Great Kiskadee in April

April is when spring migration hits its stride. Waves of migrants move north on warm southerly winds, wintering birds leave for good, and early nesters are already on eggs in the South. Every week brings species that weren't there the week before.

For the Great Kiskadee specifically, April is a spring month inside the nesting season — one of the most active and demanding periods of this bird's year. Across the 1 states and provinces where great kiskadees occur, what the bird is doing this month depends heavily on latitude — the details below break it down by band.

Southern states

absent

Mid-latitudes

year-round resident

Northern states & Canada

absent

In April, great kiskadees are absent in the South, year-round resident across the mid-latitudes, and absent in the northern states and Canada. That north–south split is the defining feature of this month: where you live changes which version of this bird you're looking at.

April is inside the Great Kiskadee nesting season. Nest: bulky domed nest of grass with a side entrance. Clutch 2–5 eggs, incubation 16–17 days, 1–2 per season.

The season is broadly synchronized across the range this month. During the nesting months, adults switch to protein-rich foods for their young, become more secretive around the nest site, and often visit feeders in quick, purposeful trips rather than lingering.

• Beetles, grasshoppers, small fish and lizards

A loud South Texas specialty that plunge-dives for fish and takes fruit at feeders.

Migrants arriving after long flights are hungry — feeders can be genuine lifelines during cold, wet spells that suppress insects.

Full Great Kiskadee diet guide → · Best feeder for great kiskadees →

In April, the best watching is around food rather than the nest — adults make repeated foraging trips and are most visible at dawn and dusk. Give nesting birds space: if a bird is carrying food or scolding you persistently, you're close to a nest and should back off.

The state guides below show exactly where in your region great kiskadees are expected this month and which native plants hold them in a yard.

Texas