Spring Migration Wrap-up

Spring migration has come and gone. Now instead of seeing reports of the migrants people are seeing, we start seeing the results of breeding bird surveys. I have never really tried to find breeding birds on our property. A couple of years ago, I happened to look up and see a Yellow-billed Cuckoo sitting on a nest. Last year I found a tuft of Spanish moss where a pair of Northern Parula had built a nest. I know that Hooded Warblers, Kentucky Warblers, Red-eyed Vireos and Summer Tanagers nest here, so they should be out there. Most of the time it's just too hot and the mosquitoes are too bad to spend the time in the woods to find the nests.

I had a good spring on the property. I saw 21 species of warblers, both tanagers, both buntings and both orioles. I saw all of the thrushes that migrate through here, as well as all of the swallows. I did miss several warblers that I normally expect to see - Yellow-throated Warbler, Canada Warbler, American Redstart, Ovenbird, Swainson's Warbler, Golden-winged Warbler and Yellow Warbler. I added one property bird to my list this spring - Prothonotary Warbler. That brings my property list to 194. I missed seeing a Philadelphia Vireo and Warbling Vireo on the property this year, although I saw them at High Island. The best bird of the spring for me was the Fork-tailed Flycatcher seen at Smith Oaks in High Island. They normally don't range farther north than central Mexico. We had a period of strong west winds that brought several rarities to the Upper Texas Coast including the flycatcher. Overall spring migration was a lot of fun this year.

The last time I checked the Purple Martin nest, they still had three eggs in it. There was a lot of activity today with some SY martins flying around the gourd. The male and female that have the nest in it were trying to make them leave. I didn't check the nest today. I did check the Eastern Bluebird nest and found it empty. The babies should be a week old today and not nearly ready to leave the nest. I blame House Sparrows for this one. I'm going to make a sparrow spooker and see if I can keep the sparrows out of the nest in the future. I am intensifying my trapping and hope to take care of the sparrows around here.