Fall Bird Migrations

As fall rolled through the dunes, it brought with it a wave of migratory birds. There was one weekend earlier this fall that I saw a particularly large amount of birds moving through the area. Migration season is very exciting for me because it combines two of my favorite things: photographing birds and learning new birds.

Blackpoll Warbler

On one particular Saturday afternoon, I was on a walk past Dunes Learning Center. It was on this walk when I first noticed the large amount of warblers. It was very exciting because these were birds I haven’t been seeing around here throughout the summer, and many of them were birds that I wasn’t able to identify without looking them up. There were black-throated green warblers, blackpoll warblers, and chestnut-sided warblers. They were mostly hanging out along the stream and in the bushes along the road, foraging for food to fuel up for  their migration south.  

Ruby Throated Hummingbird

The next day, I went birding with another DLC educator (the legendary Alex of the Birding with Burdsall Instagram series) at the state park. Besides seeing a lot more warblers, it was also nice to see some of our more common summer birds before they headed off for the winter. The catbirds were as loud as ever, the hummingbirds were buzzing about outside the nature center, and a summer tanager landed right in front of us almost as if it was posing.

Summer Tanager

That week also brought in signs that our winter birds are becoming easier to spot. The geese were flying overhead, with a couple of them even landing to hang out in the pond along Howe Road. I had better luck capturing photos of chickadees and tufted titmice, which seem to elude me more in the summertime. Alex and I even found a red-breasted nuthatch at the state park, a bird which leaves the dunes during the summer. The dark-eyed juncos have also shown up in the dunes. Just like the changing of the leaves, the return of our winter bird species and the departure of our summer bird species serves as a reminder of the changing seasons!

Written & Photographed by Kate Valentine

2nd Year Environmental Education Fellow