March - week 3?

On the weekend we rolled over to the third week of March but it still feels like the third week of January (OK, maybe I'll give you the third week of February). Waterfowl migration should be in high gear by now but there's not much incentive for them to move with snow banks and frozen water bodies everywhere. I had to chuckle a little bit when I saw Tree Swallow appear as a "most likely" species on my eBird checklist today (that's based on a two-week window).

Migration is still pushing on though with blackbirds continuing to trickle north. We're getting closer to "normal" frequencies for our favourite species, but still a fair ways off the mark, especially compared to the last two years:

What should we be watching for this week?

Great Blue Heron - soon enough we'll be seeing them back

The third week of March usually slows down from the previous week for new arrivals (but still plenty of individuals). Who knows, maybe with the warm weather later this week we'll get the waterfowl that was supposed to arrive last week?? The following nine species arrive, on average, "en masse" this week:

16 March -	Eastern Bluebird
17 March -	Pied-billed Grebe
18 March -	Wood Duck
	Golden-crowned Kinglet
	Eastern Meadowlark
	Brown-headed Cowbird
20 March -	Red-throated Loon
21 March -	Great Blue Heron
	Rusty Blackbird