Spring Arrivals

[Dominic Cormier]

Dear Birders,

As spring fast approaches, and our seasonally common birds start to return, the NS eBird review team sees an uptick in our workload related to flagged records. Most of this increase comes from 'early birds' that arrive ahead of the set filter limits. In the majority of cases, these records are not exceptional. They will be birds returning a few days earlier than expected. However, every spring there are reports of common birds well ahead of schedule, sometimes 1-3 weeks earlier. The accompanying comments offer little detail or simply state the bird was heard singing. These can be very difficult to review, so I would encourage all birders this spring to try and record your personal first spring arrivals in some manner or another using photos or audio. For singing songbirds, even a poor quality smartphone video works. A lot of our songbirds are long-distance migrants, and understanding timing of spring return (i.e. whether it is coming earlier, staying the same, changes by year) is super important in the broader scientific context. So, when out this spring, and a newly arrived warbler is singing away, take out the smartphone, record a little snippet, and continue on your way. When at home, if indeed it is early for that bird, there will be a video of the song. If it is not unusual, then no harm done, and you have a recording as a reminder of the first songs of spring.  For those observers without camera or smartphone, I encourage spending a little extra time with each new arrival to be 100% confident in the ID. Despite having spent a decade doing bird surveys by ear, I speak from experience when I say that the first songs of spring can always throw me for a loop.  

I hope all are well and ready for spring! Happy birding!

Dominic and the rest of the team (Jake, Dave B., Dave M., Kathleen, Ken)