A Sunday Evening Surprise

Before you go on see if you can guess what this bird is from this angle. I hate to admit it but sometimes this is the best look I get at a bird. If you don't want to play the game just scroll down and see what I stumbled onto.






After having a family get together on Sunday I got a couple of hours to myself to get out birding after a week of cold, drizzly weather. Sunday evening was gorgeous. No wind, warm and sunny. It couldn't have been better. As I was scanning birds at one of the best wetlands in the area, I looked down at the edge of the water just below my feet and saw a small bird skulking in the dead vegetation.

This Sora Rail was absolutely cavalier to my presence. I got out the camera and started shooting. I must have spent 20 minutes watching this bird and only stopped taking pictures when the light started to fade.


I was really taken aback by the colors of this bird. The blue edging on the back feathers was stunning.The markings on it's side and head were something I hadn't had a chance to study before. There was a point where I thought the bird might be sick or injured because it showed no reaction to me. I've decided it just had other priorities. It just kept hunting along the water's edge and from what I saw was finding plenty to eat.


There were other nice birds at the site like Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs, Yellow-headed Blackbird, Vesper Sparrow, a nice variety of ducks and a singing Meadowlark on a power line. Water levels have finally risen in the area wetlands so there should be good habitat available for birds throughout the summer.

The weather is going to deteriorate the next 2 days so anything that is around will probably stick around for a while. It seems like spring will never arrive!

Bird Banding Video from Three Rivers Park District

My friend Kirk M. posted this video that I had never seen on his blog. Surprised to see me tromping around catching birds.



With the lousy weather we've been having this video sure gives me hope!

Coastal Fallout?

This morning I took a look at the radar images for the southern U.S. and saw what I think is a big movement of birds across the Gulf of Mexico. I am not as familiar with these sorts of images as I am with overland images so I'm looking for a little feedback. I'm especially interested in the area around Brownsville and southwest. It looks like some of the returns around Galveston might be weather related. Anybody along the Texas coast seeing a fallout or anything that might confirm that the image posted is of birds and not something else?


Up here in Minnesota we're bracing for a bit of April snow and wondering if spring will ever get here. Early migrants like Yellow-rumped Warblers and Fox Sparrows are here in good numbers but the warblers will have a hard time finding food the next couple of days. Hopefully things will turn around in time for Earth Day.

Another Big Movement of Birds

Checking radar show another night of big movement in the eastern U.S.. The images below show the build-up of birds moving in Texas but the entire area east of the Great Plains shows lots of birds except near the low pressure system moving through Nebraska and the Dakotas.

I got a couple of comments from my last post I'd like to address. 1) The colors do represent the density of birds present. Green shows more density than blue. These patterns are pretty typical of spring movement.

2) One commenter cautioned about assuming these returns show birds. There have been decades of study done on tracking birds with radar during migration. The patterns we're seeing are literally millions of birds moving north. The suggestion that the images might be due to other atmospheric conditions is possible but the returns are too widespread and too consistent with what we underestand about radar ornithology to write these off to anomolies. A look at the information sites addressing radar ornithology such as Clemson University or this excellent primer by John Idzikowski should clarify how we interpret these radar images.

Long story short - Texas is hopping tonight!

Radar Series -April 10

The following 3 screen images show the change in radar returns for the evening of Sunday April 10th as birds lift off at sunset and head north. In a live, looping image the change is impressive. Notice how the spaces between the radar locations fills in with color and how the center of each radar "donut" gets more green as time has elapsed. It looks like lots of birds moving in the southeast tonight. The shots cover approximately one hour of time.

Little Visitor

With the change in weather things are starting to become much more active. This morning I heard my first of the year Eastern Phoebe singing away along with a Song Sparrow and a drumming Downy Woodpecker. It took everything I had to walk through the door to work. Today would be a good day to play hookey.


A friend at work has this little guy show up in his backyard and got this nice photo to share with me. He hasn't seen him in the last couple of days but if he shows up again I may try to sneak over and get some pictures myself.

Here in Minnesota the weather is supposed to improve with a string of warm days this week. A look at radar tonight may give a clue to where the birding is going to be good tomorrow.

More Radar Fun

A check of Nexrad tonight showed a bit of migration along the east coast just ahead of the big storm moving through. Behind the front, little if any movement. A look at the radar in the Florida Keys shows some activity.


In this image the returns over the keys is actually a movement of birds that came out of Cuba and are headed to Florida. In the past there was a radar image in Cuba that was viewable but it was often not functioning and I haven't seen an image from there in a while.

Once this big storm system moves offshore and the winds switch around the movement of birds should resume. The next 2 nights should see birds headed north.

Movement in the Southeast

From the posts on the local bird chats it appears that there was a good movement of birds into Minnesota and Wisconsin last night. Kinglets (both species), Eastern Phoebes, Killdeer and Hermit Thrushes have shown up in lots of places this morning.

A look at radar at 2100 (9:00 pm) shows lots of movement south of a front traveling across the upper midwest and Great Lakes.


Areas of heaviest migration seems to be northern Florida, Georgia, Alabama and just inching into South Carolina.

Most locations in the gulf area show good movement tonight. Storms are anticipated moving through the region the next 2 days so what arrives may hunker down for a bit.

Reports from a bird banding station near Vera Cruz Mexico is reporting lots of warblers moving with hundreds being caught and banded each day. I can't wait for them to get here!