March 30 2022
Michelle checks a Prairie Warbler before release (photo by Steffanie Munguía)
The cold front last Friday (March 25) brought a squall line through the area in the predawn hours that then moved offshore after sunrise with cloudy but benign conditions afterwards. We were treated to our first real influx of migrants as Prairie Warblers, Western Palm Warblers, Northern Parulas and Black & White Warblers filled the sky with chip notes as they settled into the canopy. These arrivals were moving quickly through the tops of the trees but eventually settled into foraging flocks that came lower as the day wore on and we ended up banding 21 new birds and recapturing 2 winterers. A Yellow-throated Warbler and a Tennessee Warbler were among the birds seen but not banded. The first-of-season Worm-eating warbler and American Redstart were among the banded birds.
Hi there! Western Palm Warbler (photo by Steffanie Munguía)
We are now back in a quiet period waiting for the next wave of migrants to come through the area. Birdcast has shown a decent flight across the Gulf of Mexico to the Mississippi Valley and Central Flyways this week. Hopefully our turn will come again as the weather shifts around this weekend. Early migration comes in pulses while by late April and early May there is a continuous stream of songbirds heading north. Multiple strangler fig trees onsite are just now beginning to fruit and should be ripe in time for the mid to late April influx of migrants.
Swainson’s Warbler. Note sloping head and huge bill for leaf tossing. (photo by Steffanie Munguía)
