What are your backyard migratory birds?

[MoonchildCA]

Living in Southern California, the majority of birds that frequent my backyard are here year around and they are almost too numerous to count.

But this is the time of year I experience a few changes. My redwing blackbirds will soon be leaving my yard to go breed in some marshy or wetland area. I’m not sure how far they go, as they can always be found at some local wetland areas during breeding season.

The hooded orioles have arrived and are enjoying my grape jelly and nectar offerings. I love watching them, as we only have a few really colorful birds in these parts.

I’m still waiting for the black-headed grosbeaks to arrive. They are occasional visitors to my feeders throughout the spring and summer.

We will likely retire in NC in a few years, and I’m looking forward to my new birding experiences.

What birds migrate to and from your yard in Spring?

Edit: please include your approximate location.

[msongs]

1. unfortunately the mockingbirds in CA never leave nt

[MoonchildCA]

21. I love the mockingbirds.

I have one that sits atop my chimney, and tries to impress me with his great vocal range. It drifts down through my chimney like it’s coming through stereo speakers. My favorite part of my mornings: a cup of coffee and a mockingbird serenade.

[elleng]

2. Osprey!

They've returned, and working (I think) on making a new generation. Southern MD.

[Walleye]

3. Juncos, Show up in late fall and usually leave right around April 1 or when the temperature is 50+

[MoonchildCA]

8. We have dark-eyed juncos here year-around, however they don't come to my backyard for some reason.

They came to my last house about a mile away, and they are at my friend’s house a couple miles away.

[Walleye]

10. I've seen them in Alaska in the summer

[Walleye]

11. They have learned how to use my finch feeders, they like the thistle seeds

Nyger. They mostly feed on the deck where the finches spill the seeds

[MoonchildCA]

19. I have Nyjer feeders out for the lesser goldfinches and pine siskins.

Still haven’t had any Juncos visit here though. We’ve been here over 3 years. We have plenty of white-crowned sparrows, and a few song sparrows. Maybe they are just too out-numbered.

I get to see them often at my friend’s house.

[Walleye]

20. Have seen rarely pine siskins. Getting visits from song sparrows and white throated sparrow

I had to stop putting up sunflower seeds because my downstairs neighbor doesn’t like the squirrels on his deck. I hate it but ya got to get along

[mahina]

4. Kolea

Last edited Wed Mar 31, 2021, 10:07 PM - Edit history (1)

They are amazing! They fly to the North Pole and back to Hawaii yearly. They are here now. Also called the Golden Plover. God bless and protect them.

[MoonchildCA]

9. Where are you located?

[mahina]

18. Oahu

[Buckeye_Democrat]

5. I usually start hearing Warblers in my area...

... after Spring arrives.

[MoonchildCA]

12. We have the yellow-rumped/Audubon's warbler here.

I think they are here year around. They love water from my birdbath, but don’t use my feeders.

[dem4decades]

6. The red wing blackbirds have come back already with the grackles and cowbirds. The end of April

we'll see Orioles, Indigo buntings and Hummers. The hummers are the only ones we can keep around the yard all summer.

[MoonchildCA]

13. Indigo Buntings! I'm jealous. I've never seen one.

Where are you located?

[dem4decades]

27. Southern New England. I forgot we had a pair of scarlet Tanagers and grosbeaks too. The

Orioles hang around for a month or so, the Tanagers and buntings for maybe a week. In 3 weeks we'll put out our hummingbird feeders and start hanging cut oranges in the trees, and grape jelly in feeders around the yard.

[MoonchildCA]

29. I saw a Western tanager one time, about 10 years ago in my backyard when I lived in Ventura.

It was in my early bird watching days, and I didn’t know what it was until I looked it up afterwards.
Haven’t see one since.

[dem4decades]

31. That's too bad, you see then and want them to stay or at least return.

[MoonchildCA]

24. I love the sound grackles make.

I don’t have them in my yard, but they are in the area. They breed at the Ojai Meadow Preserve, and they hang out in the trees at the Vons shopping center near it.

[RockRaven]

7. We had a massive influx of pine siskins this year, complicated by the salmonella epidemic

so we took our feeders down around Christmas/New Year's and we only recently put them back up.

For more information on pine siskins/salmonella this website is informative: https://birdrescuecenter.org/salmonellosis/

In my SF Bay Area suburb, most of our birds are year round residents and not brightly colored. A healthy male house finch, an American gold finch, a western bluebird, an Anna's hummingbird... Those are probably the brightest colors of birds we see all the time.

[MoonchildCA]

15. We get all of those here, except the American Goldfinch.

Here we have the Lesser Goldfinches. Pine Siskins are often among them feeding on my nijer feeders. I’ve never seen a sick or dead one though. I didn’t know about the salmonella issue.
I clean my feeders fairly often, but this makes me want to scrub it down again.

[RainCaster]

14. Rufous hummingbirds

They migrate from Mexico to Alaska each Spring. They rest in our yard a few days each, then continue on. The traffic continues for about 6-8 weeks, then we only have a few locals nesters.
We also have Anna's hummingbirds that nest here year round.

[MoonchildCA]

16. We have Anna's here all around, as well as Allen's.

Anna’s are the most common though.

A few weeks ago a neighbor posted on the Nextdoor app about a Broad-billed hummingbird who had taken up residence in her backyard. She offered to let anyone interested to come see it.
Of course, I took her up on it, I sat in this stranger’s backyard for an hour or so, and it visited the feeder it had claimed, at least every 10 minutes. Pretty cool! They are very rare here.

[RainCaster]

28. I live northwest of Seattle

It snows here about two weeks each winter, but it's below freezing for 10-12 weeks. I have to wrap the feeder with a string of Christmas lites to keep it thawed out.

[Walleye]

22. In the winter of 2016 I had a Rufous hummingbird come and visit me for about 3 weeks.

Unheard of in Delaware.Way out of his range

[brewens]

17. I was pretty close to a three-toed woodpecker this morning. It was really chowing down on whatever

it was getting. I see osprey all the time and we have pelicans here now. In the summer I get yellow fly catchers in the yard that are a lot of fun to watch. I'm in Idaho near the Snake river.

[MoonchildCA]

23. That's cool! I've never heard of the three-toed woodpeckers.

We have acorn woodpeckers and Downey woodpeckers here year around. I love to watch them, the Downey’s especially. They’re so cute—they are the smallest woodpecker.

[Tbear]

25. We had a red-bellied woodpecker fly into the a window this morning.

I gave him a little memorial in the woods. I was sad.
But, I did see a pair of Pileated’s yesterday. In the woods, not at a feeder.
We have the Downy’s here as well, but not lately.

[MoonchildCA]

26. Oh my! We've had a few birds fly into a picture window as well.

It’s so sad it makes me feel sick.
We recently hung some detergents in the window. Hopefully they do the trick.

[dem4decades]

32. I was walking my dog one morning last week and saw something in the road, went over

And saw it was a Downey with a bad wing. We have a bunch of killer cats in the area so I picked it up, held it a while, tried to settle it down, like you can then a bird hits a window, and tried to release it but it couldn't fly. I brought it in, made a box for it with material in it to rest, got a suet block and cup of water. I got it to feed and drink while in my hand (iit could not stand up) for a day and a half and thought I just might nurse it back. Sadly it started to fail and died. Shit iit was as if I lost a pet. He was so sweet.

[MoonchildCA]

33. I've only had luck once reviving a bird.

It is so difficult. I think they go into shock or have internal bleeding and rarely survive.

[TomSlick]

30. Not much of a birder - really cannot identify most species.

Here in SW Arkansas, most bird species you see in the yard are here all year (there were a shocking number of dead robins in a freak large snow storm this winter).

The one migratory birds I see are hummingbirds - tiny ones, bigger ones, all colors. It's always funny when the little beasties dive bomb someone who walks too close to a feeder.