Time for a Chat 5/10/22

 

    A Yellow-breasted Chat found its way into my yard this morning and set off a daylong game of hide and seek.  Brian Brosky and I first spied the bird at 10:41 am, and while the last sighting was over 8 hours later the total time that the bird was visible could have been less than a minute.  At one point it was not seen for four hours only to be relocated in the exact location it had been last seen.

  This is only the second time a Yellow-breasted Chat has been seen in Mason County.  The previous sighting by Ethel Getgood occurred on May 18, 1974. Of course this represents a new species for the yard list, number 184.  It is also the 140th species that I've seen here this year and the 100th this month.

Other birds of interest since the last post....

Black-throated Blue Warbler

Forster's Tern 

Blue-headed Vireo

Nashville Warbler

Orchard Oriole

Indigo Bunting

Baltimore Oriole

Rose-breasted Grosbeak

The Coveted Catbird's Seat 5/13/2021

 

  I never knew that Catbirds take the term Catbird's Seat seriously.

2021 North American Migration Count 5/8/2021

 

   I conducted the Riverton Township portion of the Mason County Spring Migration Count with the help of my neighbor down the road Dee Payment.  We found the Blue-winged Warbler on its breeding ground on Conrad Rd.

  Some Ring-necked Ducks on North Oxbow Lake

 Later I found a late rough-legged Hawk east of Brye Rd.

  The previous day's new yard bird Clay-colored Sparrow, stuck around to be counted.

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

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. 

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. 

Spring Migration Peaking. 5/16/2020

Yellow-throated Vireo (#107)

   The southeast winds overnight brought a great variety of migrating birds to my yard.  I ended up with 60 species for the day which included 8 that were new to the yard list. 

Philadelphia Vireo (#108)

Magnolia Warbler (#109)

Chestnut-sided Warbler (#110)

Pine Warbler (#111)

Veery (#112)

Least Flycatcher (#113) - National bird of Chebekistan

  The only new bird that I wasn't able to photograph was a male Scarlet Tanager that flew over while the camera wasn't handy. Regardless the yard list is up to 114.  

 Other birds of interest in the yard this morning.....

Common Yellowthroat

Black and White Warbler

Baltimore Oriole

The Orioles have gone through 8 lbs of oranges in 3 days, seen here at the grape jelly bowl

  Earlier in the week the Blackpoll Warbler below became the 100th species on the yard list

Multiple Catbirds are being seen daily

Merlin

Indigo Bunting