THE MIGRATIONS OF LOCAL BIRDS
Reading edition
Our local bird life may be divided roughly into two parts: the Permanent Residents and the Transients. As Mr. Ludlow Griscom has said “It is idle to look for Warblers in January or Ducks in July.” We must know which of our birds are with us all the year and which visit us for a short time. The following is a list that will help us to tell when to look for different birds at different seasons.
A. Permanent Residents.
In general, the birds that are present during the months of November, December, January and February are to be found hereabouts during the entire year. These are the Crow, several of the Owls, the Song Sparrow, the Partridge, etc. However, we also have winter visitors, such as the Kinglets, the Brown Creeper, the Snowbird and others that return to the north during the warm season of the year.
B. Spring Visitors.
1. March. During this month a gradual influx of birds is noticed. The following is a list of these bolder visitors.
(Feb. 15 to March 25) Meadowlark Rusty Blackbird Red-winged Blackbird Green-winged Teal Kingfisher Phoebe Cowbird Morning Dove Purple Grackle Fox Sparrow Robin Bluebird Wood Duck Killdeer Plover Woodcock
2. April (March 25 to April 12) Pied-billed Grebe Blue-winged Teal Great Blue Heron Wilson’s Snipe Piping Plover Osprey Yellow-bellied Sapsucker Vesper Sparrow Ruby-crowned Kinglet Savannah Sparrow White-throated Sparrow Chipping Sparrow Field Sparrow Swamp Sparrow Tree Swallow Yellow Palm Warbler Pine Warbler Hermit Thrush
68
(April 17 to 25) Bittern Black-crowned Night Heron Clapper Rail Virginia Rail Towhee Barn Swallow Blue-headed Vireo Black-and-White Warbler Myrtle Warbler Black-throated Green Warbler Louisiana Water Thrush Brown Thrasher
(April 25 to 30) Green Heron Greater Yellowlegs Spotted Sandpiper Broad-winged Hawk Whip-poor-will Chimney Swift Purple Martin Cliff Swallow Bank Swallow Rough-winged Swallow Yellow Warbler House Wren
3. May: This is the best month of the year for observation work if a large list of birds is the thing desired. Birds are now coming northward with a rush, the peak of the migration season is reached, and it is possible to see over 100 species in a single day.
(May 2 to 7) Solitary Sandpiper Pigeon Hawk Hummingbird Kingbird Crested Flycatcher Least Flycatcher Baltimore Oriole Orchard Oriole Grasshopper Sparrow Rose-breasted Grosbeak Tanager Warbling Vireo Yellow-throated Vireo White-eyed Vireo Nashville Warbler Blue-winged Warbler Parula Warbler Black-throated Blue Warbler Chestnut-sided Warbler Prairie Warbler Northern Water-thrush Hooded Warbler Northern Yellow-throat Ovenbird Redstart Catbird Wood Thrush Veery
(May 9 to 12) Acadian Flycatcher Red-eyed Vireo Worm-eating Warbler Blackburnian Warbler Yellow-breasted Chat Olive-backed Thrush 69 Magnolia Warbler Canadian Warbler
(May 10 to 14) Nighthawk Bobolink White-crowned Sparrow Lincoln’s Sparrow Golden-winged Warbler Tennessee Warbler Cape May Warbler Bay-breasted Warbler Blackpoll Warbler Wilson’s Warbler Long-billed Marsh Wren Gray-checked Thrush
(May 15 to 26) Yellow-billed Cuckoo Black-billed Cuckoo Wood Pewee Indigo Bunting Cedar Waxwing Olive-sided Flycatcher Yellow-bellied Flycatcher Alder Flycatcher Kentucky Warbler Morning Warbler
4. June: The majority of the local birds are nesting during this month and the others have gone on to breeding grounds further north.
5. July: The breeding and the song seasons are now nearly concluded. The moulting has begun and the woods and fields are quiet in the warm sunlight.
C. AUTUMN TRANSIENTS: Among the first of the birds to leave for the South, the following may be noted:
1. August
(August 1 to 30) Great Blue Heron Sora Rail Clive-sided Flycatcher Golden-winged Warbler Tennessee Warbler Cape May Warbler Magnolia Warbler Bay-breasted Warbler Blackburnian Warbler Northern Water Thrush Mourning Warbler Wilson’s Warbler Canadian Warbler
2. September: The Southward migration continues.
(September 1 to 10) Nashville Warbler Parula Warbler Black-throated Blue Warbler Blackpoll Warbler Black-throated Green Warbler Connecticut Warbler
70
(September 10 to 30) Wilson’s Snipe Broad-winged Hawk Pigeon Hawk White-throated Sparrow Palm Warbler Olive-backed Thrush Coot Savannah Sparrow Junco Lincoln’s Sparrow
3. October: As the insects disappear when the frost arrives, so do the birds, that need this form of food, go Southward. Thus the weather is mainly responsible for the date on which the remaining species leave for the South. An accurate list is hardly possible.
71