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Backyard Microclimates Offer Some of the Spring's Best Birding

Laurent Demongin / http://ibc.lynxeds.com
An unusual siting of Gentoo Penguins was reported in Nantucket Sound this morning, the birds demonstrating their well-known surf technique. Wait. What? What is the date on this post?

This is the craziest and least likely day of the year for accurate bird reports. At dawn this morning reports of porpoising Gentoo Penguins in Nantucket Sound would get any sane person’s blood boiling. This 3rd largest species in the world has never even been seen in the Northern Hemisphere. Oops - April Fool’s joke written all over it. It seems every year somebody gets me with a nonsensical, off-the-wall report. Good thing it only happens once a year.

Spring on the Cape and Islands is not the warm, tranquil, idyllic, season that one might dream about if you grew up in the Midwest. Instead, it is typically short periods of cold weather interspersed with nasty, fast-moving frontal systems of various sizes. Think back to earlier this week! A spring day with raging easterly winds and a bit of driving rain feels just as cold as any day in midwinter.

The effects of the cool ocean waters surrounding the region that make it so nice in the heat of summer keep it much colder at this season than just a few miles inland. This keeps temperatures lower than elsewhere, resulting in a delay in emergent vegetation that delays the availability of insects.

Hence the Cape and Islands in the spring migration is an unfriendly place for insectivorous birds. Consequently, evolution has favored living birds of various species that have survived by migrating north in the spring staying inland, away from the dangerous coastline. It is an eye opening treat for a birder accustomed to Cape and Islands spring birding to visit the middle of the country in April or early May. The bird migration is staggering in terms of numbers and variety of birds. It is unlike anything that the coastal birder here would ever encounter. 

Indeed birding the Cape and Islands in spring is a completely different place than the fall. The spring migration consists of a small fraction of the profusion of birds that visit this outpost during the southern portion of their annual migration in September and October. Nonetheless, the spring arrival of returning breeding birds, of water birds going around and over the region, and the intensity of the resident birds make this a delightful time of year.

Another anomaly if you will that typifies the region in spring is the proclivity of microclimates. Well known to growers of all sorts of things especially, grape growers/wine makers, the cool spring has "mini hotspots." These sheltered and south-facing places are sometimes fully 6 weeks ahead of the south shore on the islands.

The downtown section of many towns as well as many isolated and private homes and yards, have created their own microclimate that flowers and greens up far earlier than surrounding landscapes. Most of this is due to the effective use of wind breaks. These are enormously attractive to migrant bird species and are the most productive spring birding areas. 

 

Returning breeding birds have been making themselves heard and seen. The king of the birding scene in spring, the Osprey, has returned, still in small numbers delighting observers young and old, new and experienced. The first look at one of these impressive raptors on a cold March day never fails to send shivers up ones spine that have nothing to do with the temperature.

Lastly, ospreys arrived seemingly simultaneously at several locations on March 25th around the region. Reports were sluggish and trickled in compared to most years - no doubt the weather delayed their return. Ospreys are inspiring and people become enthused when these superb fish eagles return for another year.