I got a late start to the Hawthorn Orchard today...was there from about 10:45am to about 1:15pm. Much of my birding was done with Rick Lightbod, while remaining stationary at one spot just South of the Northeast corner, and later a little bit with Kristin Hodge.
Upon arrival, the warblers were singing, including Tennessee Warblers; however, within about 45 minutes, the singing dropped off to the point where the only occasional singers were Nashville Warbler, Northern Parula, and Black-throated Green Warbler. Later, it became dead silent in there, sans for the occasional quick and soft "seet" or "sst!" flight notes being produced by Nashville and Tennessee Warblers - the same note they produce in night migration. The most surprising find was non-avian. While discussing with Rick the foraging of these migrant birds upon the Tortricid larvae and the birds' use of the Hawthorn Orchard as a migratory stop-over site, I accidentally stepped on part of an Eastern Cottontail "nest". I've never encountered one of these before. The shrieking of one of the young immediately drew our attention to the ground and the fur-lined "nest", containing at least four young Cottontails - all with their eyes still closed - all of which appeared to be fine, despite my stepping on part of the nest. I think I may have simply startled one of the young awake into the primordial reaction similar to if a predator were attacking. Overall, the remnant flock of what was there from the original fallout of last week was still there today, just fewer birds. Here's the basic run-down of highlights with estimates: 2 Warbling Vireos 1 Blue-headed Vireo 3-4 House Wrens 1-2 Ruby-crowned Kinglets 1 WOOD THRUSH (NE Corner, "switch-witch-witch!" alarm notes) 1 Blue-winged Warbler (just South of NE corner) 6-8 TENNESSEE WARBLERS 15-20 NASHVILLE WARBLERS 4-5 NORTHERN PARULAS Zero Yellow Warblers (Missed the two Chestnut-sided Warblers just West of the NE corner) 6-8 Magnolia Warblers 2-3 Yellow-rumped Warblers 5-6 Black-throated Green Warblers 1-2 American Redstarts 1 Northern Waterthrush (heard South of the South horse-jumping pasture) 2-3 Common Yellowthroats 3-4 White-throated Sparrows 1 Eastern Meadowlark (distant singer to SE) 2-3 Baltimore Orioles I know I'm probably missing others, simply because of my very late arrival this morning. Good birding until the next warm front dumps more migrants! 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/ --
