I birded the Hawthorn Orchard area this morning from about 7:45am to 8:30am. It was another quiet morning there. Only one likely migratory individual, a female Black-throated Blue Warbler. As evidenced by the foraging behavior of this individual, the food resources in the Hawthorn Orchard are pretty much depleted at this point. I'll keep monitoring the area for a little bit longer into this spring, because it is still a good resting location for migrants.
Also, a Gray Catbird in the ravine area just North of the NE corner of the Hawthorn Orchard was producing some interesting vocalizations. These sounds initially had me wondering if there was a hoarse-sounding Mourning Warbler in that spot. This catbird was repeatedly giving a very rough "churry-churry-chorry-chorry" vocalization, interspersed with some normal catbird squeaks and other sounds. Kind of makes me wonder if a Mourning Warbler was there yesterday and I missed it by not going... Below is the checklist I submitted to eBird: Hawthorn Orchard, Tompkins, US-NY May 18, 2012 7:45 AM - 8:30 AM Protocol: Traveling 0.5 mile(s) Comments: Very quiet here. Food resources likely depleted. 34 species Killdeer 2 Ring-billed Gull 1 Flyover. Immature. Mourning Dove X Downy Woodpecker X Great Crested Flycatcher 1 Warbling Vireo 2 pair building nest Red-eyed Vireo 1 Blue Jay X American Crow X Tree Swallow X Barn Swallow X Black-capped Chickadee X Tufted Titmouse X House Wren X Wood Thrush 0 American Robin X Gray Catbird X European Starling X Cedar Waxwing X Common Yellowthroat 4 American Redstart 2 One singing from North ravine, one female in Hawthorn Orchard middle Northern area. Yellow Warbler 2 Black-throated Blue Warbler 1 This female was silently attempting to forage for food in buckthorns and hawthorns in area of large oak tree at NW corner. Despite observing her forage for several minutes, actively looking and plucking through leaves, she was not seen consuming anything; but she was visibly actively looking. Chipping Sparrow 1 Song Sparrow X Northern Cardinal X Red-winged Blackbird X Eastern Meadowlark 1 Common Grackle X Brown-headed Cowbird X Baltimore Oriole 0 House Finch 2 American Goldfinch X House Sparrow X This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (http://ebird.org) Good birding! Sincerely, Chris T-H -- Christopher T. Tessaglia-Hymes TARU Product Line Manager and Field Applications Engineer Bioacoustics Research Program, Cornell Lab of Ornithology 159 Sapsucker Woods Road, Ithaca, New York 14850 W: 607-254-2418 M: 607-351-5740 F: 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/ --
