I did my almost annual "census" of New Michigan State Forest today. I drove 7 miles, including 2.2 miles on North Road, 2.5 miles on CCC Truck Lane, 1 mile on Coy Street, and 1.3 miles on Fred Stewart Road from 845 am to 1230 pm.
Unfortunately, a swath of mostly spruce forest was leveled by an F2 tornado last spring. This is in addition to the F3 that struck this forest in 1998. Fortunately there still is a lot of spruce woods left and the warbler numbers were very good compared to previous years. One highlight was a "singing": RED CROSSBILL. The bird was singing or calling exactly like the type 3 flight song from the audio section of BNA online. But he was buried in the deep spruces and I could not see him. Some notable counts were 13 singing MOURNING WARBLERS!! This is the most I have ever had in this forest. Also I counted 21 WHITE-THROATED SPARROWS many in this newly leveled tornado damaged forest area. Additionally, I counted an amazing 52 singing BLACKBURNIAN WARBLERS, and 44 singing MAGNOLIA WARBLERS. I also had 76 singing OVENBIRDS and 43 singing RED-EYED VIREOS. I also got some great looks at most of the above species. I have noticed some changes in the thrush specie numbers... SWAINSON'S THRUSH made a poor showing with only 3 singing males and 1 seen. That is the lowest I have had.One year I had 11 singing males. HERMIT THRUSHES were fairly common at 14 singing males. The biggest surprise to me was 14 singing WOOD THRUSHES. This is the most I have ever had here. There was one year I had none, and last time only a couple. VEERIES also were more plentiful. Interesting about this more high elevation place was no tufted titmice at all! My ebird list is below. All numbers are exact counts to the best of my ability.... New Michigan State Forest, Chenango, US-NY Jun 7, 2012 8:45 AM - 12:30 PM Protocol: Traveling 7.0 mile(s) Comments: 2.2 miles on North Road, 2.5 miles on CCC Truck Lane, 1 mile on Coy Street, 1.3 miles on Fred Stewart road. 57 species Turkey Vulture (Cathartes aura) 1 Broad-winged Hawk (Buteo platypterus) 2 Mourning Dove (Zenaida macroura) 2 Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (Sphyrapicus varius) 10 Downy Woodpecker (Eastern) (Picoides pubescens pubescens/medianus) 1 Hairy Woodpecker (Eastern) (Picoides villosus [villosus Group]) 4 Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted) (Colaptes auratus [auratus Group]) 1 Eastern Wood-Pewee (Contopus virens) 5 Alder Flycatcher (Empidonax alnorum) 1 Eastern Phoebe (Sayornis phoebe) 2 Great Crested Flycatcher (Myiarchus crinitus) 2 Eastern Kingbird (Tyrannus tyrannus) 1 Blue-headed Vireo (Vireo solitarius) 12 Red-eyed Vireo (Vireo olivaceus) 43 Blue Jay (Cyanocitta cristata) 11 American Crow (Corvus brachyrhynchos) 15 Common Raven (Corvus corax) 8 Tree Swallow (Tachycineta bicolor) 1 Black-capped Chickadee (Poecile atricapillus) 22 Red-breasted Nuthatch (Sitta canadensis) 6 White-breasted Nuthatch (Eastern) (Sitta carolinensis carolinensis) 2 Brown Creeper (Certhia americana) 13 House Wren (Troglodytes aedon) 2 Winter Wren (Troglodytes hiemalis) 3 Golden-crowned Kinglet (Regulus satrapa) 27 Veery (Catharus fuscescens) 9 Swainson's Thrush (Catharus ustulatus) 4 Hermit Thrush (Catharus guttatus) 14 Wood Thrush (Hylocichla mustelina) 14 American Robin (Turdus migratorius) 13 Gray Catbird (Dumetella carolinensis) 2 Cedar Waxwing (Bombycilla cedrorum) 10 Ovenbird (Seiurus aurocapilla) 76 Mourning Warbler (Geothlypis philadelphia) 13 Common Yellowthroat (Geothlypis trichas) 17 American Redstart (Setophaga ruticilla) 1 Magnolia Warbler (Setophaga magnolia) 44 Blackburnian Warbler (Setophaga fusca) 52 Yellow Warbler (Setophaga petechia) 6 Chestnut-sided Warbler (Setophaga pensylvanica) 27 Black-throated Blue Warbler (Setophaga caerulescens) 7 Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) (Setophaga coronata coronata) 8 Black-throated Green Warbler (Setophaga virens) 7 Canada Warbler (Cardellina canadensis) 6 Eastern Towhee (Pipilo erythrophthalmus) 8 Chipping Sparrow (Spizella passerina) 3 Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodia) 4 White-throated Sparrow (Zonotrichia albicollis) 21 Dark-eyed Junco (Slate-colored) (Junco hyemalis hyemalis/carolinensis) 35 Scarlet Tanager (Piranga olivacea) 1 Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis) 1 Rose-breasted Grosbeak (Pheucticus ludovicianus) 3 Indigo Bunting (Passerina cyanea) 1 Brown-headed Cowbird (Molothrus ater) 3 Purple Finch (Eastern) (Carpodacus purpureus purpureus) 4 Red Crossbill (Loxia curvirostra) 1 heard singing. it sounded just like the type 3 flight call. American Goldfinch (Spinus tristis) 3 This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (http://ebird.org) Dave Nicosia Johnson City, NY -- 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/ --
