Friday, May 17, 2013

The End of Migration?

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The number of spring migrants passing through our area has declined significantly over the past week and it won't be long now until this year's migration ends.

I took my final trip to look for migrants last weekend, when I spent a morning at Edith Moore Nature Sanctuary in Houston. I saw half-a-dozen warbler species but they were tough to find and even tougher to photograph.

A Chestnut-sided Warbler almost evaded me completely.


It took quite a while, too, to get a shot of a Magnolia Warbler.


I couldn't manage any pictures of a male American Redstart but a female was less skittish.




During the week a handful of migrants visited the CyFair campus most days.

The nature trail had Yellow Warblers, plus Black-throated Green Warblers (below) and American Redstarts (below).




The small group of mesquite trees between the Library and the Technology Building used to attract lots of warblers. Then I didn't see a single migrant there last year. This week, however, several warblers have popped in to the trees, including several Common Yellowthroats.




I'm hoping that some warblers turn up later today and next week, but this late in the season you never know.
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