In mid April, the bird population of Missouri is undergoing a dramatic change. Winter residents, such as white-throated sparrows, dark-eyed juncos, fox sparrows and white-crowned sparrows, are departing for the north, never to know the hot, humid summer of the American Midwest. At the same time, summer residents, including brown thrashers, gray catbirds, house wrens, chimney swifts, barn swallows and blue-gray gnatcatchers are arriving from the south and will soon be nesting. Out in the wildlands, migrants are streaming northward, stopping to rest and feed in our State; these travelers include blue-winged teal, American coot, golden plovers, double-crested cormorants and American white pelicans.
Such is the pulse of nature's seasons and birds, more than any other creatures, dance to its rythym.
