My favorite spring arrivals

It's impossible to choose among them!

(Listen to the radio version here.)

Spring migration is so filled with delights that there is no way I could pronounce a favorite. That first robin of spring may be an overused cliché that isn’t quite accurate anyway, because robins can remain even in very northern areas all winter, but the first robin song I hear fills me with so much joy that I completely understand why Costa Rica, home of a rainbow of trogons, quetzals, tanagers, and over 50 species of hummingbirds, named one of the drabbest birds in the known universe as its national bird. The Clay-colored Thrush may be dull in color, but after a long dry season, Costa Ricans hungrily welcome its rich caroling, which is almost identical to its close relative, our our robin’s.

Costa Rica’s national bird, the Clay-colored Thrush

Here in Duluth, American Robins sing virtually every day from the moment they arrive on territory in March or early April through mid or late June and sometimes into July, yet I never tire of it. I’ve even been known to get up at 2 or 3 am, or to start my recorder before I go to bed, so I can be certain of capturing a nearby robin’s dawn song from the very moment he fires up. (You can hear any of my robin recordings via my American Robin species page.) In 2006, when I was exposed to an obscenely loud Halloween program at Universal Studios in Orlando, I suffered permanent high-frequency hearing loss. I could still easily hear robins, but when I finally got hearing aids in 2015, I was shocked at how much more beautiful they suddenly were! I’d never paid attention to the brilliant high-frequency overtones of their song until I lost them.

So robins are definitely among my favorite spring arrivals along with, of course, a host of sparrows.

Chipping Sparrow

I still have a few juncos, but this year I didn't see very many Fox Sparrows, and White-throated Sparrows have been way fewer than normal. On the other hand, adorable Chipping Sparrows arrived earlier than usual and have been more abundant, too. Sunday I was delighted to discover a Lincoln's and White-crowned Sparrow among them.

Lincoln’s Sparrow

I relish my Downy, Hairy, Red-bellied, and Pileated Woodpeckers throughout the winter, but I still feel a surge of joy when the first flicker shows up in spring. Whether calling out from our power pole, tapping on trees, or eating ants on the ground, I get a huge kick whenever I see a flicker.

A few species of warblers have turned up in town already, but the only one I’ve seen in my own yard is the Yellow-rump.

These spunky little guys are more than making up for the lack of variety with their numbers and winning ways. Yellow-rumped Warblers are one of the hardiest and most adaptable of all their family, able to overwinter much further north than most warblers because they can easily digest wax myrtle and other berries. And in the past couple decades, they’ve started regularly visiting suet feeders.

On Sunday at least 50 individuals descended on my backyard, crowding the suet feeders, flycatching from trees, and scrutinizing the ground for early invertebrates and bits of dropped suet. All I have to do is open my home office window to get wonderful photo ops.

I’ve been having a problem with starlings lately, and whenever I notice them in BB’s suet feeder, I open the window, flail my arms, clap my hands, and sometimes even wave a white towel at them. That of course scares away just about everyone except the chickadees, who are savvy enough to come back instantly or even to just stay put, perhaps taking notes on the strange ways of human beings.

Other little birds return quickly when they see the chickadees are still there. And now a handful of my Yellow-rumped Warblers have also figured out that I’m harmless. As much as I’ve always loved having these tiny sprites in my yard, I’m loving it even more now that I'm appreciating how their adaptability includes being able to assess dangers. So yep, Yellow-rumped Warblers are also high on my list of favorite spring arrivals.

The satisfaction from seeing and hearing favorite birds is wide and deep, and it’s almost unfathomable how joyful I’ll feel when I see my first hummingbird, oriole, and Rose-breasted Grosbeak, and hear my first Brown Thrasher and House Wren. I don’t know if birds expanded my capacity for joy or if they simply fill it. Either way, I can’t imagine a happier existence than mine, my days so filled with birds.

Scarlet Tanagers are on their way!