North American Flyways Map
St. Louis’s year-round species of birds are beginning to be joined by migrating birds returning here or passing through on their way to more exotic summer habitats. Our area is a great location for birdwatching. It is on the Mississippi Flyway migration path, the largest of the migratory flyways in North America. It is used by 60% of North American songbirds and 40% of North American waterfowl. Migration through our area peaks from mid-April – May. Places like Forest Park’s Kennedy Forest and our own Ruth Park Woods provide important resting places as well as summer homes to many of these migrants. Kathy Freese, of U City in Bloom’s NatureScapers group, volunteers in Ruth Woods where she and other UCB and Green Center volunteers are engaged in a long-term project to reclaim this urban forest from non-native invasive plants and restore it to a healthy forest. She recently reported this experience there.
Even if you are not working in the woods, this is a good time of year to hear more birds there. Around 5:30 pm last night (March 6), I recorded 15 species in fifteen minutes using the free online app Merlin Bird ID from Cornell University. This app records what you are hearing and identifies the bird you may not be able to see. It will help you locate the bird for possible visual identification. The name of the bird lights up when that particular call is heard. It’s a good place to start learning more about birds. The sound identification is amazing. (Click the Merlin image to be directed to a website where you can download the app.)
The birds I heard during that short period were white-crowned sparrow, rusty blackbird, northern cardinal, northern flicker, Carolina wren, red-winged blackbird, white- throated sparrow, song sparrow, killdeer, house sparrow, American robin, house finch, fox sparrow, downy woodpecker, and blue jay.
Rusty blackbird (Euphagus carolinus)
The rusty blackbird flocks (with other blackbirds) are in our woods right now. I love the sound of the flocks. They tend to hang out around the compost pile, perhaps because there is some standing water. The numbers of rusty blackbirds have been going down greatly over the past few decades, but I hear them every spring and fall in our Woods.
Restoring the woods continues to provide many species with a home or a migration stop, and this is one good example. Get started on your Merlin app, the big spring migration is on its way! Download it on your mobile phone.
It’s also is a good time to go for a hike. Tiny leaves are just beginning to emerge. It is the best time to learn your way around the trails while you can still see in all directions. You’ll want to explore all the native plants that will be showing up soon…as well as listening for all those new bird species migrating thru our Woods.
To access Ruth Park Woods, trailheads are located on the east side McKnight Road just south of Olive Boulevard, and at the northeast corner of the parking lot for Ruth Park Golf Course on Groby Road.
https://www.alltrails.com/trail/us/missouri/ruth-park-nature-trail
