What to watch for in April: Migration! 

Many different animals migrate, including whales, bats, elk, sharks, dragonflies, and Monarch butterflies. Birds are at the top of the list in terms of distance traveled. Three hundred thirty-eight species of birds annually migrate between North America and the New World tropics (Central and South America). They are often referred to as Neotropical migrants. Ninety-five percent of these 338 species have been documented in Texas! They rely on food, water, and shelter provided naturally by the landscapes they visit en route to their summer homes. Some will breed in Texas, but many will travel long distances, as far as Alaska and the high latitudes of Canada.

Avian Highlights this April

Birds go the distance! Take the Franklin’s Gulls that we see every year in Austin especially during April and May and again in October. You might hear them before you see them. These gregarious black-headed gulls pass through Texas on the way to and from the prairie and pothole regions of the Dakotas, Montana, and prairie Canada. Their summer home is freshwater marshes, but in winter you will find them along the coasts of Peru and Chile! Franklin’s Gulls look similar to the Laughing Gulls of the Texas coast. In the breeding season though, many of the Franklin’s Gulls have a rosy blush on their breasts and bellies which stands out, even on birds in flight. Compared to Laughing Gulls they have slightly smaller bills and larger white spots on their wing tips. Good places to look for these gulls are Bob Wentz Windy Point on Lake Travis, and at Lake Walter Long, where they may drop in to spend the night. You might encounter them resting on soccer fields, and they are known to follow farmers plowing up fields.

Franklin’s Gull with rosy breast. Courtesy: Jeff Osborne.

Fun facts:

The largest group of Franklin’s Gulls recorded in Travis County eBird data was seen on October 17, 2022 when 1300 were spotted at Windy Point.

In North America they primarily eat insects and other invertebrates, but on their wintering grounds they eat crabs, insects and small fish, venturing up to 30 miles offshore.

On their breeding grounds, both the male and female build their nest on floating vegetation. As it decays, they add more to it so it might grow from 17 inches diameter to 40 inches! They sometimes nest within two feet of other gulls, and a colony of a thousand birds is not unusual.

Franklin’s Gulls flying over Austin. Courtesy: Ken Zaslow.

The Hooded Warbler is another Neotropical migrant on the wing in April. The Texas population breeds in the eastern part of the state, with many more passing through to destinations in the eastern U.S. The Hooded Warbler is one of the birds that gives bird migration its reputation as a not-to-be-missed annual event. The male has an olive green back and wings, with bright yellow plumage below, and yellow cheeks set off by a black hood. It can be found flitting along forest floors, preferring the understory to the canopy of trees. The Hooded Warbler flashes its tail to reveal white outer tail feathers. Research has found that the white patches startle insects into flight. Birds with feathers temporarily darkened did not have the same success in catching insects. Like most warblers it has a slender bill suited to the insects it hunts.

Male Hooded Warbler. Courtesy: James Giroux.

The Hooded Warbler has a loud song that it uses to defend its winter and breeding territories. It sounds like a clear weeta-weeta-weet-tee-o with an emphatic ending. A loud chip note often lets people know one is around.

The Painted Bunting is a tropical looking bird with its blue head, electric green back and red underparts. If it’s on your bucket list, they typically arrive in mid-April and the males announce themselves with a song similar to the House Finch. The females and young males are green. The Wildflower Center, Commons Ford Ranch Metro Park, Milton Reimers Ranch Park, and St. Ed’s Park are good places to look, although sightings occur all around Austin. Try the free Merlin app from Cornell Lab of Ornithology to recognize their song and then look for the male perched high in a cedar or oak tree.

Male Painted Bunting. Courtesy: Jeff Osborne.

Painted Bunting displaying to female. Courtesy: Jeff Osborne.

Unfortunately, many species of birds are declining as the habitat they rely on is altered, perhaps converted to farmland or to development.

There are several things anyone can do to help migrant and year-round birds survive in a changing world:

Keep cats indoors It is estimated that free-roaming cats in the U.S. kill 1.4 to 4 billion birds each year! The cats are indiscriminate. They will kill a colorful Painted Bunting as easily as a non-native House Sparrow. Try a cat patio, a catio for short, if your kitty enjoys the outdoors. Learn more about one local catio builder’s experience here.

Turn lights out especially during migration. Did you know that nearly two billion birds will migrate across Central Texas skies this spring, and many of them fly at night? Reducing outdoor illumination helps birds get their compass bearings from the stars. For reasons not well understood, nighttime migrants are attracted to the light domes of urban areas. Foggy or stormy weather further disorients them. At sunrise when birds drop down to rest and feed, they find themselves in habitats full of windows, directly putting them in harm’s way. It’s estimated that bird window collisions kill up to one billion birds annually across the United States (The estimate is from the American Bird Conservancy based on Smithsonian data in 2014).

Make your windows safer for birds. There is nothing worse than hearing a clunk at your window, only to see a stunned or dead bird right outside. The American Bird Conservancy recommends solutions ranging from painting designs in tempura paint on the window’s exterior, to creating “Zen wind curtains” made of parachute cord, to more expensive solutions like professionally installed bird tape.

Add native plants to your landscape, park or greenbelt. Native plants have evolved with wildlife over millennia to provide their food throughout the seasons. The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center’s plant sale is going on now through May 7. Find a list of recommended bird-friendly plants and create your shopping list.

When to Go Birding during Migration?

If you want to know exactly how many birds might be in the air, night by night, during migration, check BirdCast, a collaborative effort to understand and predict bird movements based on weather radar surveillance. You can even check to see whether birds will be migrating over Austin in low, medium or high densities with the local migration alert feature. Keep in mind that even though a large number of birds might be moving through, they may not stick around the next day. Birds are in a hurry to get to their breeding grounds to get the best territories.

Compiled by Travis Audubon volunteer Jane Tillman.