What’s on tap in migration this week?

Some of Birdcast’s 14-21 April predictions are already here and one of my favorites is still to come.

Chimney swifts (Chaetura pelagica) are due this week.  We’re likely to hear their chittering sound before we see them hawking insects overhead.  Though they look like cigars with wings (above) they’re actually related to hummingbirds!  In the western U.S. watch for the similar Vaux’s swift (Chaetura vauxi).

Two of this week’s predicted migrants were in Schenley Park yesterday.

A blue headed vireo (Vireo solitarius) sang his slurred, sweet song next to Bartlett Playground (click here to hear).  Bobby Greene’s photo shows off this vireo’s blue-gray head, white spectacles, and the yellow-green wash on his flanks that makes him hard to see among new leaves.

A house wren (Troglodytes aedon) was back at the nest boxes near the golf course’s 14th hole, claiming every one of them.  Though boring to look at, his bubbly song is always loud and clear.

Warbler season is here with yellow-rumped warblers back in town and one or two sightings of black-throated green, prairie, yellow, black-and-white and a common yellowthroat in our area.

When will the first northern parula (Setophaga americana) arrive?

Soon.

p.s. Click here for all the Birdcast reports.

(photo credits:  chimney swifts by Jeff Davis, blue-headed vireo by Robert Greene, Jr., house wren by Chuck Tague)