As others have mentioned, some species have already started their south bound migration. Bobolinks have started showing up in northern Queen Anne's County- I heard the first flyover on the 20th of June and Maren Gimpel had a flyover on the 26th. I saw the first adult male land in the restored grasslands on Chino Farms on the 5th of July and then today (7/7) two adult males flew into the fields.
The males that landed in the grasslands this week were still in breeding plumage. Bobolinks undergo a different molt strategy than most other east coast passerines. Bobolinks are molt migrants (more common in western NA)- instead of molting into basic plumage on their breeding grounds they instead migrate south a distance, find a suitable place to molt for several weeks before completing their long flight to South America. Adult males seem to arrive first, followed by adult females and then by August they are joined by hatch-year birds. Protected grassland habitats are not only important areas for breeding and wintering birds, but in the case of the bobolink these grasslands are a critical habitat allowing them undergo their pre-basic molt.
Dan Small
Chestertown, MD
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