Harris's Sparrow at Ludington State Park 10/4/2020

 

  Late this morning Suzie Knoll found a Harris's Sparrow at Ludington State Park.  The bird was with a fixed flock of White-throated, White-crowned Sparrows, along with a few Dark-eyed Juncos.

End of September Wrap Up

 For the past six days I've had at least six woodpecker species in my yard each day.  On five of those days no Pileateds were seen, but on Sunday one flew by and gave me seven woodpecker species for the day.

Adult Red-headed Woodpecker earlier this month

Flicker

   On Friday the first Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers of the fall showed up

Red-bellied Woodpecker and immature Red-headed Woodpecker

Downy Woodpecker

Hairy Woodpecker

   When a Blue Jay started scooping up ten peanuts at a time, a Red-bellied took a stand.

   As September came to a close I still had one Ruby-throated Hummingbird but earlier in the month a lot of energy was wasted as multiple hummingbirds spent more time fighting than feeding.

Warblers and More 9/14/2020

 

  Favorable conditions overnight brought a few migrating birds to the yard on Monday.  I had 7 species of warblers. I was able to get photos of the Magnolia above, along with

Yellow Warbler

WIlson's Warbler

And Blackpoll Warbler.  

  Other warblers that I saw but couldn't get photos of were Ovenbird, American Redstart and Black and White. 

   Lincoln's Sparrows also showed up today.

    Lingering summer residents included 

    Brown Thrasher

     Red-eyed Vireo

 Among raptors a few Broadwings passed over in the mid-afternoon. 

  Also saw a couple Merlins.

    At one point a Merlin took aim at a Broadwing that violated its airspace. 

It's Broadwing Season 9/13/2020

 

  Friday I had a front row seat for a respectable flight of Broad-winged Hawks passing over my yard.  In just under 3 hours I counted 227 Broadwings. 

  I also counted 24 Red-tails.

  Lately Ruby-throated Hummingbirds have fueling up on the sugar water from the feeders that I have provided.  There had been more sparring than feeding as a fierce competition developed over the rightful ownership of the three feeders that I had in the backyard.  But by moving two other feeders from the front yard to the back, tensions lessened to the point where five could feed together in fragile harmony. 

   Other birds of interest so far this month.....

                                           Purple Finch

                                            Baltimore Oriole

                                           Scarlet Tanager

   There have been a few species of warblers (Magnolia, American Redstart and Black-throated Green) also but I have yet to get any blogworthy photos of them. 

Unofficial, Unsanctioned, Unqualified Hawk Watcher 8/14/2020

     A year ago yesterday Matt McConnell noticed a movement of Red-tailed Hawks passing over the city of Ludington.  The next day I drove up to vantage point at my work and saw 50 more migrate by in an hour. 

  Since then I have moved from a house in the woods to a lake house with a great expanse of sky.  I have been looking forward to the late summer raptor migration since the day we moved in. I spent a little while in the yard yesterday afternoon but only saw 1 Red-tailed, along with a Merlin and an American Kestrel (which was a new yardbird #137).  

   Today was a different story as I saw 138 migrating raptors.   I initally thought all the distant buteos were Red-tails but later when I reviewed the photos I noticed some were Broad-wingeds which were also new to the yardlist.

Redtail and Broadwing

                                               Red-tail and Immature Bald Eagle

Two Upper birds are Broadwings the lowest one is a Redtail.

   Seems whenever two Bald Eagles ride the same thermal one will have to remind the other to social distance.

   An Osprey was also an unexpected surprise. 

 

   Here are some photos from the last couple of days.

The Bluebirds are wreaking havoc on the local butterflies and moths....

They only laid two eggs in their new nestbox, after their first nesting effort was cut short when a storm blew down their previous box in June.  Only one egg has hatched.

Eagle with its lunch.

Yesterday's new yardbird.  American Kestrel

   What appears to be a monstrous Walking Stick......

......looks less formidable when placed on a more natural setting. 

Orchard Orioles Return 5/26/2020

      Orchard Orioles stopped by yesterday, nearly two weeks since the previous visit for a couple of days early in the month.  This time it was a pair of males, one adult and one immature.

  The Baltimore Oriole activity has slowed over the past couple of weeks, with only 3 or 4 per day versus the 10 to 20 that had been destroying the oranges that I provided.

  I've been witnessing an apparent dispute among the Eastern Bluebird pair that have been hanging around my yard.  The male seems thrilled with the nestbox that I provided. He keeps going in and out then flying back to the female perched nearby.  The female on the otherhand will only go as far as landing on the box for a few moments before flying away.  I've yet to see her enter.