Spring Migration

[PorkChop]

It has been an interesting one for sure!

Not very wet in my area and the bigger water with thick ice took longer to thaw. Killdeers are here now and that is usually a good sign we are out of the woods in regards to snow storms.

Never seen so many cranes in this area during the spring migration. Tons of specks as well. Hope they remember this area in the fall.

Potholes in my area are in bad shape!

Here are some ducks from about two weeks ago. Still seeing plenty. Was very surprised to see blue wings before snows.




I hope you all are doing well with all the crazy weather recently!

With the way things are looking it’ll be a crazy upland season but still plenty of time for that to change

[Rick]

Nice to see they, and you, are out there somewhere.

[Deltaman]

WOW! That is more birds than I usually see in a season!!!! Thanks for sharing PC, got me excited just watching it.

[PorkChop]

Thank you!

Did a little driving around today looking for snows. As I mentioned above our potholes are in very bad shape. Guessing if they can the farmers will be discing through them which will make it more difficult to hold water. That being said there is an area about 15 miles west of me that is pretty wet for some odd reason. It’s loaded with ducks. It is also loaded with swans. So many that I initially thought I found a massive snow roost. Just like the cranes it is odd to see so many in the spring.

I have only found a handful of possible bird flu victims.

[PorkChop]

Current drought ND drought map

IMG_3959.jpeg

[Duck Engr]

Whoa!! Seems the trend from last fall carried through the winter. Thanks for the update!

[Rick]

I liked it a whole lot better when what I took to be the recent Delta Waterfowl video seemed to suggest the Dakotas were in good shape.

[PorkChop]

I was surprised by that video as well. Woke up to rain this morning and now it is snowing. Guessing we got about an inch so far of wet heavy snow. Looks like it’s been snowing up in Canada north of me for a good bit of time. They are saying we will have lots of chances for precipitation in the next 14 days.

Right now you need just enough moisture so that the farmers can’t burn or disk nesting cover but it can’t be too wet as then the birds won’t use it for nesting. Need that water though when those eggs start hatching so the birds have a place to escape to, but they also need the cover around the edges to be able to hide during the day. With us being in a high risk for fires, they haven’t been allowing burning but them tractors were out in full force. This will slow them down.

[PorkChop]

For you southern guys that might already miss that snow you had this past winter come on up to ND

[SpinnerMan]

For you southern guys that might already miss that snow you had this past winter come on up to ND

I don't count as a southern guy although I am probably the most southern at the moment, but I am far enough south in Florida that it is no longer southern.

I don't miss the snow. I was very happy to jump in the pool last night and have a cold beer to cool off.

Been enjoying the spring migration down here, but that means warblers and tanagers and a wide variety of pretty little birds.

OMG. I went to the #1 birding place in Florida during what is prime time. If you've ever seen the move a Big Year which is a funny movie about competing to see or hear the most species of birds in one year. I felt like I was in that movie.

Birders everywhere you went. Saw a lot of cool birds, so I get why they were there.

PXL_20250419_143329159~2.jpg

And wow did some of them spend some money on their lenses. Proving size does matter, even in birding.

PXL_20250419_143329159~3.jpg

[PorkChop]

That is awesome! How long will you be there for? Those lenses are a lot of decoys ha ha

My uncle lived in Altamonte Springs, which is close to Orlando. I member jumping in his inground pool, and I felt like when I hit the water. I was on fire as it was hotter than the air at night time.

First time I went to Daytona Beach I was sunburned from belly button to the top of my head. I think I was like 13 years old and seeing all them women in those bikinis, I couldn’t get out of the water. Hahaha

[SpinnerMan]

That is awesome! How long will you be there for?

My wife and I are snow birds. She has had a lot of health problems and the winters in the Chicagoland area were wearing her down. Thankfully I have a job that generally does not matter where I am physically. So this is our 9th winter we have migrated. We've varied things over the years, but have generally settled on heading south shortly before Christmas and heading back north around the end of April. This year we stretched it out some and will be heading back mid May.

Those lenses are a lot of decoys ha ha

Damn near a whole snow goose spread with callers, vortex machines, etc.

My uncle lived in Altamonte Springs, which is close to Orlando. I member jumping in his inground pool, and I felt like when I hit the water. I was on fire as it was hotter than the air at night time.

That's why being a snowbird is the way to go if you can do it. The weather down here in the winter is normally beautiful. Not what people picture as Florida. Sunny and clear, high in the 70's is the most common weather until we hit April. Then it starts pushing into the 80's, rain starts to be more common. May can be damn hot and goes from there.

First time I went to Daytona Beach I was sunburned from belly button to the top of my head. I think I was like 13 years old and seeing all them women in those bikinis, I couldn’t get out of the water. Hahaha

The 13 year old self would really be in for a show today. Most of the women under 30 are walking around bare assed. It's crazy. Not that I'm complaining of course. I've been coming to Florida for one reason or another since the early 90's. Even 10 years ago you would see a thong here or there. Now it's like there is a massive shortage of women's swimwear fabric. By the time they reach the bottom, they just don't have any left.

On another site we were joking about "bird watching" at the beach. The next day my wife and I went for a walk on the beach and there was a dolphin close to the shore. I got my camera out to take some pictures. Some kid hollered "dolphin" and these women walked down in the water in front of me to see the dolphin. There really is a dolphin in the picture if you look long enough. I'm not really sure why women think it's a good thing to walk around likely your at spring break in Mexico while with friends and family at the beach. It's crazy.

dolphin.jpg

[PorkChop]

Good to see there are still some healthy ladies out there.

[Duck Engr]

Haha I enjoyed reading that.

[PorkChop]

A little improvement.

Supposed to have some more rain on the way

Seeing quite a few bachelor groups of mallards and pintails. For some reason seems early. Didn’t really notice a lot of courtship flights. Also have spotted more mallard pairs than normal. So far lots of local honker pairs and they are sticking around. None of this makes sense to me just because of the lack of water

Pheasants are through the roof. People are actually getting sick of them because of all the damage they are doing to cars. I am not complaining hahaha

IMG_4169.jpeg

[PorkChop]

Hopefully this brings some remaining snows as we have about a week left of the season

IMG_4181.jpeg

[Duck Engr]

Good news on the pheasants! I had a big time chasing them last year when we were up there.

[PorkChop]

Good news on the pheasants! I had a big time chasing them last year when we were up there.

I am pretty excited for this fall. Even if there’s a poor hatch this summer, I’ve never seen pheasants like this before. I’m not even in a good area so I can only imagine what the hotspots look like right now!

[PorkChop]

Going down hill again and the next few days temperatures definitely will not help. Looks like good chances for rain though mid next week.

IMG_4272.jpeg

IMG_4273.jpeg

[PorkChop]

Praying that this actually happens and more to come next week!

IMG_4342.jpeg

[Ducaholic]

Too little too late? Suppose it might help with the 2nd or 3rd nesting attempts for the birds that are around.

[PorkChop]

It’s too late for attracting birds flying north to stop and nest here. It’s good timing for the birds that did stop and are already on the nest so their ducklings have water to escape to. I’m guessing gosling’s are already hatching although I have not spotted any. Seeing a lot of single honkers but also many pairs that have not even started nesting yet. Also seeing bachelor mallards and pintails so I’m guessing there’s hens on the nest. Planting is mostly done, but this will still help keep farmers away from nesting cover.

[Ducaholic]

It’s too late for attracting birds flying north to stop and nest here. It’s good timing for the birds that did stop and are already on the nest so their ducklings have water to escape to. I’m guessing gosling’s are already hatching although I have not spotted any. Seeing a lot of single honkers but also many pairs that have not even started nesting yet. Also seeing bachelor mallards and pintails so I’m guessing there’s hens on the nest. Planting is mostly done, but this will still help keep farmers away from nesting cover.

Thanks for the info

[PorkChop]

my area ended up receiving between 3 and 4 inches of rain. I didn’t check my rain gauge this morning. Lots of puddles, but also many places that had puddles yesterday, The Earth drank that water pretty quickly. Yesterday started noticing a lot of grays as you guys call them. Today even more. Not totally unusual to see gadwalls in the fall. Some years are way better than others. Usually don’t see them hanging around in the spring in my area though. Lots of them are pairs so not sure why they suddenly showed up, but I am happy to see them. I don’t typically turn them down when they come in the decoys. A buddy from Kansas usually refuses to shoot them when he’s up here as he says they taste like mud, but I’ve never had a problem eating them.

[PorkChop]

Might actually get to use my momarsh fat boys and floaters this fall. Won’t get excited yet though as I think it was 2022 that we received close to 18 inches of rain from mid June into July and everything was flooded and then we got really high
and everything was bone dry by late August.

IMG_4372.jpeg

[SpinnerMan]

We could use little bit of rain here in northern Illinois.

This was a few days ago.

https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/dust-storm-warning-marks-a-first-for-chicago-so-what-caused-it/3748068/



Everything including our rivers are very dry.

[PorkChop]

With as much rain as we have received, I figured it would’ve made a bigger dent. Still more rain in the forecast so hopefully things improve. Right now the sun is shining and it’s good to see it.

Spotted my first group of goslings yesterday. Looked like they had five little ones.


Lots of birds came out of hiding and are in the sheet water and road ditches. Lots of blue wing teal, Gadwall, redheads, Cans and of course mallards and pintails

Shot this guy about an hour ago. I have killed three skunks and one raccoon in a square mile area in the last two weeks. This particular area is a good nesting area so definitely helping the cause!

IMG_4416.jpeg

IMG_4419.png

[Ducaholic]

Good Job on the Predators. Conditions also continue to improve ever so slightly

[Darren]

Thanks for your efforts, one predatory critter at a time.

[PorkChop]

Just shot a ditch tiger in the same area. I’ve seen it several times out here but he has always ran for cover when I stopped my truck. Today he was stalking some shorebirds and didn’t take off so it was time for him to go.