Hi all, I was primarily interested in Northern Bluets on Hill View road near former Tompkins county dump and Yellow-bellied Sapsucker in Michigan Hollow Wildlife Management area. I made an afternoon trip from 3 to 7 PM.
At the dump area it was very windy and only few residents like Tree Swallows (that nest in natural tree cavity), Swamp Sparrow and Red-winged Blackbirds were seen. And no sign of other residents of that patch such as Prairie Warblers, Kingbirds, rails, Willow Flycatcher and Green Herons. I hope only it was the wind that kept them quiet. I did not see any Northern Bluets either. Here I realized that I had left my binoculars back at home as in the morning I had given it to a colleague of mine she walked with it into the house after our morning birding trip instead of leaving it in my car as I usually do. >From there I headed to Michigan Hollow Road and was skeptic as to what I will >see in the poor light of a cloudy dark day without the binoculars. To my >surprise I saw lots and lots of birds, all very close and easily visible. >Leaves on the trees are still coming out and trees were partly bare. I saw >most of the warblers I have listed below, a few were only heard. Even in poor >light I could see all the colors as they were so close. Blue-winged Warbler- I pulled in as I saw a bird on a tree close to road, and there it was a beautiful Blue-winged Warbler chipping as I stopped. Later he sang out in an open spot. I heard another one further down a kilometer along the road. American Redstart - Must have seen at least 15 of them, both males and females, while the males were getting my attention by their songs and chip notes, females merrily collected nesting material a few feet next to me. One was flying about 30 ft high with the material. Several males clashed and ran back and forth the road boundary. Black-throated Blue - Two heard only Mourning Warbler - one Heard only Hooded warbler - Two chasing each other and singing on their territory too. Had good look at one to see the hood Black and white - Singing only Black-throated Green - Several, one foraging some fifteen feet from where I was standing in newly leafing Ash, unfortunately my camera was not in my hand, but had a recorder. would have given fabulous photos. Murphy's rule prevails "when you don't have camera birds come close to you"! Chestnut-sided - Many, two males chased each other and one landed close to me and allowed to take some video of him. Even in fading light I could see his lemon Yellow-head and chestnut sides. Blackburnian Warbler - Silently foraged some twenty feet above me in a newly leafing ash tree. I tried to take video but he was most of the time behind a branch (I don't know if purposely or by chance), but from that distance also his bright orangish-red throat was clearly visible. Yellow-rumped - At least two singing in the pines Ovenbird - Many heard, one foraged only a few feet from car on the ground in the ditch, and I could hear it scratching the leaves. Common Yellowthroat - Several Yellow Warbler - Several. Two guys chasing each other at Arthur's seat parking lot. Awesome 13 species of warblers (missed the Prairie and the Pine, if I had climbed Arthur's seat probably I would have heard Worm-eating too) Rose-breasted Grosbeak - At least 15 were seen including some females. One male was alternately singing softly only part of the song in an ash while collecting insects and also singing alternately full song. After few minutes he landed on another tree where there was a female sitting. He fed her the insects he had collected and then briefly mated. After mating the female immediately landed on the lower bushes in front of me. Several males chased each other at different locations. Indigo Bunting -One Silent male flying across Scarlet tanagers - Saw three males and heard many more singing Baltimore Orioles - Two both singing different songs and one sounded almost like Orchard oriole Red-eyed Vireos _ I think I saw them in highest numbers! May be twenty + Many males were squabbling with each other close to me in the trees. I have never seen (heard yes) so many in one day! Yellow-throated Vireo - One Blue-headed Vireo - At least three heard Broad-winged hawk _ One calling loudly from a valley, that sent both Black-throated Green and American Robins into panic mode Great-crested Flycatcher - One heard Eastern Phoebe - Two Least Flycatcher - two heard only Hermit Thrush -Singing Wood-thrush - Singing Veery - Giving alarm calls, seen close to car and finally not to be out done by warblers tanagers A Ruby-throated Humming bird sported it self on top of dead branch and did several foray to feed on nearby flowers and come back to the same spot like dragonflies! And many common birds like woodpeckers, sapsucker (only heard drumming), chickadees etc. Over all it was amazing to bird without binoculars, which I have done after several decades and felt good to know that I still see them quite well. And you always don't need to use binoculars if you have patience they come to you. Also all these birds are breeders here and it seemed that the birds were till in the process of establishing their territories. Last week-end I watched two Common Yellowthroats vying for a piece of territory. It looked like there was one well established male and was being pissed of by an intruder. So they chased each other round and round, I counted at least twenty two rounds and they were doing this even before I arrived. After chasing the intruder away the resident male would sit and sing. The intruder will suddenly sneak in and then the chase would pursue. They flew low through thickets. I was definitely annoyed by the intruder's behavior, so I am sure the resident was also annoyed. That is fun of spring! Cheers Meena . Meena Haribal Ithaca NY 14850 http://haribal.org/ http://meenaharibal.blogspot.com/ -- 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/ --
