Date: 02/21/2001

Number: 1

This morning the first bird I heard was a red-winged blackbird! They finally
made it! I was looking at the Great Backyard Bird Count map for red-winged
blackbirds and noticed that as of Sunday there were many sightings along the
shore up into Maine, and that there were also sightings heading up along the
Hudson River and the Conn. River, but none in Western Mass. Now they're
here. I've noticed that this is the case for a lot of migrants. They show up
along the coast, and then a week or two later they start showing up here.

It makes sense if you think about it. They fly northward along the coast,to
the east of the adirondacks. As they reach New York they simply follow the
coast through Connecticut and up through Massachusetts and Maine. As the
numbers of birds increase as the migration continues, some birds have
established breeding grounds on the flyway. They may be on eggs by the time
the last birds migrate through. Some of these birds will fly up the Hudson

Hadley, MA

Latitude: 42.4 Longitude: -72.6

Observed by:
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