This morning, it was significantly colder than yesterday morning at the same time. Fewer birds in general (except for White-throated Sparrows) and fewer warbler species. A single Blue-winged Warbler was singing incessantly from near the middle of the Hawthorn Orchard throughout much of my time there.
Highlight was the huge flock of about 62 White-throated Sparrows which are frequenting the hedgerow near the softball field. I got a fairly accurate count of that flock as they passed me from the East to the West along the hedgerow. They were headed to the grassy field beyond the softball field to feed on dandelion seeds. There was at least one White-crowned Sparrow here as well. On my way back to the truck, I encountered another three White-crowned Sparrows – two apparent males and an apparent female. They were just inside the fencing on the green of the outside tennis courts. The two males were in an apparent singing and displaying duel – something I’ve never observed before. The two males took turns singing. As one male sang upright, the other male would crouch down with back in horizontal and bill down with cap pointed at the singing male, subtly jerking its head back and forth and gently hopping side to side. Then, they would switch, with the previously singing male now taking a horizontal pose with bright black-and-white striped cap facing the now upright and singing opponent. They repeated this for at least a couple of minutes, each bird singing one song before getting into the horizontal pose again; this all happening while the non-vocal, apparent female, was hopping around nearby, watching from the sidelines. This was almost rapid-fire, like a tennis ball being hit back-and-forth across the net during a match. I think we need a few good days of warm weather to bring out the hawthorn flowers… Good birding! Sincerely, Chris T-H Hawthorn Orchard May 10, 2016 06:30 Traveling 1.00 miles 149 Minutes All birds reported? Yes Comments: Cold start to the morning. ~ 30° Submitted from eBird for iOS, version 1.2.0 Build 62 9 Canada Goose 1 Great Blue Heron 2 Killdeer 2 Ring-billed Gull 3 Mourning Dove 2 Red-bellied Woodpecker 2 Downy Woodpecker 1 Hairy Woodpecker 2 Least Flycatcher 1 Eastern Phoebe 23 Blue Jay 2 American Crow 11 Tree Swallow 1 Barn Swallow 7 Black-capped Chickadee 2 Tufted Titmouse 1 White-breasted Nuthatch 2 House Wren 6 Ruby-crowned Kinglet 3 Wood Thrush 14 American Robin 12 Gray Catbird 1 Brown Thrasher 8 European Starling 2 Cedar Waxwing 1 Ovenbird 2 Blue-winged Warbler 1 Black-and-white Warbler 9 Nashville Warbler 2 Common Yellowthroat 2 American Redstart 4 Magnolia Warbler 1 Yellow Warbler 1 Black-throated Blue Warbler 6 Yellow-rumped Warbler 1 Chipping Sparrow 4 White-crowned Sparrow 78 White-throated Sparrow 3 Song Sparrow 1 Scarlet Tanager 11 Northern Cardinal 1 Rose-breasted Grosbeak 8 Red-winged Blackbird 1 Eastern Meadowlark 6 Common Grackle 5 Brown-headed Cowbird 4 Baltimore Oriole 1 Purple Finch 1 Pine Siskin 10 American Goldfinch Number of Taxa: 50 -- Christopher T. Tessaglia-Hymes Field Applications Engineer Bioacoustics Research Program, Cornell Lab of Ornithology 159 Sapsucker Woods Road, Ithaca, New York 14850 W: 607-254-2418<tel:607-254-2418> M: 607-351-5740<tel:607-351-5740> F: 607-254-1132<tel: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/ --
