Search
Close this search box.

Fall Migration Begins

yell wwrb 2

As a follow up to our last post answering “where did all the birds go?”, many people don’t realize that there are already a lot of birds on their southern migration. Yellow Warblers are a perfect example of this as many that nested in Maine have already begun their journey back toward the Amazon lowlands in South America. Thanks to the participation of citizen scientists using eBird.org and the folks at BirdCast  interpreting their submission, we can craft a really cool visual of when our birds leave.

 

Below are two charts showing the frequency, or percentage of total checklists reporting a species, for the Northeast and Southeast:

Northeast:

BIRDCAST.GL_.NE_DEPART_1_Yellow-Warbler_

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Southeast:

BIRDCAST.SE_ARRIVE_2_Yellow-Warbler_

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As you can see, the number of Yellow Warblers being reported in the northeast has quickly decreased as they more into the southeastern US. Keep an eye out though! They will be slow to leave completely as the stragglers can last into the end of October in Maine: Bird Observations Chart: Yellow Warbler >>

-Doug

Doug Hitchcox Head Shot - please credit M. Kathleen Kelly (1)Meet Doug Hitchcox, Maine Audubon Staff Naturalist

A Maine native, Doug grew up in Hollis and graduated from the University of Maine in 2011. Throughout college Doug worked at Scarborough Marsh Audubon Center and was hired as Maine Audubon’s staff naturalist in the summer of 2013, a long time “dream job.” In his free time, Doug volunteers as one of Maine’s eBird reviewers, is the owner and moderator of the ‘Maine-birds’ listserv and serves as York County Audubon board member and Secretary of the Maine Bird Records Committee.