Chipping Sparrow
This is a Chipping Sparrow (Spizella passerina), one of a few of the species I observed and photographed this past Thursday. The early spring sparrow migrants continue to pour through the region with dozens and dozens of Savannah Sparrows dominating any grasslands, fields, farms and open areas. The Eastern Towhees are calling out from shrub and scrub patches, yards, feeding stations and power line corridors. Winter friends like White-throated Sparrows and Dark-eyed Juncos are starting to wrap up their pushes north for the breeding season. The Field Sparrows have returned to nest right where...
Read MoreBird Migration on Radar – March 31
Here is a radar grab of the eastern United States from just after midnight today with light bird migration occurring from the deep south all the way through Maine. A warm front had lifted through the Northeast while areas of heavy rain and thunderstorms associated with a soon to come cold front stretched across the Midwest. Areas near Georgia into the Carolinas and Delmarva appear to have had moderate migration occurring. At this time of the year we have everything from ducks to wintering friends like the Dark-eyed Junco to early arrivals like Pine Warbler, both kinglets, Chipping Sparrow,...
Read MorePine Warbler
This Pine Warbler (Setophaga pinus) was enjoying foraging in White Pine (Pinus strobus) trees in the early morning light today, the first of many warbler species to arrive in the coming weeks. Now is the time to break out your Peterson Field Guide warbler plates and study songs as well. This male was singing intermittently, more focused on eating than advertising. Their song resembles that of the Chipping Sparrow, or even the Dark-eyed Junco, but it is a little more deliberate and slower trill. In my opinion the best way to learn a song is to literally watch a bird singing it as much as you...
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