Spring Migration 2009

Spring migration is winding down. Over the past few weeks we've had strong southerly winds at the surface which help the migrants fly right over us. Those that do stop only stop for a few hours to refuel and then take off again. The past two weeks that I went out, there were very few migrants to be seen. In fact, the woods were very quiet, with the exception of the hordes of mosquitoes. On May 1, the mosquitoes were so bad they literally chased me into the house. They weren't quite as bad on May 8, but the birds weren't there. If I had been a migrating bird and stopped here for a little bit of food, I wouldn't have stayed long either with as many mosquitoes as I would have had to deal with!

I ran a report of my spring numbers on the property. I ran the report from March 1 to May 8. I saw a total of 112 species. Here are the migrants I saw:

Swallow-tailed Kite, Mississippi Kite, Broad-winged Hawk, Swainson's Hawk, Upland Sandpiper, Black-billed Cuckoo, Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Chimney Swift, Ruby-throated Hummingbird, Eastern Wood-Pewee, Acadian Flycatcher, Great Crested Flycatcher, Eastern Kingbird, White-eyed Vireo, Yellow-throated Vireo, Blue-headed Vireo, Warbling Vireo, Philadelphia Vireo, Red-eyed Vireo, Purple Martin, Tree Swallow, Northern Rough-winged Swallow, Bank Swallow, Cliff Swallow, Barn Swallow, Gray-cheeked Thrush, Swainson's Thrush, Wood Thrush, Gray Catbird, Blue-winged Warbler, Tennessee Warbler, Orange-crowned Warbler, Northern Parula, Yellow Warbler, Chestnut-sided Warbler, Magnolia Warbler, Cape May Warbler, Black-throated Green Warbler, Blackburnian Warbler, Yellow-throated Warbler, Blackpoll Warbler, Cerulean Warbler, Black-and-white Warbler, American Redstart, Worm-eating Warbler, Ovenbird, Kentucky Warbler, Common Yellowthroat, Hooded Warbler, Canada Warbler, Yellow-breasted Chat, Summer Tanager, Scarlet Tanager, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Blue Grosbeak, Indigo Bunting, Dickcissel, Orchard Oriole, Baltimore Oriole

It was a good spring for me on the property. I got 23 species of warblers (including Yellow-rumped which are winter residents, but do start changing into breeding plumage while here), both tanagers, both orioles, both grosbeaks and all of the swallows. I was a little disappointed in some of the species I missed, though. So far I haven't seen a Painted Bunting. Some of the warblers I missed include Louisiana Waterthrush, Northern Waterthrush, Bay-breasted Warbler, Golden-winged Warbler and Nashville Warbler. I didn't see a Veery, Chuck-will's-widow or Common Nighthawk (yet). There are always some misses every spring.

On a positive note, the Purple Martins have laid four eggs in the gourd. They laid the last one on Saturday, May 9 and the female started incubating that day. With the eggs taking 14 - 18 days to hatch, I have projected a hatching day for Sunday, May 24. I'll start checking them on the 22nd. I'm so excited to see them nesting with me!

The Eastern Bluebird chicks are doing well. All five of them are growing quickly. They should fledge on May 14 or 15. Then it will be onto the second brood! Here's a six-minute video I shot of the parents coming to feed the babies, and then of the babies at the end of the video. I actually shot an hour of video and was able to condense it to six minutes!