In writing this article on May 24th – about a week before the “official” end of Spring – I am leaving myself wide open to having to revise it when a Connecticut or MacGillivray’s Warbler turns up in the last few days of the month! I can only hope!

For background information about the reserve, please refer to my post from last year: Spring at Edith L Moore Nature Sanctuary.

Spring 2019 was an excellent one at Edith L Moore. Although I “only” visited the site 58 times between March and May (compared to 76 visits during the same period in 2018), I recorded 101 bird species – 5 more than in 2018.

While April 2019 could best be described as “average” what really set this year apart was a superb run of days in early May. The month kicked off with a Black-billed Cuckoo on May 1st and never looked back, with multiple days in early May when individual observers saw nearly 50 species at the site and the daily species total was often 60+.

In fact, the number and variety of warblers at ELM in early May regularly trumped the famous coastal hotspots, thanks to favorable winds which allowed migrants to overshoot the coastal woodlots and drop in to more favorable habitats further inland such as ELM. Saturday 4th May was perhaps the peak day of the spring, with 26 warbler species noted at Edith L Moore between all observers – the kind of number that would be impressive even at High Island or Sabine Woods!

I saw a total of 29 warbler species here between March and May, which I have classified in rough order of abundance below, based on the number of eBird checklists on which I recorded each species. “Bird-days” adds up the total number of birds and the total number of occasions seen.

Please note that these are only my personal sightings; many other observers regularly monitored avian comings and goings on the reserve during the spring, and their lists include several birds that I did not see at all; their impressions of the abundance of certain species will also no doubt differ from mine!

#	Species	# of checklists	High count	Bird days	First seen	Last seen	Notes
1	Ovenbird	25	10	65	April 18th	May 20th	Common migrant
2	Hooded Warbler	21	8	40	March 18th	April 26th	Common early season migrant
3	Chestnut-sided Warbler	17	5	35	April 25th	May 20th	Common late season migrant
4	Black-and-white Warbler	15	3	23	March 18th	May 10th	Long migration season; waves early and late
5	Magnolia Warbler	13	7	37	April 25th	May 22nd	Common late season migrant
6	Pine Warbler	12	2	18			Resident in area, occasionally wanders onto reserve
7	Wilson’s Warbler	12	2	15	March 16th	May 4th	No birds overwintered in the park this year. Spring passage from March through early May
8	American Redstart	11	5	28	April 25th	May 22nd	Common late season migrant
9	Orange-crowned Warbler	11	3	17		April 10th	Overwinters, with most departing before the end of March
10	Northern Parula	10	3	15	March 27th	May 8th	Seen sporadically throughout the spring
11	Worm-eating Warbler	10	2	12	April 8th	April 30th	Frequently recorded but never numerous
12	Tennessee Warbler	8	4	17	April 23rd	May 10th	A good year for them
13	Kentucky Warbler	8	3	13	April 23rd	May 4th	First bird was later than usual, but common during its peak passage period
14	Black-throated Green Warbler	8	3	10	March 18th	May 10th	Long migration season but never common here
15	Yellow-rumped Warbler	7	2	10		March 27th	Overwinters, and departs early in spring
16	Blackburnian Warbler	7	2	8	April 25th	May 18th	A good spring for these
17	Golden-winged Warbler	6	2	7	April 26th	May 4th	Fairly common for a limited time; a specialty of the site
18	Blue-winged Warbler	5	1	5	April 10th	April 26th	Fewer than in 2018, in contrast to most other warblers
19	Northern Waterthrush	4	2	5	April 25th	May 8th	Infrequently recorded
20	Common Yellowthroat	4	2	5	April 20th	May 8th	Occasional migrant
21	Canada Warbler	4	2	5	April 26th	May 9th	A much better showing than last year
22	Nashville Warbler	4	1	4	April 26th	May 4th	Scarce migrant
23	Bay-breasted Warbler	3	1	3	May 4th	May 8th	An excellent spring for this scarce species
24	Swainson’s Warbler	2	1	2	April 11th	April 18th	What was probably the same bird remained for over a week in April, singing in the Church Gate Marsh area. Another was present in early May
25	Louisiana Waterthrush	1	1	1	March 26th	March 26th	Always scarce here, I saw just one this spring
26	Prothonotary Warbler	1	1	1	April 4th	April 4th	I only saw one, but it was a good spring for this species with fairly regular reports
27	Mourning Warbler	1	1	1	May 4th	May 4th	Two confirmed, multi-observer birds this spring, and a third reported – the first records since before Hurricane Harvey devastated its preferred creekside habitat in 2017
28	Cerulean Warbler	1	1	1	April 13th	April 13th	A bumper spring for this species at ELM with birds seen occasionally from mid April through early May, although I saw just one of them
29	Yellow-throated Warbler	1	1	1	May 3rd	May 3rd	Late individual. This species is always rare here.

Non-warbler highlights of the spring include the above-mentioned Black-billed Cuckoo; a very obliging Eastern Whip-poor-will for one day in March; several Philadelphia Vireos; above-average numbers of Rose-breasted Grosbeaks; and first records for ELM of Bank Swallow and Dark-eyed Junco.

It was an odd spring for thrushes, with lots of Swainson’s and a fair number of Wood Thrushes seen, but no personal records at all of Gray-cheeked Thrush or Veery (although the latter species were both seen by other observers).

Species	# of checklists (out of 58)	High count	Status
Northern Cardinal	58	22	Common resident
Blue Jay	58	14	Common resident
Downy Woodpecker	58	8	Common resident
Carolina Wren	57	13	Common resident
White-winged Dove	56	6	Common resident
American Robin	51	9	Common resident
Red-bellied Woodpecker	49	4	Common resident
Common Grackle	48	50	Frequent flocks in spring
Carolina Chickadee	47	5	Common resident
Ruby-crowned Kinglet	30	8	Common winter visitor
Tufted Titmouse	30	4	Common resident
Cedar Waxwing	26	30	Common winter visitor
Great Crested Flycatcher	26	2	Migrant and summer visitor
Swainson’s Thrush	25	10	Common migrant
Eastern Wood-Pewee	17	6	Common migrant
Pileated Woodpecker	17	2	Fairly common resident
Chimney Swift	16	5	Fairly common summer visitor
Gray Catbird	16	5	Common migrant
White-eyed Vireo	16	3	Common migrant
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher	14	6	Common winter visitor
Wood Thrush	14	5	Fairly common migrant, probable breeder in 2018 but no sign of breeding this year
Barn Swallow	12	5	Fairly common migrant
White-throated Sparrow	12	3	Fairly common winter visitor
Baltimore Oriole	11	15	Fairly common migrant
Rose-breasted Grosbeak	10	12	Fairly common migrant; a good year for them
Red-winged Blackbird	10	5	Fairly common winter visitor
Summer Tanager	9	3	Fairly common migrant
House Finch	9	2	Occasional feeder visitor
Red-eyed Vireo	8	5	Fairly common migrant for a limited period
Indigo Bunting	8	3	Much less common than in 2018
American Goldfinch	7	4	Common winter visitor, most departing by end March
Mourning Dove	7	2	Occasional visitor
Broad-winged Hawk	6	9	Occasional migrant
Acadian Flycatcher	6	2	The most frequent empidonax
Blue-headed Vireo	6	2	Fairly common winter visitor
Purple Martin	5	2	Occasional migrant
Ruby-throated Hummingbird	5	1	Occasional migrant
Red-tailed Hawk	5	1	Winters locally and sometimes passes over reserve
House Wren	5	1	One bird overwintered along creek and was seen occasionally
Northern Mockingbird	5	1	Sometimes wanders into the reserve from surrounding suburbs
Black Vulture	4	8	Occasional overhead
Chuck-will’s-widow	4	4	Regular migrant in early April
Mississippi Kite	4	3	Occasional overhead, breeds nearby
House Sparrow	4	2	Occasional feeder visitor
Yellow-breasted Chat	4	1	Occasional migrant
Cooper’s Hawk	3	3	Occasional, unwelcome visitor
Great Blue Heron	3	2	Occasional visitor
Great Egret	3	1	Occasional visitor
Turkey Vulture	3	1	Occasional overhead
Tree Swallow	3	1	Occasional overhead
Hermit Thrush	3	1	Fairly common winter visitor that departs in March
Cliff Swallow	2	4	Irregular overhead
Wood Duck	2	2	Pair on creek on two occasions but no sign of attempting to breed
Northern Rough-winged Swallow	2	2	Irregular overhead
Sharp-shinned Hawk	2	1	Irregular visitor
Barred Owl	2	1	Resident on reserve but not often seen
Yellow-bellied Flycatcher	2	1	Irregular migrant
Willow Flycatcher	2	1	Irregular migrant
Least Flycatcher	2	1	Irregular migrant
Philadelphia Vireo	2	1	Rare migrant; a good year for them
Warbling Vireo	2	1	Irregular migrant
Scarlet Tanager	1	2	Occasional migrant but scarce in 2019
Black-billed Cuckoo	1	1	First for the reserve since 2013, found by Dennis
Eastern Whip-poor-will	1	1	A one-day bird in March was enjoyed by many observers
Little Blue Heron	1	1	Irregular overhead
Cattle Egret	1	1	Irregular overhead
Yellow-throated Vireo	1	1	Recorded occasionally throughout the spring, but I saw only one
Bank Swallow	1	1	First for the reserve, overhead
Dark-eyed Junco	1	1	First for the reserve, one in March at the south-east marsh
Great-tailed Grackle	1	1	Rare on or over the reserve, but often erroneously reported; almost all grackles seen at ELM are Commons.
Painted Bunting	1	1	Irregular migrant
Dickcissel	1	1	Irregular overhead