Almost every day now, we exchange texts with friends about what new birds we’re seeing or hearing as spring migration gets into full swing. Once the hummingbirds begin to appear, we all seem to start watching and listening more closely for unusual or short-term migrants passing through as well as the usual summer residents who show up to breed and make babies in our yards and woods. It’s that time of year – when the birds start singing and nesting (we have bluebirds, phoebes, chickadees and finches all nesting already) and the the spring migrants begin their journeys back north.

On my walk this morning I decided to pay close attention to the birds I saw and heard along the way. As I padded along the roadway, I began to notice that I was hearing different birds as I passed by different habitats. Not surprising, but clearly obvious. Especially when I passed by a large monoculture-like stand of very young sweet gum trees and heard silence. Not a single bird sound from that stand of young trees.

Out in the open field surrounded by mature hardwoods nearby I could see and hear a red-shouldered hawk, mourning doves, cardinals, bluebirds, tufted titmice, goldfinches, Eastern phoebes, and blue jays. Along the bottomland hardwoods near the creek I heard hooded warblers, ovenbirds, black and white warblers, and Carolina wrens. In mixed forest I heard pine warblers, titmice, wrens, cardinals, red-eyed and white-eyed vireos, red-bellied woodpeckers, blue-gray gnatcatchers, and a common yellowthroat. At the edge of a field in the top of a large black cherry tree, a brown thrasher was warbling with all his might.

Back at Pokeberry Pines, I walked down to the woods and sat for awhile to see what was singing there mid-morning. I was met with the usual sounds of cardinals, bluebirds, tufted titmice, chipping sparrows, Carolina wrens, pine warblers, red-bellied and downy woodpeckers, and blue-gray gnatcatchers. Then I heard and ovenbird – the first on our property this year. I’m looking forward to hearing the hooded warblers that come to nest by the creek and the summer and scarlet tanagers that dazzle us with their brilliant reds. There’s a lot more to come in the weeks ahead.

Summer’s just around the corner – and spring is a great bridge to get there, full of fresh green growth, bird songs, and flashes of flying colors as our feathered friends make their way to their summer homes. Keep an ear out and your head up, and enjoy your own bird visitors as you wander through spring, and let me know what you are seeing in your backyard.