April Birding Forecast

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By Alex Harper


In March, Turkey Vultures, swallows, Ash-throated Flycatchers, Lucy’s Warblers, Hooded Oriole, and Yellow- headed Blackbirds sneak into southern Nevada. These species are among the most obvious returners to the region as springtime ushers in breeding and migratory activities for hundreds of birds. A common thread among these birds is that they do not come from a long way away from our region; many of them may have spent the winter in Arizona, southern California, or northern Mexico.


The increasing pulses of birds moving into southern Nevada throughout April are also driven by the instinct to breed. As the northern hemisphere warms up and trees begin to produce buds and flowers, birds come in to feed on resources that are not available during the winter and find cover in trees that were previously bare.


The movement of migratory birds in the spring is largely dependent on weather. Most species of songbirds migrate during the nighttime and fly on clear nights with favorable winds. In the spring, birds are in a rush to reach their breeding grounds to claim the best territory for nest rearing. Driven by hormones that are largely signaled by increasing daylight, they are compelled to push northward. To do this, they will need to store their energy in their wintering grounds and not take unnecessary risks to have the best chances for survival. For this reason, birds often fly with favorable tailwinds as opposed to against energy-depleting headwinds.

 
Songbirds employ a few strategies to help them migrate and navigate at night. It is believed that songbirds rely heavily on stars and other features of the night sky to help them navigate, recalling the skills early human navigators. Perhaps just as remarkably, songbirds have an ability to orient using magnetic fields. In the eyes of many birds is magnetite. Magnetite moves across the eyes depending on their orientation to the north and south poles, suggesting that they can visualize and perceive the magnetic fields suspended over our poles. You can think of this as having compasses in the eyes, and songbirds that migrate have higher concentrations of magnetite in their eyes than nonmigratory birds. Along with these adaptations, birds utilize and memorize landscape features such as mountain ranges, valleys and river systems. They employ all these innate and learned tools for navigation in conjunction to move about the world, and perhaps have other tools that we are unaware of. 


Using these remarkable adaptations and navigational skills are millions of colorful songbirds that are rearing to migrate into and across Nevada in the months of April and May. To best see these species, one may not need to wander far outside of the city; many local parks and even backyards can attract a diversity of migratory species. Some of the most popular locations for viewing vireos, flycatchers, thrushes, warblers, sparrows, orioles, buntings and grosbeaks are Corn Creek Field Station, Floyd Lamb Park, Craig Ranch Park, Sunset Park, Clark County Wetlands, and the Henderson Bird Viewing Preserve. These parks are easily visible to birds flying towards or over the city, have available water, and offer a variety of options for resting and refueling. Palo Verdes and mesquite trees begin to bloom in April, and because they are native to the southwestern deserts, they’re familiar to insects and the birds that eat them. A grove of Palo Verde trees in a small park can be a gift that continues to give all spring. Fruiting mulberry trees can also be magnets for some birds. The Winchester-Dondero Cultural Center, Floyd Lamb Park, the vicinity of the Safekey building at Sunset Park, and the orchard at Corn Creek Field Station all have fruit-producing mulberries, and they can be extremely rewarding places to sit and watch colorful migratory birds. 


There are a few things to remember when looking for migratory birds this spring. Firstly, well fed and healthy birds often begin migrating shortly after sundown and can fly for well over fourteen hours after launching. That means that even though birding activity is overall higher around dawn, newly arriving birds may not touch down into a place that you are birding until late morning. Secondly, pay attention to the weather in the immediate area and in locations to the south where most birds are coming from. Birds move when there is a gentle tail wind coming from the south and clear skies. Do not expect to find many newly arriving migratory birds during a period of northerly winds. You can learn how to better predict these movements by following an online migration tool called BirdCast. BirdCast uses global weather tracking data to estimate bird traffic at night. By following weather patterns and, you can better predict the presence or absence of migratory birds. Predicting migration is difficult, so expect a steep learning-curve and deep satisfaction in the learning process.


It's not just songbirds that move into the region during April. Waterfowl mostly move out of wetlands as the month moves along, but shorebirds start to move in. Avocets, stilts, plovers and sandpipers may begin congregating at the Las Vegas Wash from Sunrise Manor down to Pabco Weir, the Henderson Bird Viewing Preserve, and along reservoirs. Scan shallow shoreline
edges and mudflats and you may well run into shorebirds. The end of April and early May is a peak period for shorebird migration in the Mojave region.


In our own neighborhoods and communities, residential birds continue along in breeding activities. You will hear familiar backyard birds maintaining territories though chasing off competition, singing, displaying, and courting. By the end of the month, you may hear nestlings begging from nests or following parents around for food. Northern Flickers, kinglets, Yellow-rumped Warblers, White-crowned Sparrows, and Brewer’s Blackbirds vacate our neighborhoods and parks. Meanwhile in the higher elevations surrounding Las Vegas, breeding activity is more staggered. Typically, mountainous birds begin breeding a few weeks later than birds in the low valleys.


As you get out and wander in April, notice that seed-eating sparrows move through before most insectivores like flycatchers and warblers. Pay attention to how diet and the scarcity of resources are connected to temperature or the life histories of species of birds. For migratory birds there is a sweet spot that must be met: they want to be early enough to claim the best territory, but not so early that they meet challenging weather.

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March Birding Forecast

February 27, 2026
By Alex Harper  On March 1, Southern Nevada receives about eleven hours and twenty-six minutes of direct daylight. This is about an hour more of total daylight compared to that on February 1, and about an hour and forty minutes more than on January 1. On the last day of March, we receive about twelve and a half hours of daylight. The increased daylight in the northern hemisphere brings increased warmth. The additional light and heat give plants energy to photosynthesize and kickstarts the processes of putting out new leaves and flowers. Insect activity follows and ramps up. In sync with the progressions of the seasons are billions of waterfowl, shorebirds, raptors, hummingbirds, and songbirds. Across their wintering grounds in South and Central America, Mexico, or the Sonoran Desert, these birds are fattening up and saving their energy for long, challenging journeys. Like the plants and insects, these birds register the increasing sunlight; cascades of hormonal changes prepare them for a seasonal movement that we call migration. Of these billions of birds, many millions will pass though Nevada’s skies this spring. March offers a preview for what’s in store for April and May. Although March may have days that feel like spring, there are days that potentially can be reclaimed by winter weather. This means that for many songbirds, it may be too energetically taxing and risky flying northwards into our region in March. It could even be fatal if an intense cold snap occurred. A few species of land birds do manage to successfully navigate the temperamental month of March, seemingly adapted to cope with the unpredictability. These birds include Yellow-headed Blackbirds and cowbirds, which are sometimes coming from marshes and agricultural areas of Southern Arizona or northern Mexico, are some of the first to arrive. You may find or hear these birds at familiar parks, especially any with stands of wetland vegetation or large lawns. Their relative, Hooded Orioles, come back by late March, preferring to be closer to trees such as palms. Along the Colorado River or Clark County Wetlands Park, the Lucy’s Warbler begins to trickle in. These small, gray warblers seek out stands of mesquite tress, joining the assemblage of overwintering Yellow-rumped and Orange-crowned Warblers. The Lucy’s Warbler winters as close by as the Mexican state of Sinaloa. This means that the distance that they needed to traverse to get to Southern Nevada is far less than that of comparatively sized warblers wintering deeper into Mexico and helps explain why we see these warblers arrive well before the others. It’s one of the only warblers to breed in tree cavities, and they prefer mesquite groves and wooded wetlands for nesting habitat. Other birds on their way through Nevada in March are swallows. These strong flyers are diurnal migrants, and unlike most other songbirds, they have the advantage of being able to hunt flying insects as they migrate northbound. Tree, Violet-green, Barn, Northern Rough-winged and Cliff Swallows may be seen cruising low and purposefully northward through open desert or stopping to feed and drink anywhere with surface water. Some of the Northern Rough-winged or Cliff Swallows may end their spring journey in Las Vegas or Henderson, as some create nests under bridges at locations like Arroyo-Grande Park or Pittman Wash. Other birds are departing our region. The wintering duck numbers begin to thin out at the popular birding sites in the region. Geese and ducks are well-adapted to finding food in winter but often driven by accessible bodies of water for roosting or foraging. With lakes and ponds thawing out to the north, they will largely begin departing the region for the wetlands of the Great Basin and prairies of the west, the spruce forests of Canada or Alaska, or even the tundra of the Arctic. Close to your home, you may be observing flurries of breeding behavior from resident doves, hummingbirds, and songbirds. These birds that often live their entire lifecycles in the same region breed well before some birds have begun migratory journeys that can be hundreds or thousands of miles in duration. These are the Anna’s Hummingbirds, Verdins, and Northern Mockingbirds. It’s possible that by late March you may see robins or local birds feeding young in nests. Like every year, month, or week, no day is the same when observing birds. Each species has its own unique life history. As you get outside in March, you’ll be able to observe behavior changes amongst species and individuals. Tune in to these subtle changes and watch for the trickle of incoming spring migrants. And come April, the dam breaks, and the flycatchers, vireos, warblers, orioles and tanagers begin to pour in.

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February Birding Forecast

January 25, 2026
By Alex Harper Neither in the depths of winter anymore and too early for the rush of spring, February is a month that may feel more stagnant than January or March. The increasing daylight triggers hormone production that may prepare some birds for breeding or migratory behavior. The behavior changes in birds may be obvious when observing some species, but not observable in others. There are indeed some birds on the move in February, and they are the harbingers of an incoming spring. For our local breeding birds, many will be engaging in territorial behavior or “tuning up” their songs. Residential birds at low elevations, such as in the Las Vegas area, will be most obvious. You’ll notice doves, hummingbirds and mockingbirds chasing each other around or displaying. You may even catch hummingbirds in the act of collecting nest materials; spider webs are amongst some of their favorite materials. The songs of House Finches may be heard on almost every city block in town. At local parks such as Sunset Park, the Henderson Bird Viewing Preserve, and Pittman Wash, you may hear the harsh song of the Black-tailed Gnatcatcher, a rambling Crissal Thrasher, or the hurried and stuttering song of the Abert’s Towhee. Since these resident birds are nonmigratory and are already in the area that they will attempt to breed, they can begin breeding activities now. For many of the migratory species, they are on a different schedule. At our parks with water and our reservoirs, we could still see influxes of winter-driven waterfowl, especially in diving ducks like goldeneyes, Red-breasted and Common Mergansers. Cooler temperatures to the north or farther inland can freeze ponds over, which directly affects the ability for waterfowl to forage for food. Diving waterfowl are impacted by any freezes, and they’ll move around throughout February when necessary. February is another great gull-watching month. Virtually any species can show up at Lake Mead during February. Some migratory birds are on the way from south of the border. Fast-flying swallows are amongst the first to arrive, and they’ll trickle into wetlands such as Clark County Wetlands Park and the Henderson Bird Viewing Preserve. Migratory Northern Rough-winged Swallows will join the small winter flocks at the bird preserve, as will Tree Swallows, followed by a few Barns and Violet-greens. Visit the Henderson Bird Viewing Preserve towards the end of February, and you’ll notice the slow accumulation of swallows. Once the trees begin to produce new leaves again, insect and bird activity will escalate. From March to May, surges of spring-related activities such as singing, nest-building, and migration will be in full motion.