Life On The Boardwalk

A bit of Wild West on the Gulf Coast

Most migratory bird species have outlined migration paths within their normal range, but that does not mean those routes are set in stone.

Sometimes birds must risk taking a different path for different reasons and will end up in places where their species is not normally seen. Migration varies from year to year, with lots of factors dictating where the birds are going to go. This seems to occur more so on their way south during the fall migration than spring migration.

So far this fall, birders are noticing western bird species that we do not normally see migrating through JAVIER GONZALEZ South Padre NATURALIST Island in a SPIBN & GS regular fall season. Here along the Texas gulf coast, most of the birds we see migrating through are coming down the eastern and central part of the country. Though we do normally see some western species from time to time, some of the species that have been seen recently are very unique in Cameron County.

These abnormal observations can be attributed to environmental circumstances that could be going on along their regular migration routes. Visitors to the SPI Birding & Nature Center recently found and photographed a Painted Redstart in the “Songbird Alley” garden.

I’m disappointed to mention that I didn’t personally see the bird since it was a one-day wonder found on a Monday, which is my usual day off (you can’t have any days off during migration if you want to see everything), but the photos and descriptions confirmed the sighting with no questions asked.

During the springtime, this mountainous species extends its nesting range into the US in the mountains of southern Arizona, New Mexico, and the tallest mountain peaks of the Trans-Pecos area of Texas. In the fall, their range retreats to the mountains of the Sierra Madre Oriental and Occidental in Mexico.

What drove this bird to come east and land on South Padre Island instead of following its usual migratory route? Birds are extremely sensitive to their environment. Could it have been trying to escape fires and smoke happening out west, or maybe trying to find a place with a greater food availability since the west has been suffering from severe drought over the last few years? Both of those situations can have a significant effect on the bird’s chosen path.

Within two days after the Redstart sighting, an immature Scott’s Oriole and a Say’s Phoebe were also documented on the Island, both of which are also species symbolic of the wild west that are quite rare in Cameron County, especially right next to the Gulf of Mexico!

These sightings show that nature can present signals of environmental consequences that could be happening hundreds of miles away, and sometimes they come in the form of migratory birds. While I hope and pray that these displaced western birds fare well in this odd fall migration and that their usual haunts recover, I can’t help but flip through my field guide and wonder what other western bird is going to show up next.