First signs of Spring 2015 (1 Viewer)

[Jon Turner]

Sand Martin in Gloucs this morning.

 

[Peter C.]

Sand Martin in Gloucs this morning.

Cripes! If anything defines the differences between the two hemispheres, this is it; we won't see one of those for at least a month and a half! (Two months, if this weather holds.) :storm:

PC.

 

[halftwo]

Interesting, Peter.
Here Sand Martins are always the first migrants, early March a typical time.

 

[Himalaya]

It has been sunny I have read that. I want one more cold snap.

It's not been that cold this winter really, the weather forecasters reckon it's been the sunniest on record too.

 

[chris butterworth]

Sand Martin at Leasowe, North Wirral, yesterday.

 

[Nutcracker]

It has been sunny I have read that. I want one more cold snap.

More sun and less cold for me please! 3

 

[Boro Birder]

Spring always comes later to us further north, shocked a Wheatear has been seen, wont get them for another month, lots of G,B, LTT pairing up and plenty of singing at dawn and dusk, with a Songthrush in full song yesterday evening. Also Ravens on eggs but in the south west, looking for to my trip at the end of the month 30th - 4th April 800ft up in a cottage off the grid in the Lakes to go and look for our Ravens up here breeding for the BTO NRS.

Damian

 

[ovenbird43]

Finally above freezing in Syracuse today, first time since.... ? early January? Gonna be a sloppy mess this week as the 2+ feet of snow begins to melt in the relatively balmy temperatures.

Didn't get to go birding this weekend but I have heard House Finches singing the last couple days, they'd been pretty scarce the last few months. Heard a Fish Crow the other day in our neighborhood.

 

[Peter C.]

Interesting, Peter.
Here Sand Martins are always the first migrants, early March a typical time.

For us, they fall more into the middle of the migration season - late April, continuing into early May. Tree Swallow and Rough-winged are earliest (these species seem hardier, and the Tree can subsist for a while on fruit, when available), followed by Barns, and then the Cliffs and Banks. That said, all species have fairly wide distributions, and in early days in May, all five can be found at the same time in foraging flocks along the Great Lakes.

Peter

P.S. I suspect the big difference in arrival dates - in addition to the obvious difference in the timing of the thaw in our respective hemispheres - is a consequence of simple physical geography. There's a lot more terititory for an R. riparia to cross from (for example) Amazonian Brazil to southern Canada than there is from west Africa to southern England. All that Caribbean in the way, don't you know.

(Come to think of it, I don't know if they fly over it, as our migrant warblers and thrushes do; or go around it, through Panama and up. Being diurnal migrants that forage on the wing (I believe, anyway!) I suspect the latter is the case).

 

[chris butterworth]

I think you'll find the majority of N. American birds travel through Central America ( although some could go via The Lesser Antilles ). "Ours" have to handle The Sahara, even if they follow the the coast. :t:

 

[Nutcracker]

More to do with continentality [for central Canada] versus the milder oceanic fringe [for Britain]. Go to a similar latitude in central Siberia, and Sand Martins won't arrive there until the same time that they do for Peter in Canada.

I'd not be surprised if Sand Martins / Bank Swallows also arrive fairly early in Vancouver on the mild oceanic fringe of Canada.

 

[Warixenjalka]

I saw yeasterday the first fly on the sunny wall of our house. Temperature was 7 Celsius at a shadow. Today - not so warm - maybe 4 C.

Local bay is already free of ice and full of Mallards, Goldeneyes, Goosanders and Swans. Spring is about 3 weeks an earlier than usual...

 

[chris butterworth]

1 White Wagtail at Red Rocks, Common Frog spawn and singing Common Toad at Gilroy, half a dozen Small Tortoiseshell, lots of B. pratorum and my first Eristalis tenax. ( Also the first day, in UK, thatI've been wandering around in shorts ).

 

[halftwo]

Well predicted on the W W. Presumably it flew in to see you in shorts!
No migrants at Old Moor today - though Sand martin & Ringed Plover have been seen there already.

 

[ovenbird43]

First patch of green grass today!

 

[Troubador]

Our female Blackbird is carrying nesting material to two sites in our garden.
2 Robins tolerating each other as close as 6 inches (it must be love).
Mistle Thrush singing at full throttle.
Wintering Blackcap been singing for a week.
Wintering male Brambling's 'cap' getting darker by the day.

Lee

 

[Cheshire Birder]

..the first day, in UK, that I've been wandering around in shorts.

Surely it's not that warm yet?

CB

 

[chris butterworth]

Surely it's not that warm yet?

CB

Even my thin fleece came off between Red Rocks and West Kirby. Looking at everyone bundled up like Nanook of the North made me feel like a Geordie. :eek!:

 

[Troubador]

Even my thin fleece came off between Red Rocks and West Kirby. Looking at everyone bundled up like Nanook of the North made me feel like a Geordie. :eek!:

Chris, try walking about in Geordie-land in shorts at this time of year and you will feel the wind from Siberia whistling around your frozen assets :eek!: :eek!:

Lee

 

[chris butterworth]

It's getting a bit worrying, all this interest in my shorts. :eek!: