I have also been seeing the street-feeding mixed flocks under elms, with one especially diverse flock located a block north from the north end of Lake Como. Yesterday, it included: Indigo Bunting, Chipping Sparrow, White-throated Sparrow, House Sparrow, Swainson's Thrush, Bay-breasted Warbler, Tennessee Warbler, Palm Warbler, Yellow-rumped Warbler. My friend Gopi Sundar reported the same at the U of M student housing in St. Paul, with additional species including Magnolia, Cape May, and Nashville Warblers, plus Robin, and Cowbird.
On a related note, is it just me, or are Bay-breasted and Cape May Warblers particularly abundant this year? Typically, these are the hardest "common" warblers for me to find, as I see 1 or 2 a spring, and I sometimes completely miss one or the other over the course of an entire season. This year, I have seen 3+ of each every time out... and not just on the ground (which would suggest increased ease of detectability over previous years), but also feeding in tree canopies. Was there a spruce budworm outbreak in the boreal forest last year? Scott Loss St. Paul ---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
