I birded around home and then walked the off-the-rail-trail-trails below Juniper Drive on South Hill this morning from about 5:30 to 9:00 AM. The highlight was a YELLOW-BILLED CUCKOO I spotted at about 7:30. About an hour later on my way back I was about 200 meters from where I saw the cuckoo earlier when I heard soft keeowp calls, but I could not find a cuckoo producing them at first. I did see a rotund lump of Ruffed Grouse in a tree whence the keowping issued. The Grouse eventually took off and the keeowping continued so I circumambulated a bit and finally located the Cuckoo in the same tree that the Grouse had occupied and watched it call for awhile. Warblers were few and far between. I managed a quick glimpse of a Magnolia and a Chestnut-sided and heard a few American Redstarts and Yellow Warblers. In between Cuckoo sightings I climbed up to the high flat knoll that overlooks the second dam (and lower Reservoir). I heard a Scarlet Tanager singing sporadically in the tree-tops up there and watched what looked like two conspecific song birds engaged in a high-speed treetop chase for about 20 minutes. The interaction looked more agonistic than amatory although I am aware that there is a fine line between the two categories of behavior throughout the animal kingdom. There were Red-eyed Vireos singing on territory everywhere in the vicinity this morning and my best guess is I was watching two males of the species arguing over control of the mountain top.
When I got home and read about the warbler extravaganzas at the Hawthorns and Sapsucker Woods I felt compelled to my mini-vacation and ducked into the Hawthorns from about 10-11. Besides Larry Hymes and the more common migrants and residents reported by Bob and Chris, I found 1 Blackburnian Warbler, 3-5 Magnolias, and a pair of male Bay-breasted Warblers in two different locations. No YB Cuckoo, Golden-winged Warbler, or Yellow-bellied Flycatcher for me at that hour. Best...Stuart -- 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/ --
