Early Spring Birding

Weather System Brings Early Migrants 

American Robin

Adverse weather in the last few days has brought an influx of early migrants.  Over the weekend there was a southwesterly flow of warm, wet weather that brought in a large number of migrant birds.  On Sunday, April 1, we visited the Mactaquac Dam and the area between Douglas and Mactaquac and found about 300 American Robins, 125 Canada Geese, 20 Killdeer, 4 Song Sparrows and just 1 Bald Eagle.  The eagle has likely been around all winter so does not count as a migrant but was impressive never-the-less.  

The Robins were in the bushes and on the ground practically everywhere gleaning for leftover fruit, worms and insects.  The ground was partly snow-free and melted so some were getting worms.  The Killdeer were on the open grass looking for worms and insects.  I saw one pulling a worm from the soggy soil.

Killdeer

The geese were grazing on the open ground pulling up whatever fresh shoots of green they could find.  There was a lot of jostling and interactions in the flock as the ganders protected their mates from young suitors.

White-tailed Deer

There were lots of White-tailed Deer watching us from nearby bushes or feeding on grass in exposed areas of fields.  They are hungry this time of year and eagerly seek fresh grass to make up for their winter starvation (in some cases).  In the group pictured above there were 7 individuals and 2 of the fawns looked very thin and poor.  They must have had a hard winter with all the snow and the over-population of deer in the Keswick area.

On Tuesday, April 3, there was a huge number of geese on the Keswick flats, probably 300-400.  Most, of course, were Canada Geese.  However, on a closer look, we found 5 (or 6 at a later check) Snow Geese among them.  These are rare but not totally unexpected.  A few Snow Geese usually show up each year when the huge flocks of geese pass through.  These Snow Geese probably join the huge flocks of Snow Geese that gather in the Campbellton area and Gaspe as they stage before moving north to their breeding grounds in Baffin Island.

Snow Geese with Canada Geese

Also on April 3 a birder found a very rare goose among the huge flock of Canada Geese in the Keswick area, a Pink-footed Goose.  This species is from Europe (probably Greenland or Iceland) and is rarely seen here.  One was seen 2 years ago in Fredericton and another was seen a few years before that in the Cocagne area.

Pink-footed Goose with Canada Geese

The photo above was taken at an earlier time but shows the Pink-footed Goose that was found with the recent Keswick flock.