It seems to me that if I am having trouble keeping on top of it all, then other people surely are too so, in an attempt to address this, I spent some time today pulling together a list of first arrival dates for spring migrants in the three counties of Cape May, Atlantic and Cumberland. Setting this data out in a readable table does present some interesting results; look how many species make a general arrival into the three counties on the same or at least a very similar date. This is something of a selective list as some species' arrival dates are blurred by regular overwintering individuals so these species have been omitted. Species that have blanks are those for which I have heard no reports - so do let us know if you think you can plug a gap - but be prepared to have the Spanish Inquisition visit you if you've seen anything really amazing!! I'll aim to post an update to this table periodically as Spring continues.
One thing to always bear in mind is that first arrivals are not always a true representation of what the bulk of birds are doing. There often seems to be a hasty individuals that pushes on ahead of the pack, so don't worry if it looks like you're missing all these birds, the main arrival for most species is still yet to come.
2013 Arrival dates
|
Atlantic Co
|
Cape May Co
|
Cumberland Co
|
|
Cory's Shearwater
|
||||
Great Shearwater
|
||||
Sooty Shearwater
|
||||
Wilson's
Storm-Petrel
|
||||
Brown Pelican
|
Feb 3
|
|||
Least Bittern
|
||||
Little Blue Heron
|
(Feb 26) Apr 6
|
(Jan 1) Apr 11
|
Apr 10
|
|
Tricolored Heron
|
Apr 13
|
(Jan 28) Apr 4
|
Mar 31
|
|
Cattle Egret
|
Apr 1
|
Apr 15
|
||
Green Heron
|
Apr 11
|
Apr 16
|
||
Yellow-crowned Night
Heron
|
Apr 11
|
Apr 1
|
||
Glossy Ibis
|
Mar 31
|
Mar 31
|
Mar 30
|
|
White-faced Ibis
|
||||
Swallow-tailed Kite
|
Apr 20
|
|||
Mississippi Kite
|
||||
Broad-winged Hawk
|
Apr 14
|
Apr 13
|
Apr 13
|
|
Black Rail
|
||||
King Rail
|
||||
Sora
|
Mar 30
|
|||
Common Gallinule
|
||||
American Golden Plover
|
Apr 2
|
Apr 12
|
||
Semipalmated Plover
|
(Jan 1) Mar 30
|
Apr 13
|
||
Piping Plover
|
Mar 21
|
Feb 27
|
||
Black-necked Stilt
|
Apr 12
|
|||
American Avocet
|
||||
Spotted Sandpiper
|
Apr 21
|
|||
Solitary Sandpiper
|
Apr 21
|
|||
‘Eastern’ Willet
|
Apr 10
|
Apr 10
|
Apr 13
|
|
Whimbrel
|
Apr 13
|
Apr 17
|
Apr 13
|
|
Hudsonian Godwit
|
||||
Red Knot
|
Jan 1
|
|||
Semipalmated
Sandpiper
|
Apr 12
|
|||
Least Sandpiper
|
Apr 8
|
Apr 17
|
Mar 30
|
|
White-rumped
Sandpiper
|
||||
Baird's Sandpiper
|
||||
Pectoral Sandpiper
|
Apr 7
|
Mar 29
|
||
Stilt Sandpiper
|
Apr 15
|
|||
Short-billed
Dowitcher
|
(Jan 11) Apr 13
|
(Jan 11) Apr 13
|
Apr 10
|
|
Long-billed
Dowitcher
|
||||
Wilson's Phalarope
|
Apr 19
|
|||
Black-headed Gull
|
Jan 11
|
Mar 21
|
||
Laughing Gull
|
Mar 16
|
Mar 8
|
Mar 30
|
|
Least Tern
|
||||
Gull-billed Tern
|
||||
Caspian Tern
|
Apr 7
|
Feb 1
|
Apr 15
|
|
Black Tern
|
||||
Roseate Tern
|
||||
Common Tern
|
Apr 17
|
|||
Royal Tern
|
||||
Sandwich Tern
|
||||
Black Skimmer
|
Apr 2
|
Apr 18
|
||
Parasitic Jaeger (p)
|
||||
Yellow-billed Cuckoo
|
||||
Black-billed Cuckoo
|
||||
Common Nighthawk
|
Apr 20
|
|||
Chuck-will’s-widow
|
||||
Eastern Whip-poor-will
|
Apr 9
|
|||
Chimney Swift
|
Apr 10
|
Apr 9
|
Apr 19
|
|
Ruby-throated
Hummingbird
|
Apr 19
|
|||
Eastern Wood Pewee
|
||||
Yellow-bellied
Flycatcher
|
||||
Acadian Flycatcher
|
||||
Alder Flycatcher
|
||||
Willow Flycatcher
|
||||
Least Flycatcher
|
||||
Great Crested
Flycatcher
|
Apr 15
|
Apr 13
|
||
Eastern Kingbird
|
Apr 19
|
Apr 13
|
Apr 17
|
|
White-eyed Vireo
|
Apr 21
|
(Jan 6) Apr 10
|
Apr 13
|
|
Yellow-throated
Vireo
|
||||
Blue-headed Vireo
|
Apr 8
|
|||
Warbling Vireo
|
||||
Philadelphia Vireo
|
||||
Red-eyed Vireo
|
||||
No. Rough-winged
Swallow
|
Apr 4
|
Mar 30
|
Apr 12
|
|
Purple Martin
|
Apr 1
|
Apr 1
|
||
Tree Swallow
|
Mar 20
|
Mar 1
|
||
Bank Swallow
|
Apr 20
|
Apr 13
|
||
Barn Swallow
|
Apr 1
|
Mar 30
|
Mar 30
|
|
Cliff Swallow
|
Mar 15
|
Apr 14
|
||
Cave Swallow
|
Mar 15
|
|||
House Wren
|
Apr 19
|
(Jan 2) Mar30
|
Apr 11
|
|
Blue-gray
Gnatcatcher
|
Apr 7
|
(Jan 5) Apr 9
|
Apr 10
|
|
Veery
|
||||
Gray-cheeked Thrush
|
||||
Swainson's Thrush
|
||||
Wood Thrush
|
Apr 22
|
Apr 20
|
||
Ovenbird
|
Apr 17
|
Apr 10
|
Apr 10
|
|
Worm-eating Warbler
|
Apr 14
|
|||
Louisiana
Waterthrush
|
Mar 20
|
Apr 8
|
||
Northern Waterthrush
|
||||
Golden-winged
Warbler
|
||||
Blue-winged Warbler
|
||||
Black-and-white
Warbler
|
Apr 13
|
Apr 10
|
Apr 13
|
|
Prothonotary Warbler
|
Apr 20
|
|||
Tennessee Warbler
|
||||
Nashville
Warbler
|
(Jan 1)
|
|||
Connecticut Warbler
|
||||
Mourning Warbler
|
||||
Kentucky Warbler
|
||||
Common Yellowthroat
|
Apr 14
|
(Jan 1) Apr 11
|
Apr 11
|
|
Hooded Warbler
|
||||
American Redstart
|
Apr 21
|
|||
Cape May Warbler
|
||||
Cerulean Warbler
|
||||
Northern Parula
|
Apr 14
|
Apr 13
|
||
Magnolia Warbler
|
||||
Bay-breasted Warbler
|
||||
Blackburnian Warbler
|
||||
Yellow Warbler
|
Apr 19
|
Apr 13
|
Apr 16
|
|
Chestnut-sided
Warbler
|
||||
Blackpoll Warbler
|
||||
Black-throated Blue
Warbler
|
||||
Palm Warbler
|
(Jan 5) Apr 11
|
(Jan 6) Apr 13
|
||
Pine Warbler
|
Mar 22
|
Jan 9
|
Mar 16
|
|
Yellow-throated
Warbler
|
Apr 8
|
Apr 1
|
Apr 8
|
|
Prairie Warbler
|
Apr 21
|
Apr 13
|
Apr 19
|
|
Black-throated Green
Warbler
|
||||
Canada Warbler
|
||||
Wilson's Warbler
|
||||
Yellow-breasted Chat
|
Jan 13
|
|||
Summer Tanager
|
||||
Scarlet Tanager
|
||||
Rose-breasted
Grosbeak
|
Apr 18
|
|||
Blue Grosbeak
|
Apr 17
|
|||
Indigo Bunting
|
||||
Bobolink
|
||||
Orchard Oriole
|
Apr 19
|
|||
Baltimore Oriole
|
(Jan 1) Apr 19
|
Migrants can and do turn up in surprising places! I received this photo of a Prothonotary Warbler in Arlington, Virginia last Friday - not a bird you normally see clinging to the side of a brick building! [Photo by Lambert Orkis]
