Woods alive with song again

Spring migration is in full swing. Thousands of spring and summer nesting songbirds are arriving daily from winter homes in Latin America. Some highlights of the past few days include:

Ruby-throated hummingbirds not only are arriving, but already commencing their “hummingbird wars.”

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John Cassady/AJC Special

The whip-poor-will can be heard again in Georgia woods.

“We have at least two males and a female,” reported Eugenia Thompson of Athens. “The males were fighting over the front feeder yesterday; today they are fighting over the back feeder.”

Lots of warblers are coming in. If February is bluebird month in Georgia, April is warbler month, when wave after wave of the colorful, melodious little birds arrive in the state and gobble up tons of caterpillars munching on emerging leaves.

More than 20 warbler species will nest in Georgia this spring, though several will do so only in the mountains. Several other species — including the Tennessee, magnolia, bay-breasted and blackpoll warblers — will only pass through the state, headed for breeding grounds farther north.

A few, such as the yellow-rumped warbler that stayed with us all winter, have departed for northern breeding areas.

Marion Dobbs of Floyd County reported that his “yard was alive with the welcome sound of singing black-throated green warblers … as was every part of the mountain campus at Berry College (Rome) that I visited. I envision a whole legion of them arriving in the night and dispersing across the county.”

The plaintive calls of whip-poor-wills and closely related chuck-will’s-widows already are being heard.

In my mind, the essence of summer in Georgia is these birds calling from the woods in the evening.

Lynn Schlup of Washington County in Middle Georgia said she heard her first chuck-will’s-widow of the year at 11:30 the other night. “What a night,” she said.

Neon-blue Indigo buntings, one of our most colorful spring migrants, are starting to appear at feeders.

James Brooks of McDonough had his first one of the season the other day: “A brilliant-hued indigo bunting male, so incredibly blue I almost can’t look directly at it.”

Another brilliantly colored migrant now arriving is the male rose-breasted grosbeak, which never fails to amaze those who see it for the first time. The bird sports a bright rose triangle on a dazzling white breast.

Georgia’s “other redbirds,” the summer tanager and the scarlet tanager, are back and singing. The wood thrush, often regarded as the state’s sweetest songster, also is returning and being heard in the woods now. Finally, I am thankful that my year-round bluebirds and their babies in my Decatur yard survived the recent cold snap and violent weather.

In the sky

The Lyrid meteor shower will be visible through most of next week, but reaches a peak of about 15 meteors per hour on Tuesday night, says David Dundee, astronomer with Tellus Northwest Georgia Science Museum. Look to the northeast from about 2 a.m. until dawn.

The moon will be new on Friday. Mercury is in the west just after dark and appears near the moon next Saturday evening. Venus, Mars and Jupiter are low in the east just before sunrise. Mars and Venus will appear near the moon on Wednesday morning. Saturn rises out of the east at sunset.