Everyone is aware this has been an early spring with the season advanced by about three weeks over a normal year. The birds also responded with several migrant species arriving on record early dates. We have four vireo species on the Sunshine Coast, three of them (Cassin’s, warbling and red-eyed) are long distance migrants (Hutton’s vireo is resident), and all three of the migrant species arrived on record early dates.
At the end of the first week of May, we still await about eight species of the total of 60 migrant species that either summer with us or pass through on their way to points further north. Two of our most abundant and obvious summer residents, cedar waxwing and Swainson’s thrush, usually appear in mid-May, the latter after a long migration flight from South America.
April and early May is the most dynamic time of the year for both birds and the birders who study them. After their migrations to their summer homes the birds are intent on courtship and raising a family. For the male birds, this means attracting a mate. They do this by moulting into their breeding plumage which often means displaying bright colours and distinctive patterns. Along with their breeding plumage, which is only held for a few weeks, they also burst into song. Only male birds sing and the function is to attract a mate and to defend a breeding territory from other males. As with their breeding plumage, the males only sing for a few weeks in the spring, then the behaviour becomes redundant and even counterproductive as it attracts predators.
Sunshine Coast birders have been out and about seeking their avian quarry. Our beautiful Coast has a wide diversity of bird species at all times of the year, especially in the springtime, when a morning’s birding can find 60 to 70 species of birds. On April 11 a Sunshine Coast Natural History Society birdwalk found 40 species on the Mahan Trail in Gibsons and a walk at Sargeant Bay on May 12 identified 46 species.
