‘First of year’ migrants winging north
THE WORLD OUTDOORS
Whether you are watching birds in your backyard or visiting natural areas, there is no doubt that you’re noticing a change in your birds. Every week I am notching “first of year” sightings.
In the past week, I zipped over to the Strathroy lagoons on Pike Road hoping to find a red-necked grebe that had been reported. I missed that species but saw horned grebe, pied-billed grebe, and a good variety of ducks. I also found my first blue-winged teal at Cuddy Woods on Mullifarry Drive, northwest of Strathroy.
Sightings of pied-billed grebes, ring-necked ducks, and lesser scaup will spike in the last weeks of April.
London’s Cavendish Woods is always fruitful. The reliable Carolina wrens drew me back this week but there are bonus birds such as swallows, creepers, and phoebes to keep it interesting.
Last Sunday at the Coldstream Conservation area there were some very vocal winter wrens as well as phoebes, woodpeckers, and my first yellow-rumped warbler of the year. Yellow-rumped numbers peak from now until mid-May. They over-winter in Mexico and across the southern U.S. and are on their way now to the boreal forests where they will nest. This is the earliest of our warblers.
Both types of kinglets — goldencrowned and ruby crowned — were flitting around at Coldstream feeding on small insects. Listen for their high-pitched calls. This is the best time of year for us to see kinglets.
On local and regional bird alerts lots of new birds, such as brown thrasher and pine warbler, are being posted every day.
I checked with Pete Read, the Middlesex County bird compiler, to get his early sense of spring migration. He contrasted the cold spell of last April with this year. “There have been some earlier than average arrivals in Middlesex for some species.” A great egret, for example, put in an early appearance in the London area.
“It is a dangerous time for those birds which migrate now,” Read reminded me. A cold snap makes early insect-eating migrants such as the phoebes and swallows vulnerable.
Early-nesting species such as horned larks and mourning doves are also vulnerable. There is a risk/ reward balance however. “The rewards for starting early could mean that they can get more broods off by the time fall comes.”
Among Read’s favourite local spring hot spots are Komoka Provincial Park and the Komoka gravel pits. The variety of habitats is excellent.
A resource that I find interesting is the Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s BirdCast site. Data from eBird are analyzed then charted to give the reader near-real time advanced scouting information about the progress of a particular species’ migration.
For example, based on the percentage of checklists submitted to eBird each week in the Gulf Coast area, Cornell’s analysts have determined that chimney swifts’ northerly progress this spring is “quite late this year, by around 10 days.” Swifts typically arrive in Middlesex now. Red-eyed vireos and Eastern kingbirds are also off to a slow start.
On the other hand, blue-gray gnatcatchers and Northern parulas were moving well to the north. “Both of their seasonal range limits have extended north by a few hundred miles in certain areas in just the last week.”
• Anne Goulden, an accomplished Sarnia-based birder and photographer, made international birding news by documenting the first ever Kirtland’s warbler in Cuba this winter. The sighting was published in
and online. This is a rare bird at the best of times. The global breeding population of this species at risk is estimated at just 3,600 birds. Goulden was delighted with this triumph. “I am never going to have anything the season. Daffodils love water, but resent sitting in a waterlogged bed. The bulbs will rot if they sit in water.
Finally, a little patience is required when growing daffodils. After they finish blooming, the leaves continue to grow and feed the bulb for the coming season. This important process takes four to six weeks to complete. Do not be tempted to cut or braid the foliage to get it out of sight. Water during dry spells and allow the leaves to die back on their own. Daffodil bulbs can be planted toward the centre or back of the garden and interplanted with later-blooming perennials to screen the fading leaves.
Daffodil bulbs can be left in the ground and treated as perennials. When happily sited, they will multiply over the years. If they become overcrowded, they may stop blooming. Dig up the bulbs, separate them and replant 15 centimetres apart and 15 cm deep. You can replant immediately, or dry the bulbs in the shade and replant them in the fall. this neat ever happen to me again in birding,” she told me. “I mean, a first of anything anywhere. Holy cow!”
• More than Canadian 7,000 bird watchers will participate through May in the annual Great Canadian Birdathon to raise money in support of bird awareness, bird conservation, and biodiversity both nationally and locally. Individuals or teams pick any day in May for a “Big Day,” then gather pledges.
It is co-ordinated by Bird Studies Canada, the country’s leading science-based bird conservation organization. To participate or to sponsor a birder, search on “The Great Canadian Birdathon.” g.paul.nicholson@gmail.com twitter.com/NicholsonNature