Spring Migration

March is the month where we experience the greatest number of bird species migrating northward to spring and summer breeding locations.  Birds that spend the winter at the southern end of their range in northern Illinois will be migrating back to Canadian and tundra regions.  Other species will migrate to our area from southern locations to find a mate and breed here in spring and early summer.          

Far northern regions have a shorter breeding season, but research has revealed several possible advantages to these locations.  These include an abundance of food in the summer due to a lack of competition for it, fewer parasites that survive the winter and exert less impact on returning bird populations, and fewer predators that live in these regions.  Some birds that spend the winter in northern Illinois but you may not see again until next fall are the American tree sparrow,  snowy owl, short-eared owl, long-eared owl, and common redpoll.

Many more birds migrate from southern locations into our area to breed over the spring and summer months.  Let’s take a look at a few with catchy behaviors.  Sandhill Cranes, Antigone canadensis, fly in a “V” formation at altitudes of 500 to 2500 feet and can cover up to 500 miles in ten hours.  Their nests are a simple platform of vegetation found in marshy areas.  You can oftentimes hear their loud, warbling  call as they soar overhead, and may get to observe their dancing courtship displays, often performed in the early morning hours.

The American woodcock, Scolopax minor, a member of the Sandpiper family, likes moist woodlands and brushy marsh.  During spring migration, males often call at dawn and dusk with a buzzy ‘peet’.  At dusk, calls are accompanied by a display involving a spiral flight up from the ground to almost 300 feet where the bird plunges downward, making several arcs back and forth, to a hard landing only feet from where it took off.  Combined with another display called the Woodcock dance, it’s all about showing off, and displays gets repeated until dark and again each night until he attracts a mate.

Several waterfowl species move into the lakes, rivers, and ponds just as soon as the ice melts.  Dabbling ducks have bills adapted to remove food including aquatic vegetation, seeds, and invertebrates from the top few inches of water.  Common species in our area include northern pintail, mallard, and blue-winged teal.  Diving ducks are found on deeper lakes and rivers that may thaw a bit earlier.  Their food lives in deeper water and includes fish, mollusks, and bottom vegetation.  Birds include canvasback duck, redhead duck, hooded merganser, and common merganser.

There are numerous other species to watch for including swallows, purple martin, eastern phoebe, yellow-bellied sapsucker, golden-crowned kinglet, killdeer, common grackle, and hermit thrush.  Bluebirds, robins, and red-winged blackbirds are migrating to northern Illinois and points farther north, spreading out throughout much of the Midwest. 

Be on the lookout for these new arrivals in your neighborhood.  Walking trails in nearby marsh and woodland areas may allow observation of one of the more spectacular courtship displays, many of which occur in Chicago collar-county forest preserves.  March is a busy start for the breeding season, and you can find more species and information on their impending arrivals at Cornell University’s eBird website at ebird.org/home.