Sunday, May 11, 2014

Songbird Fallout

 Black-throated Green Warbler was among 18 species of warblers at the preserve
What a difference a day makes. The woods were pretty quiet on this past Thursday. Some of the expected migrants from the south had been showing up, but only in a slow trickle. However, on Friday that changed radically and suddenly the woods were teeming with birds and resounding with their music. Warblers, thrushes, vireos, flycatchers - most of the birds fresh from the tropics, where diving through the tree tops and gleaning insects off newly emerging leaves.
A male Rose-breasted Grosbeak about to descend on a bird feeder
Wood Thrushes do most of their insect hunting on the forest floor
The Blue-winged Warbler is among those that will remain here to nest
The male Indigo Bunting visits a bird feeder
A Chestnut-sided Warbler issued harsh call notes from the tree tops
Brown Thrashers have been singing their hearts out at the forest edges
This Black-throated Blue Warbler took a sip from a Sapsucker's sap hole
I didn't get a good picture of it, but a male Black-throated Blue Warbler flew onto the trunk of a Hemlock Tree where a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker had drilled about 100 holes. The warbler put its beak right in one of the holes and took a drink, or grabbed an insect - it was hard to tell which. In the past I've seen hummingbirds and butterflies avail themselves of sapsucker holes, but not warblers.
About a half-dozen Scarlet Tanagers were singing from the tree tops
Yellow-rumped Warblers were the most commonly seen warbler species
A male Bay-breasted Warbler is seen and heard giving its short, high pitched song
Swainson's Thrush was among the freshly returned contingent of thrushes
Also in the woods, the White-breasted Nuthatches were seen house shopping. This was the cavity they selected
This tree cavity was already occupied by a family of Gray Squirrels
Thursday was the first day this season that the Red Eft was found in the forest
A pair of Eastern Kingbirds were seen picking off bees as they visited the pussy willow blossoms

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