I should have started this project earlier in the year. Spring is the time of year when nearly every birding trip, even if it is not as successful as we might like, brings a few new first-of-season (FOS) sightings. But migrants don’t just arrive haphazardly; there is an order to their appearance, with some species such as Pine Warbler and Yellow-throated Warbler arriving early, and species such as Bay-breasted Warbler arriving very late in the season. So this spring I decided to keep track of the new birds that I see for the year and their first appearance date, in an attempt to document the early vs late arrivals. This is not meant to be a comprehensive schedule of arrival dates in the area because it is partly dependent on luck, and also on how often I go out birding and in what habitat, but this list should be useful in the future to anticipate new arrivals. Does everybody keep this kind of personal list? Have you considered doing it for your own sightings?
March 29 Black-headed Gull
March 29 Palm Warbler
April 5 Yellow-throated Warbler
April 5 White-eyed Vireo
April 9 American Bittern
April 9 Black-crowned Night-heron
April 9 Tricolored Heron
April 9 Wilson’s Snipe
April 9 Eastern Meadowlark
April 19 Whimbrel (lots..119!)
April 19 Willet
April 19 Little Blue Heron
April 20 Common Raven
April 21 Red-breasted Nuthatch (it has been a very tough winter to see them)
April 21 Blue-headed Vireo
April 21 Broad-winged Hawk
April 21 Louisiana Waterthrush (heard only)
April 21 Hooded Warbler
April 21 Wilson’s Phalarope (bird of the year so far for me)
April 23 Prothonotary Warbler
April 23 Wood Thrush
April 23 Blue Grosbeak
April 23 Merlin
April 25 Great Crested Flycatcher
April 26 Northern Parula
April 26 Prairie Warbler
April 27 Chimney Swift (I should have seen this species before today)
April 28 House Wren
April 30 Black Skimmer
April 30 Spotted Sandpiper
April 30 Least Sandpiper
May 1 Orchard Oriole
May 1 Ruby-throated Hummingbird
May 2 Baltimore Oriole
May 2 Warbling Vireo
May 2 Black-throated Blue Warbler
May 2 Blue-winged Warbler
May 2 Indigo Bunting
May 3 Green Heron
May 3 Yellow-breasted Chat
May 3 Semi-palmated Sandpiper
May 3 Yellow Warbler
May 3 Marsh Wren
May 3 Gull-billed Tern
May 4 Chestnut-sided Warbler
May 5 Whipporwill
May 5 Northern Waterthrush
May 5 Red-eyed Vireo
May 5 Acadian Flycatcher
May 5 Veery
May 5 Worm-eating Warbler
May 6 Blackburnian Warbler
May 6 Black-throated Green Warbler
May 6 Scarlet Tanager
May 6 Bay-breasted Warbler
May 6 Blackpoll Warbler
May 7 Red-headed Woodpecker
May 7 Solitary Sandpiper
May 7 Northern Rough-winged Swallow
May 7 American Redstart
May 9 Eastern Wood-pewee
May 9 Yellow-billed Cuckoo
May 10 Kentucky Warbler
May 10 Semi-palmated Plover
May 10 Pectoral Sandpiper
May 10 White-faced Ibis
May 10 Clapper Rail
May 11 Least Flycatcher
May 12 Nashville Warbler
May 12 Wilson’s Warbler
May 12 Swainson’s Thrush
May 12 Magnolia Warbler
May 12 Ruddy Turnstone
May 14 Black-capped Chickadee
May 14 Tennessee Warbler
May 14 Cape May Warbler
May 14 Canada Warbler
May 17 Barred Owl
May 17 Bank Swallow
May 17 White-rumped Sandpiper
May 17 Stilt Sandpiper
May 21 Common Nighthawk
May 22 Common Merganser
May 22 Yellow-throated Vireo
May 22 Common Gallinule
May 23 Alder Flycatcher
May 23 Willow Flycatcher
May 24 Black-billed Cuckoo
May 24 Golden-winged Warbler
May 26 Eastern Meadowlark
May 26 Horned Lark
May 26 Upland Sandpiper
May 26 American Kestrel
May 28 Least Tern
May 28 Common Tern
May 31 Cattle Egret
June 6 Red Knot
June 6 Piping Plover
June 13 Upland Sandpiper
June 13 Common Nighthawk
June 13 Grasshopper Sparrow
June 13 Horned Lark
June 20 Wilson’s Storm-petrel
June 25 Roseate Tern
June 25 Royal Tern
June 25 Brown Pelican
July 7 Summer Tanager
July 19 Yellow-crowned Night-heron
July 19 Black Tern
July 26 Western Sandpiper
July 26 Least Bittern
July 26 Roseate Spoonbill
July 26 American Avocet
Afterward: It seems like the idea worked out quite well. For example, with the vireos, White-eyed appeared first, then Blue-headed, then Warbling, followed by Red-eyed, and finally Yellow-throated. That is an expected order. For the flycatchers, we first see Eastern Phoebe (which arrived before I started this list), then Great Crested Flycatcher, then Acadian, Eastern Wood-pewee, then Least, Alder, and Willow Flycatchers. Olive-sided and Yellow-bellied Flycatchers would be expected at the tail end of the season, but I didn’t see any this year. Analogous expected patterns of arrivals are seen for shorebirds and the warblers. I’ll be doing this again next year to see how similar the patterns are to the 2018 arrivals. Give it a try yourself next spring.