First April Year Additions

On Saturday, I went out birding in the park. While migrants were basically the same as the week prior, I did add a Hermit Thrush (#72) to my year list at Tupelo Meadow, my first April addition, and one that I somehow missed in winter despite finding it multiple times in that season last year. Meanwhile, reports of Chipping Sparrows and Palm Warblers began to trickle in, and I was determined to find them for myself. On Monday I did just that, and found a pair of Chipping Sparrows (#73) with a junco flock at the Pinetum (along with a third at the Pinetum), and a Palm Warbler (#74) at Tupelo Meadow. On Wednesday, nothing really changed in terms of migrants, other than a few isolated reports of Louisiana Waterthrush and Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher (I will likely get both in the next week or so), but a Great Egret (#75) had finally made claim to Turtle Pond, and greeted a visiting pair of Ring-Necked Ducks. The egret typically arrives here at the end of March or the first few days of April, while the ducks are rare, but I saw a pair in February on the Reservoir and a male there in March.

The migrants I have been seeing include many phoebes and Golden-Crowned Kinglets, along with smaller numbers of Pine and Palm Warblers, Chipping Sparrows, and Hermit Thrushes.