A Week of Fantastic Birding
Saturday 24 May 2014
65 °F
Hello all,
This week was devoted to birding the migration madness coming through my neighborhood, as well as leading Oak Park Bird Walks. I have seen SO many birds this week. Here are some of the more interesting statistics for this week:
3 life birds:
Least Flycatcher
Connecticut Warbler
Golden-winged Warbler
9 species I have never seen before this week in my neighborhood:
Canada Warbler
Gray-cheeked Thrush
Bay-breasted Warbler
Eastern Phoebe
Least Flycatcher
Golden-winged Warbler
Great Blue Heron
Double-crested Cormorant
Connecticut Warbler
Finally, I have identified 22 warbler species in total this week, just from looking around my neighborhood!
Ovenbird
Golden-winged Warbler
Black-and-White Warbler
Tennessee Warbler
Orange-crowned Warbler
Nashville Warbler
Connecticut Warbler
Mourning Warbler
Common Yellowthroat
American Redstart
Cape May Warbler
Northern Parula
Magnolia Warbler
Bay-breasted Warbler
Blackburnian Warbler
Yellow Warbler
Chestnut-sided Warbler
Blackpoll Warbler
Palm Warbler
Black-throated Green Warbler
Canada Warbler
Wilson's Warbler
Here are some of the best/most interesting photos from this week (all pictures were taken in my neighborhood):
A beautiful CANADA WARBLER seen less than five minutes after I arrived home from my Europe trip. Surely it was a good omen for what turned out to be an ultra-productive week.
I found this stunning male BLACKBURNIAN WARBLER simply by looking up into one of my trees in the backyard:
I was overjoyed when I captured this image of two rare BAY-BREASTED WARBLERS in the same photo!
One life bird I gained this week was this diminutive LEAST FLYCATCHER:
A backyard OVENBIRD was also a pleasant surprise:
I saw a few SCARLET TANAGERS in my neighborhood this week, including this beautiful yet stubborn male bird who stayed at the top of a giant ash tree, limiting me to this pixelated image of him:
The star of the week, however, was my life-bird GOLDEN-WINGED WARBLER, because it was a new bird for me and it happens to be a federally threatened species that just showed up in my backyard one day! I only managed a very blurry shot of him:
Pretty little COMMON YELLOWTHROATS were, well, common throughout the week:
As were subtly beautiful RED-EYED VIREOS, such as this one:
The best bird I found today on the neighborhood bird walk I led was an extremely--EXTREMELY--rare CONNECTICUT WARBLER. I managed to capture a video of it singing, and I was lucky because these birds tend to not show themselves very easily. This one, however, was relatively out in the open!
It has been a fabulous week, and it will continue to be, because tomorrow my mom and I will start our weekend trip to the campground she owns in Michigan. One stop I am hoping to fit in is to Yankee Springs State Recreation Area, where hopefully I will find the endangered Cerulean Warbler! I don't have wifi there, so I will post when I arrive back home on Tuesday.
Good birding and stay tuned!
Henry
World Life List: 666 Species (3 life birds since I have arrived home from Europe)
