Spring is a great time of year, and for birders it has the added attraction of the fast-paced, almost frantic at times migration of our bird species that winter south of us, and breed near us or north of us. Many of the neotropic migrants are decked out in their fresh breeding (“alternate” for us Humphrey-Parkes users) and seemingly every day brings new species and surprises.

In the introduction I talk about the great migration watch site in Tacoma, Dune Peninsula.
It can be humbling to watch top birders like Charlie Wright and Will Brooks ID birds in flight at great distance or by their flight calls, but even for birders like me of lesser talent, it is really fun and exciting. (links are to the blog posts related to podcast episodes with them as guests). Here is a link to the eBird list of Charlie Wright on May 22, 2022 when he counted 4705 Western Tanagers, and Will had over 500 prior to when Charlie showed up at 9:13 AM. A massive flight day for this beautiful species.

I really loved reading Flight Paths. I strongly recommend reading it for any birder or natural phenomenon lover who also likes good stories and to learn about how science leads to better understanding of nature.

Buy the book whereever you get your books, or on a link on Rebecca’s website.
One relatively new and exciting system for tracking the movement of birds (and other organisms) is the Motus system. It is a growing network of small, affordable receivers that can help track a bird as it moves in migration.

Light level geolocators are pretty cool too. Read about them here or in Rebecca’s book.
To read more about thee Bird Genoscape Project use this hotlink. Here is a video that makes it easier to get a feel for the projects uses and goals.

Thanks for following and listening.
Good birding and good day!