The 2015 Bird Migration Begins...
It’s March 10 and we’ve started to see the very first of the spring migrants arrive in Hamilton. With an online tool known as eBird, we can take a look at the status of bird migrations in North America.
Combining this with historical data, we can see if certain species are “on time” compared to previous years.
The first Killdeer have arrived!
Today, for example, I heard a Killdeer fly over at Princess Point Park. Looking back in recent historical data, this bird was a few days early, but I have seen Killdeer as early as late February in Toronto, and March 11 in Hamilton. Here’s how 2015 looks so far:
You can see here that Hamilton and the GTA are at the forefront (save for one bird in Kingston) of the Ontario migration route of Killdeer right now.
Migrant Vultures gliding through…
A handful of Turkey Vultures always tend to winter around Hamilton, but in the last few days a few migrants have been spotted following the escarpment for the migration.
A quick look to the bottom right of the above map however, and you can see there’s a huge wave on the way. Within the next two weeks we should begin to see large groups of Turkey Vultures, and if we’re lucky, the odd Black Vulture mixed in. They roost in large groups of dozens during migration as well, including at a spot next to University Plaza in Dundas each year.
Next up: Eastern Meadowlark
Another early migrant is the Eastern Meadowlark. The individuals who breed in the far north pass through early in mid-to-late March typically, and it appears from this map they are more or less on track for a March 20-ish arrival. It will be another couple extra weeks after that before our own local breeding meadowlarks arrive, however!
Osprey
Every year a few Osprey settle in Hamilton and spend an entire month building large nests: one quite well known spot for this is atop a cell phone tower above the 403/Hwy 6 interchange. Typically they arrive early April but last year some arrived quite early in mid-March.
The map above predicts no early individuals, however I do know one was reported today in Toronto, and that report likely hasn’t been verified yet so is not on this map. The map suggests that the Osprey in Toronto is either a misidentification or an anomaly.
In general, Osprey look to be on track for an early April landing again. By May there should be nests, and the long 20+ days of incubations.
The Common Terns
A relatively new nesting species to Hamilton, the Common Tern is a colonial nester, with a new colony at the recently restored Windermere Basin, and in at the man-made North-east Shore Islands in Hamilton Harbour.
They arrive typically mid-April, and it appears the first migrants have just arrived in Florida, in addition to a few over-wintering groups that were already there.
Tree Swallow Colonies: Early April
Tree Swallows are another colonial species (also present at Windermere Basin) that arrive in April, but typically show up a little earlier than the terns. They are insectivores, so the availability of early spring insects is important.
The current map has reports as close as near Pittsburgh, only a few hours drive from Hamilton. But that said, its unlikely they will arrive any sooner than the end of March into early April. A lot will depend on the weather of the next few weeks — should a mild spring hit suddenly, they are certainly positioned to be able to arrive early.
Barn Swallow
Barn Swallows are currently passing through the Southern states. They are likely to progress slowly, as their expected arrival dates are typically in mid-to-late April.
With that said last year I saw my first pair of Barn Swallows on April 7, when there was still some snow around. With this map though, I don’t forsee any arriving before April, and with the cold temperatures of this winter it is unlikely they will arrive in early April in large numbers. Expect to see these passing through April 20-ish, along with other swallow and swift species…
…such as Purple Martins!
In comparing the Purple Martin map here with the Barn Swallow map above, you’d be forgiven for thinking that the Purple Martin is more abundant.
In Ontario, the Purple Martin is in massive decline. It appears from this map that the species is doing quite well in the Southern States; perhaps this is a good sign for the population in general. It is estimated that 15,000 martins that breed in Ontario now, which is about a 40% decline within less than 10 years.
From the map, they look posed to beat the Barn Swallow here. The problem is that with the estimated low population, reports of them may dimish the accuracy of their actual arrival date due to their reletive rarity.
May: Warbler Arrivals…
Above are a few sample Warbler species. There are quite a few that pass through Hamilton, and a few that breed here.
Of those, Yellow Warblers tend to be the earliest arrivals for the local breeders. They should arrive around the first week of May to start establishing territory immediately. They are an easy identification if you’re not familiar with them: they’re small and almost all yellow (males have some thin red streaks). They also tend to arrive just before the trees leaf-out, so they are quite visible upon arrival.
The American Redstart is one that passes through as well as breeds in a limited number of local spaces. It appears to have arrived with the Yellow Warbler in Florida already.
The Blue-winged Warbler, another local breeder, has just barely arrived in Florida — it appears most are still in South America. They should arrive in the second week of May, and like the Yellow Warbler, they immediately begin establishing territories.
The Black-throated Green Warbler is one that has not bred in Hamilton in quite some time, but is very readily found breeding in forests to the north, such as in the Bruce Peninsula. They will likely pass through in early May, and have already arrived in numbers in Florida.
Way off yet: the Bobolink
They may be very far off still, but the Bobolinks will actually arrive around the 13th of May or so. They are one of those species that travel huge distances just to breed in North America, and they travel rather fast, covering thousands of kilometres in a few weeks.
They will join the Eastern Meadowlark in large open fields, nesting on the ground and hoping to fledge their chicks within a month before farmers cut their fields. By mid-August, they’ll already be heading back to South America.
To give you a sense of the scale of the wintering flocks of Bobolinks in Paraguay, take a look at these reports. Only a week or so ago, flocks were measured in the thousands. By the time they arrive here, they will be dispersed into flocks numbering in the dozens at best.
Bobolinks are also in decline, officially labelled as a “species at risk” in Ontario now.
Baltimore Orioles
Like clockwork, the first Baltimore Orioles seem to always arrive in Hamilton on May 1. It appears from the map a few are surviving winter environments on the east coast. I’m not sure how normal this is for the species, but they are technically a blackbird and have some hardy relatives, so it can be surmised that perhaps they can handle it.
If you have an oriole feeder, have it out a few days before their expected arrival. If they don’t see food right away, they just fly by and find somewhere else! But keep that feeder filled, once they establish territory they may be depending on that feeder!
The Cardinal’s Cousin: Scarlet Tanager
Unlike Northern Cardinals, which are not a migrant species, the similarly coloured Scarlet Tanager migrates far — all the way to Colombia and Ecuador. In fact, they’re still there!
Like Bobolinks, they are pretty speedy in their migration, and we can expect to see them in the first couple weeks of May.
The Cardinal’s Blue Cousin: Indigo Bunting
Also closely related to the cardinal is the very colourful Indigo Bunting. These brilliant blue birds arrive along with the Scarlet Tanager, though you can see from the map above they prefer more northerly wintering grounds.
The Late Birds: Cuckoos
Many people are unaware we even have cuckoos in Canada let alone Hamilton, but part of that is likely due to how late these birds arrive. Yellow-billed Cuckoos arrive a bit earlier in mid-to-late May, however Black-billeds can arrive as late as early June. This is likely due to their drive to sometimes lay eggs in a parasitic manner: that is, lay their eggs in other bird’s nests and let them raise their young. This isn’t always the case with cuckoos, but the behaviour makes arriving early to spend time on nest-building less important.
The other big reason cuckoos are lesser known is a mix of their lack of abundance in large numbers, and being rather reclusive. They are large birds, but aren’t found during breeding season in large flocks and make calls that don’t really sound like typical birds.
The map above shows all the reports in the entire world for 2015 for the Yellow-billed Cuckoo. Not very many. But the Black-billed Cuckoo takes the prize for most reclusive non-rare species…
Last: the Most Elusive Cuckoo
Someone should give Roger Ahlman a prize for reporting the only Black-billed Cuckoo in the winter of 2015. For a species that is not threatened or endangered, there sure are not many reports for it in its wintering grounds.
From these maps its impossible to tell if these birds will arrive at all, let alone on time, but I’m sure we’ll see them late in May and into June as usual.
Curious about more species? You can easily use the eBird Species Maps tool to look up species reports.
