It finally feels like migration season! Good flying conditions have allowed a plethora of migrants to arrive from the tropics. There have been two high-pressure areas that have been parked over the southern US and those southerly winds have allowed a lot of migration to take place. Along the Gulf coast, some of the new arrivals have included Tennessee Warbler, Worm-eating Warblers, Indigo Buntings, Orchard Orioles, Eastern Wood-Pewees, and Blue Grosbeaks.
As far as we are currently aware, the members of loon pairs do not spend the winter together. They typically migrate separately in the fall, winter separately, and then arrive back to breeding lakes at different times (the males tend to arrive a bit earlier than the females).
Though we primarily work with Common Loons here in New Hampshire, there are actually 4 other loon species that exist in the world today! In January and February, we talked about Red-throated loons, Arctic Loons, and Pacific Loons. This month we are wrapping up this series with some facts about the final species, the Yellow-billed Loon (Gavia adamsii).
The Loon Preservation Committee (LPC) is dedicated to restoring and maintaining a healthy population of loons throughout New Hampshire; monitoring the health and productivity of loon populations as sentinels of environmental quality; and promoting a greater understanding of loons and the natural world.
Well, while it is still slower than I thought, migration is starting to pick up. Several days of clear skies and southerly winds have allowed migrants to make some progress. The big winners of the week were Florida and Alabama, which saw a large arrival of migrants over the past few days, including 15 species of warblers! Among the new arrivals were Black-throated-blue Warblers, Wood Thrushes, and Great Crested Flycatchers.
Monarchs are still being observed in the Carolinas, as well as the Virginias. In the Central Flyway, Oklahoma continues to be a hot spot, with movement north toward Kansas and Missouri (latitude 38°N).
The eastern and western monarch populations are divided by the Rocky Mountains. There are two distinct flyways through which eastern monarchs migrate in the spring, the Atlantic and the Central Flyways.
Temperatures are finally warming in the southern range where monarchs are active this week, but Spring is arriving later than in recent years. After a hopeful swell in the overwintering population, monarchs are now in a race to reach the summer breeding grounds before their migration stalls, just a short time away.