Early spring migrants arriving daily
THE WORLD OUTDOORS
Perhaps it was just the official arrival of spring that had me noticing more flocks of American robins this week, but I did see lots of them across London. In late March, we should all be on the lookout for new birds.
Rondeau Provincial Park naturalists were reporting a new species every day early in the month. The spring migration parade has started. Birders who stay on the sidelines until the warbler bonanza in May miss out on a lot. Conservation Area earlier this week, I was still enjoying winter birds such as brown creepers, darkeyed juncos, American tree sparrows, and common mergansers but I was watching for new ones.
Turkey vultures were early arrivals this year due to the warm weather in February. Their numbers were low however. The early vultures will be joined now by many more. The first ospreys in London are typically seen in the last days of March. I will be curious to see if any of them builds a nest on one of the new platforms at Greenway Park.
Some Sandhill cranes have been reported recently in the London area. While a few great blue herons might tough it out through the winter here, many are migrating back and will arrive now across Middlesex. I saw one fishing in icy water at the Coves last weekend.
Through the last weeks of winter there were local reports of cackling goose, tundra swan, pintail, and green-winged teal. We can expect to see more good waterfowl species through the early weeks of spring. In particular, bufflehead, wood duck, lesser scaup, greater scaup, and ring-necked duck numbers will jump.
Watch as well American wigeon, blue-winged teal, Northern shoveler, canvasback, redhead, and goldeneye in late March and early April. We will see the return of double-crested cormorants, too. Good numbers of pied billed grebes will be seen across Middlesex County through April.
The earliest shorebird is the killdeer. I’ve been seeing them and hearing them for weeks. The next shorebirds, usually arriving in March, are American woodcock and greater yellowlegs.
Within the next month all of our swallow species and purple martins will be back. Their order of arrival is more or less tree swallow, barn swallow, Northern rough-winged swallow, bank swallow, then cliff swallow.
Ruby-crowned kinglets will be flying through Middlesex in good numbers from now through early May. There will be a bump in the local population of goldencrowned kinglets in mid-April. London birder Quinten Wiegersma has posted the first phoebe of the year for Middlesex.
Other first-of-season sightings you can watch for in the area the next couple of weeks include meadowlark, blue-grey gnatcatcher, hermit thrush, and brown thrasher. Listen for the white-throated sparrow’s “old Sam Peabody” song and the “Drink your tea” exhortations of the Eastern towhee.
The yellow-rumped warblers, common yellowthroats, and pine warblers that we will see in early April will whet our appetites through the first months of spring while we anticipate the May warbler migration.