Day 8: Warblers Galore!
Wednesday 9 July 2014
67 °F
Today I went birding again for most of the morning on my bike on the magically packed-with-birds Madeline Island in Lake Superior. I saw 14 species of warblers, which are tiny, brightly-colored songbirds, and they happen to be my absolute favorite family of birds. Many warblers nest in boreal climates like that of Madeline Island, so that explains why I saw so many of these gems today. I also luckily managed to photograph a good number of them, see below.
Male COMMON YELLOWTHROAT:
This female BLACKBURNIAN WARBLER is a pretty girl:
But she looks a bit drab when compared to her mate:
This spiffy MAGNOLIA WARBLER had a grub on the menu for brunch:
Male AMERICAN REDSTART:
Male PINE WARBLER:
At one point I took a walk alongside this gorgeous lagoon:
I only managed two photos of non-warbler birds today, first this one of a HERMIT THRUSH:
And, secondly, this bird is a SOLITARY SANDPIPER, the first southbound migrant I have seen so far this year (shorebirds like this one tend to start migrating south from their hyperborean nesting grounds very, very early. I should start to be seeing even more southbound shorebirds soon enough):
It was a great day of fantastic birding; I can't believe I identified 14 species of warblers in one day in mid-July, this island is truly unbelievable! Full bird species list for today is attached below my signature.
Stay tuned, and as always, good birding!
Henry
World Life List: 675 Species (no life birds today)
47 species + 1 other taxa (14 warbler species!)
Duck Sp. (too far off to identify)
COMMON LOON (heard yodeling but did not see)
Double-crested Cormorant (1 fly-over)
Sandhill Crane (1 fly-over)
Killdeer (heard-only)
LESSER YELLOWLEGS (saw 1 and heard it calling)
Ring-billed Gull
Herring Gull
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
Downy Woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
PILEATED WOODPECKER (heard 1 calling and drumming)
Eastern Wood-Pewee
Eastern Kingbird
Blue Jay
American Crow
Common Raven
Black-capped Chickadee
Red-breasted Nuthatch
White-breasted Nuthatch
Winter Wren
Golden-crowned Kinglet
Hermit Thrush
American Robin
Chipping Sparrow
CLAY-COLORED SPARROW
Savannah Sparrow
Song Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
Indigo Bunting
Red-winged Blackbird
Common Grackle
American Goldfinch
And last but definitely not least, here is the list of the 14 warbler species (!) I identified today:
Ovenbird
Black-and-White Warbler
Tennessee Warbler
Nashville Warbler
MOURNING WARBLER
Common Yellowthroat
American Redstart
Northern Parula
Magnolia Warbler
Blackburnian Warbler
Yellow Warbler
Pine Warbler
Black-throated Green Warbler
Wilson's Warbler
Congratulations, Henry! You have had a great week. I have tried all year to get good Morning and Male Parula photos, and you did that right away.
I hope to go to the island in a couple of weeks, if schedule works.
by Bruce Bartel