New arrivals continue to funnel into the area each day now, along with increasing numbers of birds like White-throated Sparrow and Northern Flicker. It won't be long until the neotropical migrants arrive in full force, so study your bird songs and calls, crack open the field guides, and follow This Week In Birds for the latest information on what's next.
Brown Thrasher at Five Rivers EEC in Delmar (click to enlarge.)
Brown Thrasher singing (click to enlarge.)
An elusive Louisiana Waterthrush at Five Rivers, partially obscured by a branch (click to enlarge.)
What's Next:
April 19th-25th
House Wren will arrive, announced by its bubbling chatter.
Purple Martin colonies will have returnees this week, in a few, scattered locations across our area.
Toward the end of the week, Yellow Warbler, and then Common Yellowthroat, should arrive. They are two of the more common and widespread of the wood warblers. Get to know their songs well now, so that you can pick out newer arrivals next week and in early May.
Spotted Sandpiper and Lesser Yellowlegs will show up in the appropriate habitat, "spotties" along the shorelines on ponds and creeks, and the yellowlegs in flooded fields and shallow ponds and marshes.
Green Heron can be seen in shallow ponds, marshes and wooded wetlands. The last ten days of April is also the time to look for Black-crowned Night-Heron in our region as a few will pass through on the way to their breeding areas in the Champlain Valley and Great Lakes. Vischer Ferry Nature and Historic Preserve seems to be a favored stopover for them.
Broad-winged Hawks have begun to return north already, look for them soaring overhead in fairly tight circles. They are smaller than Red-tailed Hawks, have a black outline to the trailing edge of their wings, and have a single white band on their tail, which ends in a wide, dark terminal band.
Capital Region Bird-Finding Calendar is here
TW
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