A Strange Spring
Published: May 01, 2018
Tags: General Observations, louisiana waterthrush, barred owl, yellow warbler, common loon, horned grebe, palm warbler, pine warbler, blue-gray gnatcatcher, virginia rail, common tern, ruby-crowned kinglet, american bittern
The last few days have brought some nice surprises and nice, spring migrants.
Seeing a Barred Owl is always fun! I ran into this guy (photo below) at one of the local area parks. He calmly looked at me and just hung out there while I grabbed a few photos. I continued my hike with him still sitting on a branch overlooking the trail. Wonderful!
I've heard Louisiana Waterthrushes singing their beautiful songs and I saw a few more first of the season (FOS) other warblers and songbirds: Pine Warbler, Palm Warbler, Yellow Warbler, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, and Ruby-crowned Kingbird.
The weather-related phenomenon is continuing with Horned Grebes and Common Loons still being found everywhere in Western New York. No one can remember a spring like this. Speculation has it that the northern ponds and lakes in Canada and the Adirondacks were still frozen when these migrants arrived to their breeding grounds so the birds turned around and were forced to hang out in other areas. There is concern this will delay or even completely ruin any chance for these birds to breed this year.
Other birds are being found where they normally don't stop, such as the American Bittern and Virginia Rail. I've never seen either species at Birdsong in Orchard Park but surprisingly, I came upon both this past week. An American Bittern has been very visible at Times Beach these past few days too. It's been a very odd season so far!