Spring 2011 Report

With spring migration winding down, I start looking at the birds that I missed during spring migration. This year featured particularly lower warbler numbers (18 species). I'm not sure the reason, but the howling south winds throughout the spring may have had something to do with it. They just didn't stop, and if they did, they didn't stop long. The warblers I missed on the property this spring are:

Nashville Warbler
Yellow-throated Warbler
Blackpoll Warbler
Cerulean Warbler
Ovenbird
Northern Waterthrush
Louisiana Waterthrush
Kentucky Warbler
Canada Warbler

Non-warbler species that I missed on the property this spring are:
Black-billed Cuckoo
Acadian Flycatcher
Scissor-tailed Flycatcher
Yellow-throated Vireo
Philadelphia Vireo
Warbling Vireo
Veery
Gray-cheeked Thrush
Orchard Oriole

It's still possible for me to see Kentucky Warbler and Acadian Flycatcher since they nest around here. Of course, I can see nearly all of them in the fall except Blackpoll Warbler when they come south.

As I began looking at the birds I missed, I started wondering what the percentage of years I've seen each species. I've been keeping spring migration records since the spring of 2004, so this makes the eighth year. Here is a list of the warblers and the percentage of years I've seen them:

Blue-winged Warbler - 88%
Golden-winged Warbler - 38%
Tennessee Warbler - 100%
Nashville Warbler - 25%
Northern Parula - 100%
Yellow Warbler - 63%
Chestnut-sided Warbler - 88%
Magnolia Warbler - 88%
Black-throated Green Warbler - 100%
Blackburnian Warbler - 88%
Yellow-throated Warbler - 63%
Bay-breasted Warbler - 75%
Blackpoll Warbler - 50%
Cerulean Warbler - 50%
Black-and-white Warbler - 100%
American Redstart - 88%
Prothonotary Warbler - 13%
Worm-eating Warbler - 88%
Ovenbird - 75%
Northern Waterthrush - 25%
Louisiana Waterthrush - 38%
Kentucky Warbler - 50%
Hooded Warbler - 100%
Canada Warbler - 50%
Yellow-breasted Chat - 88%

That's one thing that makes birdwatching so fun - it's never the same. One year to the next is completely different and you never really know what to expect. One day to the next is different. It's constantly changing, even within the normal patterns of migration.

So far the Eastern Bluebirds haven't begun building a second nest. It's only been a week since the babies fledged, so it will probably be a least another week before they start thinking of brood number two.

I got a couple more good pictures with the BirdCam on Sunday, May 8.

A Chestnut-sided Warbler


A variety of birds including a Yellow Warbler, Indigo Bunting and Northern Cardinal