Weekend Recap 8/27/2019

   Mid-day Saturday I took a ride around the reservoir at my work and found 12 Bald Eagles possibly staging for fall migration.

    Also gathering were about 50 Turkey Vultures that seem to move in closer and closer as I get older and older.

    The bucks that reside within the restricted-access reservoir are about done growing their antlers and will be losing their velvet in the coming weeks.  A nice crop of racks were grown this year. 

Starting with this modest young 6-point.

 There are a quite a few 8+ pointers this year.

Those two little nubs above the eyes probably won't develop enough.

    The king of the reservoir is probably this impressive 10-point.

  Back at home, this molting female Ruby-throat has been fueling up for her September migration.

First Fall Warblers 8/23/2019

     
    With hawk migration having commenced a couple of weeks ago, it was inevitable that the fall warblers would be arriving soon.  Today as a Black-throated Green Warbler was dodging my camera by ducking behind leaves a Canada Warbler popped up momentarily and allowed me to get a decent photo.

 Here is a photo of a Broad-winged Hawk from a couple of weeks ago

Early Hawk Migration 8/14/2019

     Yesterday afternoon after a pre-work nap , I checked my phone and found an eye-opening voicemail from Dave Dister, telling of a significant Red-tailed Hawk migration witnessed by Matt McConnell.  Matt had been working outside in a residential area of Ludington and noticed small groups of hawks flying over, starting in the late morning.  His informal running tally through the afternoon ended up being around 200.  Two hundred Redtails?  How long was I asleep?

    The hawk migration count that I'm most familiar with, is the one at Lake Erie Metropark conducted from September 1 to November 30.  On average (according to data from the years 1991-2008) at that premier migration location, their cumulative season total of Red-tails doesn't hit 200 until the last week in September.  So to have 200 in one day before the middle of August was absolutely unexpected, at least to me.
 
    Having woken up too late to catch any of the migration yesterday I was hoping it would continue along with the northerly winds forecast for today.  A few minutes after I got up today at 12:30pm I went out on the deck and immediately saw 4 Redtails passing over.  So I grabbed my camera headed to my place of employment, where I have access to an elevated roadway that is 150 feet above the surrounding terrain and 360 feet above nearby Lake Michigan. In the past, from that site I have noticed small groups of raptors migrating with a few of the birds passing at eye-level.

   You want eye-level?

How about below eye-level?

  Finally, among the Red-tails was a single immature Broad-winged Hawk.

  I ended up seeing 49 Red-tailed Hawks between 1 and 2 PM before a light rain halted the flight.

Indigovasion 5/20/2019

  It wasn't until the fourth year that I lived in this house that I saw an Indigo Bunting in my yard.  This spring a single bird arrived last Wednesday.  Since then they have been pouring in.

Female Indigo Bunting

While one male was on the platform feeder....

...four more were by the spruce tree.

  With the 5 males and 3 females that were seen today they are at risk of becoming the yard's nuisance bird.

 Goldfinches trying to re-establish their status as the yard's nuisance bird.

 

Baltimore Oriole

Blackburnian Warbler

Time to Catch Up

  There have been so much bird activity in my yard the past 3 days that I haven't had time to do a post.  Here are photos that I've taken since Thursday.

Philadelphia Vireo

I thought it was a fledgling Pine Siskin

Chestnut-sided Warbler

Friday I added two birds to the yardlist...

Eastern Kingbird #128

and Least Flycatcher #129

Other first of the year birds that arrived Friday

Red-eyed Vireo

and...

American Redstart

 Others that have been hanging around for the whole week....

Gray Catbird

Captain Morgan

   Today the lighting conditions were poorer but it didn't stop the parade of feathered visitors.

Second ever Field Sparrow visit.

Third ever Black-throated Warbler (first was last Friday)

White-crowned Sparrows finally showed up this week...

....as did an Indigo Bunting

Female Scarlet Tanager

Blackpoll Warbler

   The all-time yardlist is now at 129, the year list is at 100 and I've recorded 83 so far this month.

Gray-cheeked Thrush 5/15/2019

  Added a new bird to the yardlist this evening when a Gray-cheeked Thrush (#127) emerged from under a spruce tree and stepped into the sunlight.  It's the fourth bird that I've added to the list since Friday.

   This morning it was noticeable that a significant influx of birds arrived overnight.

Blue-headed Vireo

     First of the year visitors to the yard in addition to the Thrush included.......

Blackburnian Warbler

Black-throated Green Warbler

Indigo Bunting.