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- A male goldfinch on March 18 in Florida is a “half and half” mixture of winter and breeding plumages
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- A Tabebuia tree from the tropics is covered with spectacular pink blooms
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- When flowers first open on the sea hibiscus tree they are yellow with a dark central nectar guide
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- After a day or more the blooms turn reddish pink, likely a cue to potential pollinators
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- Arctic migrants least sandpipers in mid-March in Florida have minimal breeding coloration
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- Arctic migrant western sandpipers in mid March in Florida have little or no breeding coloration
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- This Foster’s tern in mid March in Florida has still not molted into its breeding coloration
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- These royal terns in Florida in mid March are beginning to molt into breeding plumage
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- This spotted sandpiper has barely begun its molt into breeding coloration in mid March in Florida
A male goldfinch I spotted drinking from our backyard water drip expresses very well the winter to spring transition this time of year. It is a “half and half” yellow bird which is re-growing its iconic yellow feathers in preparation for its journey back north. Many plants are flowering here in Florida such as the tropical Tabebuia with its canopy of amazing pink flowers. The sea hibiscus is in full bloom; the flowers are yellow when they first come out and change to pinkish red during a day or so. This could be a signal that the flower is old and thus unattractive to pollinators. Or it might signal the opposite, as being open for business but to a different group of insects more attracted to reddish flowers.
Two wintering sandpipers seen close together on the Palm Island beach were the least and western sandpipers, differing mainly by the color of their legs. Both will soon be leaving to breed in the Arctic but do not yet show any breeding coloration. They may not be too anxious to arrive on the frigid breeding grounds before the weather is suitable.
Among a group of royal terns nearby. some show increases in the amount of black feathers on the cap, but are not yet fully changed into breeding condition. They breed nearby along the Gulf and Atlantic coasts. An adjacent Forster’s tern is still in non-breeding plumage; they breed both along the coast and inland, mostly south of Canada.
A spotted sandpiper on the same beach is barely showing the development of the distinct spots which will distinguish breeding birds.
Thus although some birds are migrating northwards, many have yet to either migrate or to develop their full breeding coloration. But there are reports of tree swallows and some other migrants moving north to VA, so some migration is underway. Bird song is picking up although we are yet to see any substantial number of spring migrants passing through SW FL from Central and South America. But the time is very close for that most exciting time of year- spring migration of our N American breeding birds that winter in southern latitudes.