Southeasterly winds carried new spring migrants into the conservancy overnight, adding calls of Eastern Phoebes to this morning's choir of birdsong along the stream corridor. It was easy to predict their arrival. The phoebes normally would have been here last week, but several days of northerly winds kept on standby just to our south. When I looked at a wind direction map for Friday night, I knew they were very likely to be included in the next batch of birds flying into southern Wisconsin. Other new arrivals included Golden-crowned Kinglets and a Winter Wren. Winds are out of the north again, but next week's warming trend ought to include more phoebes, kinglets, plus the first Yellow-rumped Warblers.
© 2010 Mike McDowell
