I leave for California at the end of the week and won’t be back until the end of May. Therefore, this week was the last chance for a spring backyard bird watch. It’s still very early in migration in North Carolina, with the peak not happening until the end of April and early May. So far, I’ve only seen a handful migrant species in the area, and all our wintering birds are still present. However, many resident birds have begun establishing their breeding territories, practicing their songs, and I’ve seen some mating and nest building. Therefore, I was expecting a noisier feeder watch than my winter vigil, and was hoping for a migrant or two, as well.

6:45 Begin observation. It’s not even first light yet, but a couple Northern Cardinals and several American Robins are already singing, joined shortly by a Carolina Chickadee.

6:46 A Carolina Wren callsand a Brown Thrasher begins singing. In the past week our backyard thrasher has begun putting on virtuoso performances where he mimics many of the local birds. My favorite today was an excellent impression of the “potato-chip” flight call of an American Goldfinch.

6:48 An American Crow calls while flying by. A Song sparrow begins singing.

6:50 A Tufted Titmouse calls, then sings. Chickadees begin foraging in the oak trees overhead.

6:52 An Eastern Towhee calls

6:55 An Eastern Bluebird calls and gives a couple songs

6:56 A Yellow-bellied Sapsucker calls. This is our only migratory woodpecker—the pair that’s been wintering in our yard will be heading north in a couple weeks. The American Robins that have been singing and calling continuously begin chasing each other through the yard.

6:58 Two Blue Jays fly into our magnolia—the first bird this morning I saw before hearing.

6:59 Northern Cardinals visit both the bark butter and the bird feeder. A European Starling flies by. A White-Throated Sparrow calls.

7:02 A Downy Woodpecker calls

7:04 White-Throated Sparrows and a Carolina Wren visit the bark butter

7:09 Several European Starlings fly into our large oak tree, and one does a Killdeer impression that fools my Merlin bird sound identification app.

7:10 A Yellow-rumped Warbler calls from the trees. A few Dark-eyed Juncos attack the bark butter. A Ruby-crowned Kinglet begins to sing. It’s loud out here!

7:12 The Brown Thrasher takes a break from singing to visit the feeder. It’s awkward to watch—he’s too big to sit comfortably on the lip, but he makes it work. The feeder has much less action than when I did this watch in winter, likely because emerging insects are now an alternative food source.

7:16 Sunrise.

7:17 A House Finch comes to the feeder.

7:24 A female Brown-headed Cowbird visits our neighbor’s feeder before two males spot her and begin a chase.

7:26 A Mourning Dove flies by, followed by a Common Grackle. A large flock of grackles descended on our street about a month ago and seemingly hasn’t left since.

7:29A White-breasted Nuthatch begins foraging on the branches of our large oak

7:33 A Northern Flicker calls loudly

7:34 I spot a Blue-headed Vireo foraging slowly through the newly emerging leaves of our neighbor’s oak.

7:35 An Eastern Phoebe calls.

7:39 A Fish Crow calls, the final new species of the day.

7:45 End observation.

Total: 27 species.

Most notable: Definitely the Blue-headed Vireo. This was a new yard bird (# 53)! In North Carolina, Blue-headed vireos winter on the coastal plain and breed in the Appalachians, but they are only seen as spring and fall migrants on the Piedmont. There’s only one other record in eBird for Forsyth County so far this year, so I’m pretty excited about this one.

Strangest misses: Northern Mockingbird and Red-bellied Woodpecker. After fiercely defending the feeder all winter, Marty the Mockingbird has been very subdued recently. I’m wondering if the aggressive starlings and grackles that have shown up in numbers in recent weeks have caused Marty to tactfully retreat. I did see our resident male Red-bellied Woodpecker at the feeder 10 minutes after I ended the count. He has also been affected by the starlings. A month ago, Jenny and I noticed him beginning to excavate a nest cavity in a dead branch of our front yard maple tree. After several days of pretty much continuous labor, his work was complete. The craftsmanship must have been high quality, because after an inspection, a female decided to move in. Unfortunately, several starlings were also impressed with the work and wanted to take over. A weeks-long war ensued for control of the nest, with battles won and lost by both sides. Now it seems the startlings have emerged victorious, and the original builder is left without a home. I don’t like starlings.

Comparisons: 15 species overlapped with my January 11^th watch, and 12 were new. I only didn’t see three species that were on the winter watch—Golden-crowned kinglet, American Goldfinch, and Northern Mockingbird.