Shift Change: Winter, Summer, and Year-round Birds

There are a few days in spring when birds overlap--the winter residents are still here, summer residents arrive, migrants from the south pass through, and everybody joins the year-round birds! That's what's shown here: The Harris Sparrows and White-crowned Sparrows are still splashing in the creek, getting ready to head north, while the year-round Song Sparrow also has a bath The year-round cardinal and goldfinch are sprucing up for the breeding season, practicing their songs, while a Dickcissel, newly arrived for the summer, enjoys the creek. You can hear him singing while another new arrival, a Blue Grosbeak, checks out his summer digs. That Indigo Bunting looks as if he needs to rest before setting up a territory, while the Parula Warbler is just passing through The Carolina Wren, a year-round resident, already has nestlings in a hole in the creek bank, but one of them has fallen out. Don't worry--Mom and Dad are still on the job. Meanwhile, the earliest summer bird to arrive in the spring--the Eastern Phoebe--already has nestlings underway