Greetings All:
With a little extra time on my hands, I decided to go through old
notes and explain some of the shifts that occur in April which have an
impact on sightings included in the field notes.
Waterthrushes: Louisiana Waterthrushes are to be looked for from the
first week of April through the last week of April (May records are
very sparse) in our area. Northern Waterthrushes seem to kick in
during the the fourth week in April and peak some time in May. What
that means to me: I scrutinized the waterthrush I found at Clapp Park
today carefully enough to rule in Louisiana and to rule out Northern.
Sparrows: From mid-April on I try to be aware of Dark-eyed Juncos,
White-crowned Sparrows, and Spotted Towhees in the region - all three
used to persist into early May but, in recent years, they have been
pulling out a bit earlier. This explains why sighting of these rarely
make the field notes in early April but might in late April. In a
year like this, during which White-crowned Sparrows had a very poor
winter, I like to note the popping up of migrants through the region
in April.
More sparrows: Swamp Sparrows seem to be gone (for the most part) by
the end of March, Song Sparrows seem to be gone (for the most part) by
the second week of April, Lincoln's Sparrows generally persist into
the last week of April/first week of May.
What this means (and every eBird reviewer that I know) is that Song
Sparrow reports from the 15 April on MUST be documented as carefully
as possible with photographs preferred. There is anecdotal evidence
that Song Sparrows persist into the Panhandle into the first week of
May but few photographs, if any, support this.
Anthony Hewetson; Lubbock