Singing in the Spring
Chestnut Sided Warbler
By: Pat Coate
The symphony of bird song has been truly wonderful this spring and here are a few shots of various birds in action. Some things to note about ‘singing in the spring’:
• Male birds of many species migrate first. They sing to stake out their territory and then to attract the females when they too begin to move north.
• In many species the females don’t sing.
• Birds also defend their territory against birds of the same species to reduce competition for food since both birds would hunt for food in the same manner
• It is believed that changes in sunlight/length of day trigger hormonal changes in birds that trigger ‘singing in the spring’.
Some FOYs
Grey Catbird
By: Pat Coate
We finally got some spring-like weather with the sun making an appearance (brief as it turns out) and temps reaching the 70s. Inspired by seeing my first of year (FOY) Common Yellowthroat Warbler in the back yard, I decided to take my FOY bike ride to enjoy the weather and see what birds might also be out and about. I got an hour+ ride in with about 20 species seen before getting stranded under a bridge waiting out a downpour. In my 20 species I did pick up a couple more FOYs: Chipping Sparrow, Swamp Sparrow and Grey Catbird.
The pictures were taken during the bike ride.
Mon@rch's Nature Blog 