Everyone is happy to welcome spring each year after the short, often dreary days of a rainforest winter. However, birders are happier than most, as they await the arrival of the first of the summer migrants and enjoy the beginning of three months of birdsong.
This year spring began early and has been running about three weeks ahead of normal. Birds are on a more concrete schedule than the flowering trees, but even so the migrants have generally responded by appearing earlier than usual.
The first Rufous hummingbird of the spring appeared at Chris Allen’s feeder in West Sechelt on March 7 and the first violet-green swallows were over the Ruby Lake lagoon on March 13.
A few white-crowned sparrows winter on the Sunshine Coast, but this species is one of our commonest summer birds at sea level. They announce their arrival with their somewhat mournful song, which is one of the basic soundtracks of our summer. Usually the first songs are heard in the last few days of March, but this year they were a week early with a bird singing at Mission Point on March 21. Their close relative, golden-crowned sparrow, also winters with us in small numbers but many birds pass through the Sunshine Coast in April and May on their way to their northern breeding grounds.
The birds are often seen in small flocks in gardens and gardeners should be prepared to protect their pea shoots as they love to peck off the shoots to ground level.
Broad-leaf maple, our common maple species, has been loaded with blossom since mid-March, about a month earlier than normal. The blossom attracts small insects, which in turn attract insectivorous birds and it is quite common to see up to 20 ruby-crowned kinglets foraging through the flowers, often in association with yellow-rumped warblers, a gem of a bird with their yellow, white, grey and black plumage.
In late March these birds were joined by orange-crowned warblers, a green bird with an insignificant orange crown, which was at least a week early in its arrival this year. The marshes are alive with the sound of red-winged blackbirds, but another common marsh bird, common yellowthroat, was singing in the wetland at Sargeant Bay on March 31, a week earlier than usual. The first goldfinch of the year was at Penny Hall’s feeder in West Porpoise Bay on April 6, a normal date.
During the first three weeks of April thousands of snow geese migrate overhead on their long journey from the Fraser delta to Wrangell Island in Siberia. The first flocks were noted on April 3 and they are now a daily occurrence.
To report your sightings, or questions, contact Tony at [email protected] or call 604-885-5539.
