May Marks the Official Start of Spring Bird Migration in Wyoming

By the end of May, most of Wyoming's migratory birds will have returned for the warmer months.

I saw my first Western Meadowlark while golfing a couple weeks ago. The state bird was standing on a fencepost announcing the arrival of spring with its unique song.

According to BirdCast, a team of radar ornithologists who use surveillance to provide data on our flying friends, say over 88,000 birds crossed into the Cowboy State last night.

Migration traffic shows over one million are currently in flight.

Soon Wyoming will be seeing more yellow-rumped warblers, spotted sandpipers, vesper sparrows, and western kingbirds among others.

Black-chinned, Calliope and Broad-tailed hummingbirds will stick around until August.

During this time, Wyoming Game and Fish ask residents to consider turning off non-essential lights from 11 p.m. until 6 a.m. to prevent confusing migrating birds.

The Audubon of the Rockies has created a spring field guide to look for birds returning to Wyoming. See below.