A mediocre Spring – but at least it wasn’t winter.
Northern Harrier 04/26/14
We had a poorer than normal migration season this April and May. The late very cold winter meant that we had very few early migrators. The Our first Bluebird was seen on April 5th, our first ducks showed up on April 7th. Our most common warbler, the Yellow-rumped, arrived on 4/19 and stay for just over a month. The last winter Junco was seen on May 5th. lack of snow meant that local farm fields weren’t a suitable substitute for a real lake, so our local temporary ponds only had ducks for a few days. Combined with my slowly healing ankle that limited my walking, we just didn’t see as much as hoped for.
Still we had some surprises. We saw a Northern Waterthrush for a few days in May. I hadn’t seen them before in MN, though they are common in NJ. We had the Harris’s Sparrow for parts of 2 weeks, a very long visit for them.
 Northern Waterthrush 05/17/14 |
 Harris’s Sparrow 5/10/14 |
 Rose-breasted Grosbeak 5/10/14 |
 Bufflehead 4/23/14 |
 Hooded Mergansers 4/11/14 |
 Eastern Bluebird 4/26/14 |
 Yellow-rumped Warbler 4/24/14 |
 Ruffed Grouse 4/11/14 |
 Redhead and Ring-necked Duck 4/22/14 |
 Wood Ducks 4/22/14 |
Themocracy
It was slower than normal for migrating birds but we have still done fairly well. We haven’t made any long bird watching trips. I am surprised at the lack of Green Herons and Kingfishers. Also, we haven’t seen any Night Hawks. It’s a strange year, for sure. Our Barn Swallows are back for Round 2 of nesting. I look forward to Fall birding.