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It’s In Our Nature: Right conditions often herald movement of migrant birds

Published March 22. 2025 07:25AM

I guess birders have a sixth sense, or maybe lucky, or the old “time on task” adage works, but March 10 boded well for being a great day to bird.

Why? The weather forecast was predicting a warm-up with southerly winds. Those winds often herald the movement of migrant birds ahead of a frontal passage.

And when you add decades of birding experience, sometimes it “just feels right.”

Beltzville Lake can be a great stopover for migrating waterfowl, especially in March, when many ducks, geese and swans begin moving from their wintering areas to the south.

Those wintering areas include the marshes and agricultural areas around the Delmarva Peninsula and mid-Atlantic shore areas. With the best conditions, sometimes they “fall out” and huge numbers of ducks could be found at the lake at the right time. Rich, Dave, Fred, Carl and I all must have “felt” this would be a good day because within minutes we all arrived at the Pine Run Cove boat launch lot.

Well, there weren’t hundreds of ducks there. But, nonetheless, it was a day that provided a good variety of species. (When Beltzville Lake still has some ice cover, it tends to concentrate the ducks in the open water, and the high-powered boats of spring, summer and fall are not there yet to chase away the ducks.)

The highlight that day was a flock of 18 tundra swans. They were preening and relaxing on the edge of the ice and offered us some nice views. Nearby were dozens of ring-billed gulls, also migrants.

On other open water you could see a number of other duck species as well: common mergansers, mallard ducks, wood ducks, two black ducks, buffleheads, ring-necked ducks and American wigeon.

My bird list that day increased with eight new birds added to my yearly Carbon County tally.

Other birds knew the conditions were favorable because many, many flocks of Canada geese and some snow geese flocks winged overhead all morning, with another push just before dusk as well.

These days of favorable winds I often refer to as transition days. But again, to see these nature spectacles and events, you “gotta get out there.”

Test Your Outdoor Knowledge: It is March 16; which snake is first to leave its hibernation denning area, the garter snake or timber rattlesnake?

Last Week’s Trivia Answer: Mourning doves nest even before the early arriving tree swallows; goldfinches are our latest resident nesting birds.

Email Barry Reed at breed71@gmail.com

One of the waterfowl species making its appearance on March 10 was the common merganser, like this male looking for small fish to eat. Some do remain locally to nest.
On a good fallout morning, rafts of ducks can be seen on lakes, like Beltzville Lake, where they may only remain a day or even just a few hours to rest/feed before continuing their journeys. BARRY REED/SPECIAL TO THE TIMES NEWS
When the conditions are right, flocks of Canada geese, and these snow geese, use the winds to their advantage. A number of flocks flew overhead much of the day.
This good morning also highlighted a number of horned grebes, like this male in nonbreeding plumage. They also are fish eaters that stop by to refuel before continuing north.
The morning offered birders a chance to see a flock of tundra swans that stopped for a brief respite before continuing their journey. A small group rests on some of the last ice that remained on Beltzville Lake.
The same weather conditions that led to many migrating birds on March 10 also brought a flock of migrating ring-billed gulls to Beltzville.
Ring-necked ducks are a common migrant stopping at Beltzville Lake, and even at small farm ponds.
Also stopping by the lake that morning were some American wigeons (baldpates) like this male. BARRY REED/SPECIAL TO THE TIMES NEWS
The favorable migrating conditions may have led some smaller birds to move north. I saw a hermit thrush for the first time in 2025.
It just seemed like the perfect day for bluebirds to start scouting out their future nest boxes. Pictured is a female Eastern bluebird.
Every other fence post or shrub, or so it seemed, was occupied by male red-winged blackbirds back to stake their territories.
Tags:
Barry Reed, Environment