The spring migration of birds is peaking. Here’s how to watch
It’s happening! Spring migration reaches its peak as birds rush from their southern wintering grounds to their northern breeding grounds. And while it’s always a good time for birding, now is the best time for those of us who live in the Northern Hemisphere. We welcome back the birds that nest where we live and hope to catch a glimpse of those that only stop briefly to rest and refuel before heading to points further north. It’s the moment birders have been waiting for: the marvelous window when hundreds of millions of birds can streak across the sky in a single night on their way to claim territory, find a mate, build a nest and breed.
In the northeastern United States, where I live, migrants have been arriving in recent months. Tree swallows arrived in March and now build their nests with grasses and pine needles from surrounding fields. Blue-gray Gnatcatchers followed in April. They flit among the treetops and are so small and fast that I often identify them not by their physical characteristics but by their distinctive call, a whistling voice of the world’s smallest kazoo. If I hear a call or song that I don’t recognize, I can check the Merlin Bird app, which has a sound identification feature similar to Shazam for bird vocalizations, and see if it can match the sound to that in its database. Merlin isn’t perfect, though: it’s best to confirm the app’s suggestions with your own eyes and ears if you can.
At a local beach recently, I watched two American oystercatchers make their way along the pebble shoreline to catch tiny limpets with their long orange beaks. One of the birds had bands on its legs, indicating that it had been captured and assigned an identification number for the North American Bird Banding Program. Data from sightings of banded birds allows scientists to track changes in bird populations, behaviors, and environments. I reported the oystercatcher on the program’s website when I returned from my walk, and two days later I received a certificate of appreciation indicating that my bird had been banded in a nearby town in the spring of 2025 and had hatched in 2024 or earlier. I wonder where this will happen next.
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I’m a night owl at heart. But now that migration is picking up, I go to bed early – right after checking the bird migration forecast to see what tomorrow might bring – and get up with the sun to make the most of the early mornings, when the birds are busiest. My awakening is natural: the American robin sings outside my bedroom window at daybreak.
My species checklists, which I save in the eBird online database, grow every day. Earlier this week I encountered my first Rose-breasted Grosbeaks and Orchard Orioles of the season, newly arrived from Central and northern South America, singing as they searched for buds and caterpillars in the flowering apple trees. And just yesterday, on my way to work at Battery, a park on the southern tip of Manhattan, I spotted my first warbler of the year high up in an oak tree, hunting for insects among the pale new leaves. This sight surprised me because this species tends to hang out in the understory of dense forests, often on steep slopes. But it was a reminder of a cardinal rule of birding: anything can happen during migration. (To the cyclist I accidentally backed into while carefully observing an Ovenbird at the side of the bike path: I’m sorry. Thank you for being kind to my bird-on-the-brain unconsciousness.)
In addition to welcoming familiar faces as the migration progresses, I hope to add new species to my life list. I scoured the wooded lakes and streams of my area in search of a Prothonotary Warbler, a splendid songbird with a saffron head, obsidian eyes, and wings of smoke. We only receive a handful each spring, most of them so-called surplus migrants who end up further north than their breeding grounds. This species has eluded me in the six years I’ve been birding, so I guess that makes it what bird enthusiasts call an enemy bird. But tonight, 147 million birds are expected to take flight over North America. Some of them will be Prothonotary Warblers. Maybe one of them will fall into the willows by the river at the cemetery I like to visit. Maybe I’ll find it tomorrow.
Here’s how to enjoy the spectacle of spring migration.
Basically, birding is about observing wild birds in all their glory. There is no one right way to do this. You do whatever works for you. That said, there are some great tools that can help people identify and report birds. In fact, one could argue that with all the technology now available – much of it on our phones – we are living in a golden age of birding.
The counterargument is that all these apps diminish our power of observation and that bird watching is best when we unplug. There’s something to be said for leaving the phone at home and fully immersing yourself in the birding moment.
At the very least, I recommend getting some binoculars. The good news is that you no longer need to shell out thousands of dollars to get a pair with many of the features once reserved for the best trash. Here’s the science behind leading optics for nature observation.
Bird biology
There is so much to love about birds. Let’s start with their feathers. Not only are feathers beautiful to look at, they also have special features that help animals fly and stay warm and dry. In fact, feathers are one of evolution’s smartest inventions.
Bird vocalizations are another source of fascination. We humans naturally focus on the melodies of their songs, and we tend to think about the components of those melodies in the same way we think about the words of human language. But the birds themselves don’t pay attention to the catchy tunes. This is what birds are really listening for in their song.
As someone with a terribly poor sense of direction, I am amazed that birds can travel tens of thousands of miles between their breeding and wintering grounds and arrive at the right place most of the time. It turns out they use quantum effects to navigate 🤯.
Evolution of birds
How did today’s birds become so amazing? First, their ancestors had to survive the end of the dinosaurs, which was no small feat.
Then they evolved into all sorts of shapes, sizes, and food specializations. There are more than 10,000 species of birds today, making them the most diverse group of land vertebrates. Scientists are continually learning more about how this incredible avian diversity evolved.
At some point, some birds started migrating long distances to the Arctic to breed, which at first glance seems like a pretty crazy thing to do. Recent fossil discoveries suggest when and how birds began making this journey.
How to help birds
Bird populations are declining. Anecdotally, my friends who have been birding for decades all seem to have stories about how many more birds they used to see. Scientific studies back up this observation: North America has lost about three billion birds since 1970. Data on banded birds, like my American Oystercatcher, helps scientists track bird populations, so if you spot a banded bird, report it.
Migration is a dangerous event in a bird’s life. He might encounter a terrible storm or a hungry predator. He could get lost. Worse yet, he could be thrown by artificial light at night (or not see glass surfaces during the day) and collide with a window until he dies. Turning off unnecessary lights at night and putting bird-friendly stickers on windows can help birds safely navigate urban environments.
Just for fun
There’s birding, and then there’s competitive birding. I wrote about a team of extreme birders and their race to find as many species as possible in 24 hours in hopes of setting a new “Big Day” record for New England. It was absolutely bananas.
A big day is so intense that I can’t imagine the 365 day version. But that’s exactly what brothers Owen and Quentin Reiser did, setting out in a minivan across the lower 48 states in an effort to break the Big Year record as birders. They made a hilarious documentary, called Listers: An Overview of Extreme Birding, on their adventure. I loved every crazy minute of it.
