The Hooded Warbler has been spotted for the first time in Green Acres! The spring migration count shared with us by John Boright and Mike Flibbert includes this yellow and black warbler heading to their breeding grounds from Mexico and Central America where they spend their winters. Billions of birds migrate north in April and May, a favorite time for birders to do a count. This year, John and Mike counted 76 species in the Green Acres/Westbrook area including 16 other warblers as well as crows, robins, orioles, owls, hummingbirds, herons, kinglets (two types), three types of woodpeckers, two types of flycatchers and my favorite - wood ducks. Some of these birds will settle here to raise their young, and some are moving to other parts of the country to breed. Click HERE for the Spring 2023 bird list. Click HERE to see bird counts from past years.
Number of Species increases with planting of natives
This is John and Mike’s third year of sharing their spring bird count with us. We are pleased to note that the total number of species recorded has continued to grow as we continue to plant more native plants at the Green Acre habitat. In 2021, the pair documented 55 species. In 2022, there were 65 counted. And this year, the count was up by 11. Twenty-one more species were spotted in 2023 than in 2021 - an almost 40 percent increase.
We shouldn’t be surprised. It’s well established that native plants create a sanctuary not only for pollinators and other insects but also provide a haven for birds by offering more food choices. To survive, native birds need native plants and the insects that have co-evolved with them. Scientists are finding that non-native plants so popular for landscaping cannot be eaten by the insects and caterpillars that the birds need to feed their young. No insect? No birds. Entomologist Doug Tallamy, University of Delaware published a paper in Conservation Biology on this subject in 2009 concluding that the bird and insect populations were increased in suburban yards that were predominantly native. Read more from Audubon about the importance of native habitat to the bird population HERE.
LFWA has two habitat restoration project in the Green Acre/Westbrook neighborhood - the Green Acre project located between Wakefield and Yorktown Roads, and the Westbrook Elementary School restoration located at the corner of Allan Terrance and Glen Cove Parkway. They are always open for visitors!
© Evan Lipton. Macaulay Library, Cornell Lab of Ornithology
Hooded Warblers
Adult males have a bright yellow face surrounded by a black hood. They migrate at night from Venezuela, Central America and the Caribbean islands in spring and return each fall. Hooded Warblers breed in mature deciduous forest in the Mid-Atlantic and Southern United States with a dense understory of shrubs such as spicebush. Hooded Warblers capture insects and spiders by picking them off leaves or the ground and by flying up to grab them, a foraging technique called hawking. These insects are also an important as food for nestlings. The adult birds eats the insects entirely and regurgitates it to the chicks upon returning to their nests.