This morning, I was at the Hawthorn Orchard (on the East Hill of Ithaca, NY) from about 7:30am to 9:00am. Ran into several birders, including Chris Wood and Jessie Barry with visitors from the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) – Andy Clements (Director of BTO), Andy Musgrove (Director of Monitoring at BTO), and Karen Wright (co-leader of Director of Information Technologies at BTO), who were all excited to see some American warblers this morning!
There were certainly many more birds there today, since the departure of birds from the fallout last week, including female migrants. Most of the birds observed today were new migrants, with the exception of birds on territory or local birds. Most birds were located in NE corner of Hawthorn Orchard. Highlights: 1 Green Heron (still in the area of the Shagbark Hickory at the SW corner of the Hawthorn Orchard, "growling") 4-5 Least Flycatchers 1 Great Crested Flycatcher 1 Blue-headed Vireo 1-2 Red-eyed Vireos 3-4 House Wrens 1 SWAINSON'S THRUSH (in the hedgerow East of the NE corner, near the softball field) 5-6 Gray Catbirds 1-2 Tennessee Warblers (not very vocal at all) 4-5 Nashville Warblers 3-4 Northern Parulas (including 1 female) 2 Yellow Warblers 5-6 Chestnut-sided Warblers (including 2 females) 5-6 Magnolia Warblers 1-2 Black-throated Blue Warblers (one heard by Mark from California in Hawthorn Orchard; later, one heard singing by me outside of Hawthorn Orchard to NW near Black Oak Lane pond) 2 Yellow-rumped Warblers (before fog burn-off, landed in top of Cottonwood Tree to NW of Hawthorn Orchard at East Ithaca Recreation Way; departed down into Ravine, not heard or seen again later - moved to nearby cemetery?) 3-4 Black-throated Green Warblers (including 1 female) 1 Blackburnian Warbler (NW Hawthorn Orchard in oak tree) 1 Black-and-white Warbler (1 female, near tall oak tree at center East side of Hawthorn Orchard) 6-7 American Redstarts (a couple of residents) 3 Ovenbirds (1 near tall oak tree along East side, one at NE corner, one down hedgerow near softball field, all within minutes of each other, with repeat singers heard) 3-4 Common Yellowthroats (resident birds) 3-4 White-throated Sparrows 1-2 Rose-breasted Grosbeaks (ravine area) 1 Bobolink (flyover R2-D2 singer) 2-3 Baltimore Orioles It was wet and muddy in there today, following the nice rains of the past couple of days. It just occurred to me that it is only 9 May - that's NINE of MAY! This is the time when migrant birds only begin to arrive at the Hawthorn Orchard. Hopefully, we will see several more waves of migrants over the next 15-20+ days! Good birding! Sincerely, Chris T-H -- Christopher T. Tessaglia-Hymes TARU Product Line Manager and Field Applications Engineer Bioacoustics Research Program, Cornell Lab of Ornithology 159 Sapsucker Woods Road, Ithaca, New York 14850 W: 607-254-2418 M: 607-351-5740 F: 607-254-1132 http://www.birds.cornell.edu/brp -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
