New birds and April temperatures

Nice patch of rue anemone

The first wood thrush has arrived, a dim and distant trill somewhere behind my cabin. I knew it was time. The ovenbirds arrived two days ago, and wood thrush are always close on their heels. The ovenbirds are always first, often by just a single day but never more than three days ahead of the thrush. This year the birds are actually later than is typical. My most common arrival dates for them range between April 23-27, so May 1 is a couple of days behind schedule at Roundtop. I’ve been listening for them, too, so the later date isn’t because I wasn’t paying attention.

I also heard the first blue-headed vireo last night. I never did see it. It’s a good thing the bird was nearby, even though still invisible. I have a difficult time differentiating the red-eyed vireo from the blue-headed vireo by their songs as they sound very similar to me. If the bird hadn’t been nearly overhead I’m sure I wouldn’t have identified it as anything more specific than a vireo species. As it was, I was glad the bird sang happily for a few minutes so I could be sure.

Wild turkeys continue to gobble and fly and run and scatter all over the mountain. At the moment they are more common than deer, many of which are hidden away and birthing the first fawns. The turkeys on the other hand are seriously courting, and the toms don’t care who knows it.

Redbud

On an entirely different topic, last evening I was examining the average April temperatures from Harrisburg since 1935 and found something interesting. In the 1930’s and ‘40’s April’s average temperature varied much more than it has over the past 20 years or so. Earlier in the 20th century, the average temperature often varied by more than 10 degrees from one year to the next. For example the average in 1942 was 55 (high even today) but in 1943 it was just 45. Year to year variability back then was quite often 10 degrees, sometimes more. Over the past 20 years or so, that variability has much diminished and the monthly averages now rarely vary by more than 6 degrees. The temperature average itself is trending higher—certainly those low April averages in the mid-40’s seem to be a thing of the past—but the range is noticeably less.

April 2013 was higher than the average of all Harrisburg April records by nearly a full degree, but only slightly higher than the average from 1981-2010, which are the only years that meteorologists use to calculate what they consider the normal temperature they are always talking about. 2013’s higher result was almost entirely due to 3-4 days early in the month that zoomed near and into the 80’s. If not for those days the monthly average would have been slightly before average, but those days were so extreme they skewed the entire month.

The Wild Geranium (and More Birds Arriving)

Wild geraniums are common as all get out here in the woods of the eastern U.S., but don't take that to mean I don't like them. They are also one of the prettiest of the native flowers. I'm simply reporting how common they are because if you're reading this from somewhere in the eastern U.S., you can probably find them just about anywhere you can find woods near you. The plants are small, though, so they don't jump right out at you. Wild geraniums are often found with or near mayapples, which are larger and easier to see, and which is where I found this one.


I've looked at a fair number of photos from other places around the east, and the color of the geranium varies a lot from blue to deeper purple, to my pale lilac shade. They are not supposed to ever be white, though. The leaves are heavily toothed.

It's another big migration weekend here at the cabin. I've heard the first wood thrush, seen blue-headed vireo and black-and-white warbler. The black-and-white warbler is a bit of an oddity. They prefer conifers, and I don't have many of those here in the oak forest. Of course it was just passing through.

The arrival of the wood thrush is only a day or so later than average. I still have only heard one and I haven't yet heard or seen an ovenbird, which usually arrive on the same bus with the wood thrush. Maybe today.