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Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Spring Migration - Keeping Track

Spring migration is certainly well under way now and new arrivals are being reported daily. The very nature of this major natural event produces an overload of information flooding in from all corners of the region and keeping on top of this information and pulling it all together into something useful has always been a big problem for anyone interested in keeping long-term data. It seems to me to be somewhat unfortunate that, as we gain more and more useful technology to record such events, the dissemination of such data appears to get more and more difficult. Time was when your local bird club or society would have someone (often a faithful volunteer) saddled with the job of collating all the information into a readable report but, in recent years, we somehow seem to have lost that centralization and now I seem to have to trawl through any number of websites, data storage locations, text messaging services, twitter links and email chat forums (or is it fora, or fori?!!) just to try and keep up with it all - and still any number of birds turn up locally and manage to fly under my radar (excuse the pun).

It seems to me that if I am having trouble keeping on top of it all, then other people surely are too so, in an attempt to address this, I spent some time today pulling together a list of first arrival dates for spring migrants in the three counties of Cape May, Atlantic and Cumberland. Setting this data out in a readable table does present some interesting results; look how many species make a general arrival into the three counties on the same or at least a very similar date. This is something of a selective list as some species' arrival dates are blurred by regular overwintering individuals so these species have been omitted. Species that have blanks are those for which I have heard no reports - so do let us know if you think you can plug a gap - but be prepared to have the Spanish Inquisition visit you if you've seen anything really amazing!! I'll aim to post an update to this table periodically as Spring continues.

One thing to always bear in mind is that first arrivals are not always a true representation of what the bulk of birds are doing. There often seems to be a hasty individuals that pushes on ahead of the pack, so don't worry if it looks like you're missing all these birds, the main arrival for most species is still yet to come.


2013 Arrival dates
Atlantic Co
Cape May Co
Cumberland Co

Cory's Shearwater




Great Shearwater




Sooty Shearwater




Wilson's Storm-Petrel




Brown Pelican

Feb 3


Least Bittern




Little Blue Heron
(Feb 26) Apr 6
(Jan 1) Apr 11
Apr 10

Tricolored Heron
Apr 13
(Jan 28) Apr 4
Mar 31

Cattle Egret

Apr 1
Apr 15

Green Heron

Apr 11
Apr 16

Yellow-crowned Night Heron
Apr 11
Apr 1


Glossy Ibis
Mar 31
Mar 31
Mar 30

White-faced Ibis




Swallow-tailed Kite

Apr 20


Mississippi Kite




Broad-winged Hawk
Apr 14
Apr 13
Apr 13

Black Rail




King Rail




Sora

Mar 30


Common Gallinule




American Golden Plover

Apr 2
Apr 12

Semipalmated Plover

(Jan 1) Mar 30
Apr 13

Piping Plover
Mar 21
Feb 27


Black-necked Stilt


Apr 12

American Avocet




Spotted Sandpiper

Apr 21


Solitary Sandpiper
Apr 21



‘Eastern’ Willet
Apr 10
Apr 10
Apr 13

Whimbrel
Apr 13
Apr 17
Apr 13

Hudsonian Godwit




Red Knot

Jan 1


Semipalmated Sandpiper


Apr 12

Least Sandpiper
Apr 8
Apr 17
Mar 30

White-rumped Sandpiper




Baird's Sandpiper




Pectoral Sandpiper

Apr 7
Mar 29

Stilt Sandpiper


Apr 15

Short-billed Dowitcher
(Jan 11) Apr 13
(Jan 11) Apr 13
Apr 10

Long-billed Dowitcher




Wilson's Phalarope


Apr 19

Black-headed Gull

Jan 11
Mar 21

Laughing Gull
Mar 16
Mar 8
Mar 30

Least Tern




Gull-billed Tern




Caspian Tern
Apr 7
Feb 1
Apr 15

Black Tern




Roseate Tern




Common Tern

Apr 17


Royal Tern




Sandwich Tern




Black Skimmer

Apr 2
Apr 18

Parasitic Jaeger (p)




Yellow-billed Cuckoo




Black-billed Cuckoo




Common Nighthawk

Apr 20


Chuck-will’s-widow




Eastern Whip-poor-will

Apr 9


Chimney Swift
Apr 10
Apr 9
Apr 19

Ruby-throated Hummingbird

Apr 19


Eastern Wood Pewee




Yellow-bellied Flycatcher




Acadian Flycatcher




Alder Flycatcher




Willow Flycatcher




Least Flycatcher




Great Crested Flycatcher
Apr 15
Apr 13


Eastern Kingbird
Apr 19
Apr 13
Apr 17

White-eyed Vireo
Apr 21
(Jan 6) Apr 10
Apr 13

Yellow-throated Vireo




Blue-headed Vireo

Apr 8


Warbling Vireo




Philadelphia Vireo




Red-eyed Vireo




No. Rough-winged Swallow
Apr 4
Mar 30
Apr 12

Purple Martin
Apr 1
Apr 1


Tree Swallow
Mar 20
Mar 1


Bank Swallow

Apr 20
Apr 13

Barn Swallow
Apr 1
Mar 30
Mar 30

Cliff Swallow

Mar 15
Apr 14

Cave Swallow

Mar 15


House Wren
Apr 19
(Jan 2) Mar30
Apr 11

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Apr 7
(Jan 5) Apr 9
Apr 10

Veery




Gray-cheeked Thrush




Swainson's Thrush




Wood Thrush

Apr 22
Apr 20

Ovenbird
Apr 17
Apr 10
Apr 10

Worm-eating Warbler

Apr 14


Louisiana Waterthrush

Mar 20
Apr 8

Northern Waterthrush




Golden-winged Warbler




Blue-winged Warbler




Black-and-white Warbler
Apr 13
Apr 10
Apr 13

Prothonotary Warbler

Apr 20


Tennessee  Warbler




Nashville Warbler   

(Jan 1)


Connecticut Warbler




Mourning Warbler




Kentucky Warbler




Common Yellowthroat
Apr 14
(Jan 1) Apr 11
Apr 11

Hooded Warbler




American Redstart
Apr 21



Cape May Warbler




Cerulean Warbler




Northern Parula
Apr 14
Apr 13


Magnolia Warbler




Bay-breasted Warbler




Blackburnian Warbler




Yellow Warbler
Apr 19
Apr 13
Apr 16

Chestnut-sided Warbler




Blackpoll Warbler




Black-throated Blue Warbler




Palm Warbler
(Jan 5) Apr 11
(Jan 6) Apr 13


Pine Warbler
Mar 22
Jan 9
Mar 16

Yellow-throated Warbler
Apr 8
Apr 1
Apr 8

Prairie Warbler
Apr 21
Apr 13
Apr 19

Black-throated Green Warbler




Canada Warbler




Wilson's Warbler




Yellow-breasted Chat

Jan 13


Summer Tanager




Scarlet Tanager




Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Apr 18



Blue Grosbeak

Apr 17


Indigo Bunting




Bobolink




Orchard Oriole

Apr 19


Baltimore Oriole

(Jan 1) Apr 19



Migrants can and do turn up in surprising places! I received this photo of a Prothonotary Warbler in Arlington, Virginia last Friday - not a bird you normally see clinging to the side of a brick building! [Photo by Lambert Orkis]