But migration is probably triggered by day length, so it's not like the rest of the genus formerly known as Dendroica (now Setophaga) is going to turn up four weeks early. Even Fox Sparrow migration doesn't seem to be at full bore right now (although they may simply have overwintered further north this year) - on time migration should be the next three weeks.
So in the interim I've been waiting out the good weather and going to see the flock of Rusty Blackbirds in Bristol PA or watching the gull flock dwindle in Levittown PA.
Since warblers in central America don't surf Accuweather for the boreal forest weather forecast, it seems likely that spring will be only a little early in terms of warbler migration - they still have to fly trans-Gulf and up the Atlantic coast before making it to NYC and it's not an overnight job. Warmer weather might accelerate that by a few days or a week. The birds that might turn up early would be things like Eastern Phoebe and Louisiana Waterthrush (and even N. Parula) that have significant continental wintering populations - things that you can see in FL in February. But migration is probably triggered by day length, so it's not like the rest of the genus formerly known as Dendroica (now Setophaga) is going to turn up four weeks early. Even Fox Sparrow migration doesn't seem to be at full bore right now (although they may simply have overwintered further north this year) - on time migration should be the next three weeks.
So in the interim I've been waiting out the good weather and going to see the flock of Rusty Blackbirds in Bristol PA or watching the gull flock dwindle in Levittown PA.
Sunday, May 1, 2011
Good Weekend Part 2, May 1st
Following on the heels of Saturday, Sunday was slower but still pretty good. First interesting bird of the day was a Worm-eating Warbler at Balcony Bridge. I got a brief glimpse of what I believed to be the Varied Thrush (flushed by birders approaching too closely, yet again), then I got a tweet about a Bay-breasted Warbler in the Ramble. I got a brief look at that, and while trying to relocate it found a Blackburnian Warbler. After Nashville being a first-of-year bird the previous day there were several singing males in the Ramble and I saw a few individuals. While at the Bay-breasted I heard of a Yellow-throated Warbler elsewhere, and while unsuccessfully pursuing that I was told of a Summer Tanager. Summer Tanager is pretty rare in Central Park since it's north of the breeding range, but after a little searching it proved to be very active and not all that difficult to observe.
As the time approached noon I decided to check out Tanner's Spring which was initially quiet but had a brief flurry (N. Parula, Black-and-white Warbler, Black-throated Green Warbler, Nashville Warbler, Yellow-rumped Warbler) followed by another quasi-rarity - an Orange-crowned Warbler. Hermit Thrush and Veery were here (I saw Wood Thrush near the Varied Thrush spot). Then after leaving Tanner's intending to go home I spent at least an hour along the south side of Turtle Pond where the Summer Tanager was flycatching bees in the tall oaks and giving excellent views. I also added Eastern Phoebe and Canada Warbler for the day here.
First of year birds: Summer Tanager, Bay-breasted Warbler, (Varied Thrush), Canada Warbler
Black-crowned Night-Heron
Peregrine Falcon
Chimney Swift
Belted Kingfisher
Northern Flicker
Eastern Phoebe
Blue-headed Vireo
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Barn Swallow
House Wren
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Veery
Hermit Thrush
Wood Thrush
Gray Catbird
Blue-winged Warbler
Orange-crowned Warbler
Nashville Warbler
Northern Parula
Yellow Warbler
Magnolia Warbler
Black-throated Blue Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Black-throated Green Warbler
Blackburnian Warbler
Prairie Warbler
Palm Warbler
Bay-breasted Warbler
Black-and-white Warbler
Worm-eating Warbler
Ovenbird
Northern Waterthrush
Canada Warbler
Summer Tanager
Scarlet Tanager
Eastern Towhee
Brown-headed Cowbird
Baltimore Oriole
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Spring enters, slowly
Of course speed depends on where you are. Here around NYC/Philadelphia March has been called "the month of hope denied" with some justification. Nevertheless things are moving.
On Saturday 19th I decided a late day visit to Brigantine was warranted, given the habit of Short-eared Owls to fly during the day. The wind may have kept them down, but there was a fairly typical array of ducks (American Black Duck, N. Pintail, Mallard, GW Teal, N. Shoveler, Canvasback, Scaup sp., a single Hooded Merganser, Brant, Snow Goose). The waterfowl numbers were down from the late Feb visits there - ducks are migrating north. A more overt sign of spring was the pair of Great Egrets that I saw.
Another sign of waterfowl migration: the Ross's Geese have left Tom's River, as I found out while checking for them on the way back.
On Sunday 20th I went into Central Park, and found target bird #1: Fox Sparrow - itself an early spring migrant - but struck out on the Varied Thrush I wanted for the year list. Eastern Phoebe showed up as another early spring migrant, having been reported widely that week. Other than that it was the usual overwintering birds, with American Goldfinch in a range of molt states intermediate between basic and alternate, also Junco, Brown Creeper, Red-breasted Nuthatch. Everything, in short, pretty much on schedule and in the low numbers you also expect at this time of year. I also saw Fox Sparrow on a brief visit to the park on the early evening of Tuesday 22nd.
On Saturday 19th I decided a late day visit to Brigantine was warranted, given the habit of Short-eared Owls to fly during the day. The wind may have kept them down, but there was a fairly typical array of ducks (American Black Duck, N. Pintail, Mallard, GW Teal, N. Shoveler, Canvasback, Scaup sp., a single Hooded Merganser, Brant, Snow Goose). The waterfowl numbers were down from the late Feb visits there - ducks are migrating north. A more overt sign of spring was the pair of Great Egrets that I saw.
Another sign of waterfowl migration: the Ross's Geese have left Tom's River, as I found out while checking for them on the way back.
On Sunday 20th I went into Central Park, and found target bird #1: Fox Sparrow - itself an early spring migrant - but struck out on the Varied Thrush I wanted for the year list. Eastern Phoebe showed up as another early spring migrant, having been reported widely that week. Other than that it was the usual overwintering birds, with American Goldfinch in a range of molt states intermediate between basic and alternate, also Junco, Brown Creeper, Red-breasted Nuthatch. Everything, in short, pretty much on schedule and in the low numbers you also expect at this time of year. I also saw Fox Sparrow on a brief visit to the park on the early evening of Tuesday 22nd.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
