April also sees the arrival of two river birds that are not songsters. Prothonotary warblers often take advantage of cavities in snag trees along river and stream banks. Yellow-billed cuckoo nests are difficult to locate amongst dense foliage, but you may be able to home in on their vocalizations. Spotted sandpipers bob and dip their tails conspicuously, like the Louisiana waterthrush. They have a fluttery flight and look like they are only moving their wingtips.
Spotted sandpipers are polyandrous-meaning females mate with more than one male.
In this rare breeding strategy, the females establish territories and fight for mates. Large numbers of wood ducks arrive in April, too, the males absolutely resplendent in their breeding plumage. At times they will attempt to hide in streamside vegetation rather than fly, and a quiet sharp-eyed floater can get a close look at North America's most beautiful duck. The wood thrush, yellow-billed cuckoo and pileated woodpecker are common inhabitants of larger tracts of streamside forest. The pileated woodpecker can be as large as a crow and is an attention-getter when it flies over the river announcing ownership of the forest with its loud, piercing call.