The Warblers Are Coming to You!! Are You Ready?

Palm Warbler

Black-throated Green Warbler

Yellow-rumped Warbler

Warbler mania is about to hit much of the middle and northern part of the country. Already beautiful warblers, such as this Palm, Black-throated Green, and Yellow-rumped Warblers, are being spotted in New England and other areas. Look for migrating warblers in forests, river corridors, nature preserves, parks and even your backyard! To identify warblers see our new The New Stokes Field Guide to Birds: Eastern and Western Regions. Happy Warbler Watching!

Happy Easter Bunny!

Marsh Rabbit, Sanibel, FL. There are a lot of them there this year! Marsh Rabbits are small cottontail rabbits that live in marshes in coastal regions of the Southern and Eastern U.S.

Happy Easter!

Migration April 2017, Look Who is Coming to You!

 Prairie Warbler

Scarlet Tanager

 Summer Tanager

Yellow-billed Cuckoo

Eastern Kingbird

Northern Parula, male

 Northern Waterthrush

Blue-headed Vireo

On their way to you now are all these beautiful migrant birds. We just saw many of them come into Sanibel, FL. By end of April and early May they will have arrived on their breeding grounds. To find out who breeds near you and how to ID them, see our new The New Stokes Field Guides to Birds: Eastern and Western Regions, which contain all new photos and information.

Migrants on Sanibel, Summer Tanager and more

A different look at today's migrants on Sanibel, FL. The best action was on Pond Apple Trail. The male Summer Tanager looked down on us. The Northern Waterthrush was in the "Commerce Pond" the first water area as you walk from the Chamber of Commerce parking lot, showing a view another waterthrush may see as it faced it. What's with those eyebrows anyway? The female Northern Parula sat looking upward, her yellow throat glowing. An Ovenbird was so skulking in the underbrush to the right of the pond in deep shadow, I gave it a "diffuse glow" from photoshop to capture the feeling. And a female Northern Cardinal was determined to build her nest in the woods.

Migration Has Begun!

Blue-headed Vireo migrant was seen on Sanibel Island, FL at the lighthouse today.

So was this Palm Warbler migrant

Yesterday this Gray Kingbird migrant landed and found a welcome meal.

Today this Wood Thrush hid in the dark underbrush by the picnic area by the shore.

This Northern Waterthrush was found on the Pond Apple Trail, Sanibel today.

This Barn Swallow migrant was silhouetted against  the cloudy sky yesterday at the Sanibel lighthouse.

Many migrants have been coming into Sanibel Island, FL today. Warblers, vireos, thrushes, buntings and tanagers have been seen. But not in large numbers. No major fallout. Many more migrants to come through here, then they will make their way to their northern breeding grounds by end of April and into May. To learn more about what migrants you will see, get our Stokes Field Guides.

Red Knots Coming Through!

I photographed this Red Knot yesterday at the J.N. Ding Darling NWR, Sanibel, FL as it rested on a sandbar in the middle of some other shorebirds. The bird to its left is a Short-billed Dowitcher, also acquiring breeding plumage. Red Knots are not red in their winter plumage, but this one is on its way to acquiring its summer red plumage. This amazing shorebird is going to migrate soon to its arctic tundra breeding grounds, a spectacular journey. For now it will rest and stock up on fuel so it arrives in good condition. Safe journey!