Guest Editorial: Now is the time for birds!
"Now is the time to take in all that Spring affords us."
by Cary Andrews, Croton Bird Commissioner
House Finch/ All photos taken by Cary Andrews at Croton Landing.
Now is the time my friends. Now is the time to get out and check out the spring migration that is coming to Croton and all over the Hudson Valley.
We are on the Atlantic Flyway—a major migration route that is host to birds traveling north from Central and South America. Many are coming here to nest, such as yellow warblers, bobolinks (from Argentina), ospreys, and catbirds (from Belize). And our year round birds are of course busy also, such as cardinals, house wrens, chickadees, robins, mockingbirds.
Now is the time for watching mating behavior-- pairs of mourning doves perched together, a male cardinal feeding the female a sunflower seed (likely from my feeder, a cheap date I must say), a catbird perched on the wire (“sitting in the catbird seat”) singing or broadcasting, establishing territory to attract a mate, or a red wing blackbird displaying, spreading out his wings and flashing yellow and red.
Later if you are lucky you will see the nests. I have had robins nesting on my carport, cardinals on a bush near the driveway, a house wren taking up residence in a nesting box. And the hummingbirds have arrived. You can attract them with red tubular plants, or put out your feeders. Full disclosure—they must be kept very clean, changing the sugar water (1:4 sugar to water ratio) every 2-3 days and when cleaning to make sure any mold is washed away. Keep out your feeders—birds are so busy courting and nesting, that some free nutrition is most welcome.
And I am anxiously awaiting the arrival of the purple martins, from Brazil. There are some already at Croton Point, and hopefully they will return to Croton Landing, to our nest box there.
Last year I went nearly every morning at 6 am to Croton Landing, playing the purple martin dawn song to attract these birds. I sat on a bench overlooking the Hudson River, and it was a lovely time to drink my tea, and watch for other birds. This area is fast becoming a birding hot spot. These are some of the birds that I enjoyed watching:
There were two killdeer nests and I was able to watch the fledglings as they scampered about, running for protection under the wings of the mom. They have these minimalist nests, in a gravel area on the ground. I was saddened to see that one of the nests likely had two fledglings killed after a dog was off the leash. Ground nesting birds are susceptible to such predation. So please keep your dogs on the leash.
The other bird I loved observing was a song sparrow, which was making quite a meal of the dandelion fluff in the grass right before me. The house finch was feeding on the dandelions also. Yes, the dandelions are pesky on our lawns, but they provide seeds for our birds. Part of Croton Landing is a nearby marshy area with cattails, and so there are swamp sparrows. On the inland water or on the rocks you can see great blue herons stalking a fish, Canada geese, mallards, herring and ring billed gulls. A real treat is a Baltimore oriole, with its vibrant orange breast, or a flash of yellow darting past turns out to be a goldfinch. Ah, such wonders.
Now is the time my friends. Now is the time to take in all that Spring affords us. I am still awed by the fresh, bright spring green foliage that fills my senses. The pink trees—breathtaking color and glory of Eastern Red bud, Kwanzaa Flowering Cherry, Double Pink Weeping Cherry, Alexandra Saucer Magnolia, Pink Dogwood, Crab apple. Yes I like white blossoms also –Flowering White Dogwood, Pear, Spirea. But the pink trees are spectacular. I once came home to Baltimore orioles feasting on my apple tree blossoms.
Enjoy the Spring—enjoy it all. It's a gift, a blessing, a sign of further joys to come.
Cary Andrews is the Bird Commissioner of Croton-on-Hudson. We profiled her in the Chronicle in November 2023. Cary will have a table today at Earth Day in Senasqua Park (so will The Croton Chronicle.)
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Lovely tribute to spring in Croton!
Fantastic article; I’ll be on the lookout for these incredible birds 💗 thanks!