May is Migration Month

   May is off to a spectacular start in terms of bird migration.  On Saturday May 1, my first Rose-breasted Grosbeak of the year arrived in my yard.

  Then around noon what appears to be a Lesser Black-backed Gull cruised by, along the edge of my bluff. The gull would be 161st species on my yard list if ID is confirmed.  If you have any opinions on it send me an email at the address near the bottom of the page.

   A Yellow-bellied Sapsucker was the 6th woodpecker species that I saw that day, I only missed Pileated when it comes to 7 possible woodpecker species in the LP of Michigan.

   As good as Saturday was, it was just the undercard to Sunday's main event.  The Birdcast Map below shows that Doppler Radar sites across the lower 48 detected at least half a billion birds in flight during each 10 minute interval between 11:25 pm Saturday until 2:45 am Sunday morning.

 The wave of birds brought the first Baltimore Orioles of the year as well as 10 other species.  As it goes with Orioles a dispute over the feeders quickly developed.

  And a clear underdog was soon revealed.

  I added two more to the yardlist a Blue-winged Warbler which I was unable to photograph and a marginally more cooperative Northern Waterthrush.  The Waterthrush momentarily entered a less obstructed hole in the brush and allowed me to get a few manually focused shots.

 Other warblers to arrive on Sunday were

.... Yellow

....Black and White

...Nashville.  

   Which is the 100 species that I've this year in my yard this year and coincidentally was the 100 species last year, although that didn't occur until May 10th. 

 The first Ruby-throated Hummingbirds also arrived....

.....as did the Indigo Buntings.

 

  Other first of the year birds arriving Sunday but not pictured were House Wren, Common Yellowthroat, Gray Catbird and Chimney Swift

    Although today started dingy and gray and only got worse when an all-day drizzle developed I had two more 2021 arrivals in the yard, Eastern Kingbird and..

....Great Egrets

Summer Tanager 5/19/2020

     I was delayed in finding a voicemail from my doctor because my phone had been on the charger. It was not a typical message from a health care provider, rather he had a Summer Tanager visiting his feeders.  But by the time I found the voicemail and drove to the location, the evening overcast light was fading and I had missed the bird by about 10 minutes.  Luckily the bird stayed overnight and I was able to get some photos this morning. 

  I've added 4 new birds to the yard list since the last post and was able to get photos of each one.

Eastern Kingbird (#115)

Cape May Warbler (#116)

Black-throated Blue Warbler (#117)

Yellow Warbler (#118)

Lake Erie Metropark North American Migration Count 5/10/2014

   Scoured every corner of Lake Erie Metropark and counted every bird. Ended up with an even 70 species haven't totaled the individual numbers yet.   Here are some photos presented in the order in which they were taken.  

  At this point I changed locations in the park and swapped lenses on the camera.  The quality of the photos improved with the 500mm lens.

Erie Birds, featuring Worm-eating Warbler

Here are some birds seen the past two days at the Whiting Plant in Erie.  Don't have time to elaborate.  Except that the Worm-eating Warbler was about 100 yds north of the path that starts at the end of Erie Rd. Not on public property but nonetheless in the area.

Worm-eating Warbler?