Photo of the Week: Shorebird Migration Begins

A Solitary Sandpiper, a medium-sized brown shorebird with white belly, and white-dotted brown back looks up briefly as it forages in shallow waters on the mudflat.

It’s that time of year when shorebirds migrate south from their breeding grounds. The first shorebirds began arriving in southeast Michigan over the past couple weeks.

While it’s exciting to see shorebirds return to our area after several months up north, their return is also the beginning of my grumbling, ranting season.

Shorebirds are hard enough to identify when they’re in breeding plumage, with bright colors that make it a bit easier to distinguish what they are.

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It’s Back! BirdCast Launched March 1

Outline of the 48 contiguous states in the United States showing green or red dots for weather relay stations on a black background. Bands of bright color highlight migration and a legend describes what the bright colors represent on the map. Three bands of blue color indicate low levels of migration in southern California, Texas, and Florida moving north.

One of my favorite online birding resources returned March 1, 2024, highlighting bird migration in the United States.

A free online tool, Birdcast is the result of 20+ years of research, providing real-time predictions of bird migration using weather surveillance radar to gather information.

Continue reading It’s Back! BirdCast Launched March 1

Get Answers to Your Bird Migration Questions

Screenshot of Cornell Migration Celebration home page highlighting their site navigation with a large image of a Blue-winged Teal, a brown and white patterned waterbird with its wings outstretched. The patch of blue on the wing can be seen along wit the characteristic white crescent moon shape behind its bill.

Thanks to Cornell Labs two-week online Migration Celebration, I learned a lot this year about bird migration.

  • While many birds make migration one long trip, some birds fly and stop somewhere for a few days before beginning their journey again
  • With the Canada wildfires in summer 2023, some people are wondering if eBird reports will detect early migration for birds where their breeding grounds in Canada burned down.
  • Some birds can take advantage of burned areas: Black-backed Woodpeckers and Three-toed Woodpeckers use burned stumps for nesting. With beetles taking over the burned stumps, woodpeckers have a ready food source.
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