I pushed back the April bird walk at Stratford Point one week because of the anticipated foggy conditions for the 21st. It turned out that yes, the fog did roll in right when the bird walk would have been happening, and we would not have been able to see much that was not right in front of us. I did not expect that we would still be dealing with cooler than average weather after a wet week right now.
Even more strange was the fact that the coast has been without many migrant birds whatsoever due to the weather conditions keeping nocturnal migration to a minimum. Birds have been evenly distributed across the landscape and not in any "hotspots", making some trips through extensive forest productive with low numbers of a variety of species, but any visits to smaller locations that typically have budding trees dripping with warblers and vireos rather quiet.
Despite that, here is what the visitors and I were able to come up with at Stratford Point today.
Brant
Canada Goose
Mute Swan
American Black Duck
Red-breasted Merganser
Common Loon
Double-crested Cormorant
Great Egret
Osprey
Black-bellied Plover
American Oystercatcher
Sanderling
Dunlin
Laughing Gull
Ring-billed Gull
Herring Gull
Great Black-backed Gull
Mourning Dove
Northern Flicker
Blue Jay
American Crow
Fish Crow
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Barn Swallow
American Robin
Northern Mockingbird
Brown Thrasher
European Starling
Chipping Sparrow
Savannah Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Northern Cardinal
Red-winged Blackbird
Common Grackle
Brown-headed Cowbird
House Finch
American Goldfinch
House Sparrow
By Tuesday morning we should have more normal conditions with birds covering all of the expected areas en masse after being held back actually beyond their typical return dates. We are all prey to the weather at this point of the year. Look for more bird walks coming up very soon.
Scott Kruitbosch
Conservation Technician
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