Spring bird migration in the Maltese islands

Bird migration is, without doubt, one of the most spectacular events in a bird’s life. Twice a year, a large number of species undertake a perilous journey, thousands of kilometres long, from summer to winter quarters and back again. Although spring officially starts on March 20, spring bird migration starts much earlier and, in fact, in Malta, spring bird migration ranges from February until May, peaking from the middle of March until early May. During spring, birds leave their wintering grounds in Africa to migrate north to breed in Europe. Although, in Europe, barn swallows are known as the harbingers of spring, the first spring migrants that usually appear in Malta are the house martins, which can start arriving in early February in small flocks. At this time of the year, they are usually found over water bodies either at BirdLife Malta’s nature reserves, like Għadira and Simar, or over freshwater valleys like Chadwick Lakes, Għajn Riħana and Marsalforn Valley. The green sandpiper is also one of the first spring migrants to appear and can be observed in the same places as those mentioned above. These two species are usually followed by the pintail which, depending on the...