Bird Alert - April 14, 2008

Golden Triangle Audubon Bird Alert  - April 14, 2008

 Late March and early April produced relatively few migrants, presumably because of the persistent fairly strong south winds enabling migrant to proceed significantly inland before landing.

 On Friday April 11, a cold front in mid-afternoon produced a few short lived strong rain showers, and there were some birds that dropped into Sabine Woods, with a very noticeable influx around 5:00 p.m.  But by 5:30, they were nowhere to be found. Orioles were particularly numerous in this event, although there was a good variety of Warblers, including notably a male Cerulean and a male Blackburnian. About 25 warbler species were recorded on the day!  The north winds behind the front have persisted for an unusually long period, and the birding on Saturday April 12 was very good.  There was a good variety of warblers, in excess of 20 species, many of both expected orioles, both expected tanagers, Yellow-billed Cuckoos, six vireo species, a few Indigo Buntings.  The north winds persisted in Sunday, but by then extended well south into the Gulf and may have made for very great difficulties for any birds that left the Yucatan on Saturday night.  There were still a good variety of birds, perhaps some aggregation of birds that had hit other nearby parts of the coast on Saturday.

 Last night (Sunday), the winds at the surface and at 3000 ft over the Yucatan were distinctly north and quite strong; the winds over the central Gulf were in the 20-30 knot range.  It seems likely that any birds on the Yucatan would wait for more favorable conditions.  The forecast has the northerly winds over the Yucatan persisting until Wednesday, when they are predicted to swing back south. If the forecast holds up, birds may accumulate on the Yucatan and not leave until Wednesday night, so Thursday may be the next day to expect numbers of migrants.  A front is due in Friday.  These forecasts are just that, forecasts, and should the wind shift back to the south earlier, some birds might leave Tuesday evening.  And it is much more difficult to predict whether the birds coming from further south, which is most of our migrants, have made it to the Yucatan or have been held up further south.

 On Saturday, Lynn Otto reported finding a Ringed Kingfisher on Highway 87 about a half mile or so west of Sabine Woods, where there are a few ponds close to the road on the south side.  Efforts to relocate the bird were unsuccessful, although a large Kingfisher was seen in the vicinity of McFaddin NWR later that day. On Sunday about 1 p.m. a large, silent Kingfisher, flew lowish over the Willows at Sea Rim heading west (but not clear how much west), but could not be relocated despite an extensive search.  Pleae be on the lookout for this bird!

John A. Whittle