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