Might I ask a question about this? What’s up with the non-migrating warblers? The Boston Globe has a weekly summary of bird sightings, and every week throughout the winter, someone has reported some kind of warbler hanging about – actually, a fair number of different kinds. I’ve been curious about this for a while. Is this totally aberrant behavior, or the sort of thing that might be considered on the far edge of normal behavior? I mean, it has been a mild winter, but surely the warblers can’t know that ahead of time.
As to the OP, not much to report from my urbanized corner of Eastern Massachusetts. The cardinals and house finches have begun singing, but I haven’t seen any migrants yet, if you exclude the robin who’s been sitting in my privet for the last three weeks. I ought to see hermit thrushes in large numbers in the coming weeks, and maybe a few non-downy woodpeckers.
By the way, as an addendum to the above, I didn’t realize til I looked it up just now that the grace’s warbler you saw was not a non-migrating warbler, but a fish out of water, as it were. But I am still curious about the science behind non-migrating warblers.
I haven’t seen any downy woodpeckers and there have been only a couple flickers. Goldfinches and grackles seem scarce too–I guess some species have been affected by the drought. We still get the occasional Cooper’s hawk or Kestrel and last year there was a merlin in the area:
Two birds doing quite well are the Eurasian collared dove and the white-winged dove. Mourning dove numbers are dropping, as they do not compete well with these two species.
There are a lot of duck, geese, and cranes at the Nature Center–mostly shovelers and mallards but I saw a pair of hooded mergansers too. At UNM last week I counted 47 American wigeons (baldpates) on the duckpond:
This morning, I got my first black-and-white warbler of the season-and my first swallow-tailed kite! All in the little wood in back of my apartment. The latter is the most graceful raptor that you will ever see, bar none; it’s almost like it flows through the air, vs. flying. Meanwhile a likely yellow warbler confounded me by just staying out of sight in the canopy, tho I kept hearing his song (tho I did get a confirmed one at my old house last week ).
If you want to post your sightings, there is this website called EBird which I have been using. In addition to inputting in your sightings, you can bring up maps with all the reported sightings for a given species. Very much a boon for me at least.
Grace’s Warbler does migrate. The ones in the northern part of its range, in the US, migrate south into Mexico and Central America, where the species occurs year round. The one that ended up at Jones Beach was probably migrating, but somehow got turned around 90 degrees.
It’s the far edge of normal behavior. Migration may be triggered by a combination of factors, including day length, food availability, temperature, etc. Some members of a population will hang on longer than others. The warblers don’t know that a winter will be mild ahead of time, but mild conditions may not be enough to push the hardiest individuals south. They also allow survival of the stubborn ones later in the season if they decide not to move at all.
Got a red-headed woodpecker at my old house today! They have become increasingly rare locally, so this is a good thing, esp. since it was tending a fresh nest hole.
Today I confirmed that the osprey nest in front of our office is occupied! They started building it last year. What I assume is the male brought the female a fish. Determining if they have eggs or not tho may prove troublesome.
I saw a canvasback duck and a hooded merganser a few months ago. I’m expecting the annual visit by the woodpecker who thinks a vent on my house is a tree soon. It’s really startling to hear it peck the metal.
Once my neighbor came running frantically out of his house. “What’s that sound?” I pointed to the woodpecker who, having failed to find bugs in the vent on my house, was now pecking the satellite dish on my neighbor’s house.
He’s actually using the sound that your siding makes to signal other members of his species (mainly that this is his territory and that he is a hot swinging hunk of male woodpecker hotness).
I’ll have to post some photos of the ducks that take up residence in our small pond during the Florida “winter”. They shoo away the mallards that live here year-round, and depart when the weather gets warmer. I don’t think they’ll be around much longer.
I’ve tried looking them up online but can’t seem to find the right species. They may not be ducks, but some type of waterfowl.
I haven’t been out looking lately, so I haven’t seen anything interesting except for “my” Great Blue Heron that hangs out at a man-made pond regularly. I mean, I assume it’s the same bird, but it could be different guys popping in. I love seeing him. So stately and unusual.
In the park where I walk, lots of tree swallows swoop around. I’m looking forward to getting re-acquainted with them this year.
Southern Minnesota today. Saw 1000s of Geese today at a lake near Cannon Falls. Canada Geese, Snow Geese, Greater White Fronted Geese. Also lots of Pintails, Redheads and Mergansers. Single largest congregation of birds I have ever seen. Simply awesome.
Today we took a trip to Sauvie’s Island to see the migrating waterfowl. Lots of sandhill cranes, snow geese, swans and ducks, scaups and other aquatics. There was a red headed (duck?), which is apparently not common here. Also a couple of bald eagles, both juvenile and adult. Also a ruby crowned kinglet and some golden crowned sparrows. There was another bird there that some serious bird watchers were all atwitter over (ha!). It was the size of a small robin, with a dark head. Didn’t catch the name.
Not trying to one-up you or anything, but I saw a flock of about 300 the other day-they’re all over the place here, and very soon will be leaving for their breeding grounds.
The ospreys in front of my work are still working on their nest-the male brought a stick today and added it to the pile.
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