Spring vs. Fall

The difference between Spring and Fall is huge. Other than being at opposite ends of Winter, the two seasons are also like night and day when it comes to migration. In the Fall the birds come through over an extended period of time and they are in no big rush to go south. Fall migration really starts in August (actually earlier) and continues at a steady pace through November. Spring migration is completely different! The birds are all in a big rush to get to their breeding grounds and get the best territory, so migration is almost frantic. Spring migration doesn't start in earnest until mid April and is mostly over by the end of May (a total of just 6 weeks). Sometime around May-3 the floodgates will open and everything will come pouring through NJ in one big rush. This is when we do our scouting and it's why the WSB is in Mid-May. The problem is it leaves only a very short window to locate all those birds in the 10 or so days before the event. I consider it a privilege to spend so much time in the field scouting during that intense window of bird migration. In just over a week it will be happening big time, until then I will just have to be happy seeing the first Towhee or Hooded Warbler of the year. MUCH more to come...

Mike