Signs of Spring

 February 24th

          Spring is in the air.  After almost two weeks without finding a new bird, we finally had success today.  Many people think that Spring migration is in May when all the beautiful warblers pass through, but migration actually begins in late February.  Ducks, geese, and swans are beginning to move north along with early returning birds like American Woodcock and blackbirds.  Also flocks of American Crows are moving along the lakeshore. 

          Local boaters may know Anchor Point and Meinke Marina which is where we saw our FOY (first of the year) Killdeer.  A Killdeer is a plover which is a type of shorebird.  Killdeer are found on open ground with low vegetation including lawns, golf courses, pastures, fields etc.  It is one of the least water-associated of all shorebirds.  They are found year-round in the southern United States, but many move north in the summer, and are very early spring migrants.  We saw four today in a couple of locations.

          Our second bird of the day was a Rusty Blackbird.  They also winter in the south and are early migrants.  Today we saw massive flocks of blackbirds out near the lakeshore with a few Rusty Blackbirds mixed in.  They are just passing through and breed near bogs in the boreal forests.  Mike took a couple of nice photos of a Redhead and an American Kestrel.      (2 new species, total 128)

                               Killdeer

                               Rusty Blackbird (scarce)    

                                                                           Killdeer
                                                                            Redhead          
                                        
                                                                   American Kestrel





Comments

  1. AnnFebruary 25, 2022 at 5:45 AM

    Hurray, the migration has started!

    ReplyDelete
  2. SharonFebruary 25, 2022 at 8:52 AM

    Thanks for doing this you guys!! So much information and the pictures are terrific!

    ReplyDelete
  3. John SobetzerFebruary 25, 2022 at 12:18 PM

    I got to assist (in a very small way) this project for Rusty Blackbirds: https://www.nhaudubon.org/conservation/rusty-blackbird-research/.

    ReplyDelete

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