We’ve had a lot of wonderful avian visitors to our yard this spring. Dave set up a new feeding station since we suspect that our old one was knocked down by a bear and it’s been quite a hit. There are also now two bluebird boxes in the field so this year we have an Eastern Bluebird pair! Many of our yearly visitors have returned, including the Chipping Sparrows, Gray Catbird pair, American Robin pair, Rose-breasted Grosbeak pair, a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, a Broad-winged Hawk, and the Red-eyed Vireo. Our Northern Cardinal and Pileated Woodpecker pairs have also been making frequent appearances.
Gray Catbird (Image by Michelle Horowitz)Gray Catbird (Image by Michelle Horowitz)Pileated Woodpecker male (Image by David Horowitz)Pileated Woodpecker male (Image by David Horowitz)Yellow-bellied Sapsucker breeding male (Image by David Horowitz)Chipping Sparrow (Image by Michelle Horowitz)
What kind of birds have been visiting your yard/area this spring? Let me know in the comments!
This past Sunday was Mother’s Day. I had a lovely day with my mother and sister. The weather was lovely as well, so we decided to start our celebration with a walk at Amico Island. I heard from one of the internet birding groups that I’m in that there was a heavy migration Saturday night, so I was hopeful for some new migrants. We had a successful day with 28 species in a little over an hour.
Our first stop was the blue trail. Towards the beginning of the trail there were two people with cameras. They seemed very excited and they had a reason to be: Baltimore Orioles! There were both males and females present and they were whistling from high in the tree tops. We didn’t know where to look; they seemed to be everywhere!
It was really busy in the forest area on the way to the Great Blue Heron rookery. Birds we observed included: Yellow Warblers, Common Yellowthroats, Yellow-rumped Warblers, Carolina Chickadees, Brown-headed Cowbirds, a Carolina Wren, Blue-Gray Gnatcatchers, Grackles, Gray Catbirds, and American Robins to name a few. Below is my favorite picture I took of a Yellow Warbler so far. He looks perfect to me :-).
Male Yellow Warbler signing (Image by BirdNation)
Carolina Wren (Image by BirdNation)
One of my favorite parts of our trip was watching from the rookery observation area. There were some Great Blue Herons in the rookery, as well as some flying around. We also watched a Red-Tailed Hawk soaring and many Tree Swallows. Before leaving I peeked through some branches and spotted a Great Egret (my first of season) and a Great Blue Heron standing side by side.
Great Egret and Great Blue Heron (Image by BirdNation)
Another Great Blue Heron decided he wanted to join the party too while the egret preened.
Then there were three…(Image by BirdNation)
The Egret wasn’t too thrilled about being stuck between two Great Blue Herons, so he decided he was going to be the leader of the line.
There he goes! (Image by BirdNation)
Egret leads the line (Image by BirdNation)
They were amusing to watch as they relaxed and preened. We continued towards the beach area on the yellow trail.
Red-tailed Hawk in flight (Image by BirdNation)
In the wintertime the beach area on the Delaware River section of the island is usually packed with waterfowl and gulls. This wasn’t the case on Sunday, but we did see some Mallards and Canada Geese. An Osprey flew overhead and was even mobbed by a little bird at one point.
We really enjoyed walking at Amico on Sunday. I hope everyone that celebrates Mother’s Day had a great weekend with their families!
Friends, I’m so excited! One of my absolute favorite birds is back! I saw one of my balcony this morning and all throughout my walk at Boundary Creek tonight. I’ve been waiting so long for this.
Gray Catbird being awesome! (Image by BirdNation)
The Gray Catbird! I love Gray Catbirds. These little guys definitely have personality. First of all: they are super cute. I like their little black caps and their rusty rumps. Secondly, I love hearing their cat-like “meeeh!” calls coming from the bushes as I hike. They are also awesome because they are in the mimic family and their songs are a jumble of all sorts of interesting sounds. I am ecstatic that they are back and will definitely write a post about how great they are soon (so look out for that!).
We had a few “firsts” today. It was the first day in a whole week that it didn’t rain, so we walked at Boundary Creek. One of our “first of season” birds was the Baltimore Oriole. We spotted a male in a tree singing a song. Later in the walk we saw a male and female together. Last year we found a Baltimore Oriole nest at Boundary so I wonder if that nest will be used again this season or not.
Male Baltimore Oriole (Image by BirdNation)
We also have a new lifer for our list: the Field Sparrow. There were two looking for food on the side of the path. I originally thought that it could have been a Chipping Sparrow. However, Chipping Sparrow’s rufous cap is brighter and it has a dark eye stripe as opposed to the Field Sparrow’s lighter eye stripe. It’s always exciting to add a new bird to your life list.
Field Sparrow (Image by BirdNation)
Other birds we saw included American Robins, Carolina Chickadees, Canada Geese, European Starlings, Tree Swallows, American Crows, Song Sparrows, and Red-winged Blackbirds. We also saw a lot of cute rabbits.
Female Red-winged Blackbird (Image by BirdNation)Tree Swallow checking out the real estate (Image by BirdNation)Adorable baby rabbit (Image by BirdNation)
Tomorrow is Mother’s Day. My mom, sister and I will be celebrating by going to Amico Island. We are hoping to see some more warblers so I’ll let you know what we see.
Also, exciting news! I will be going to my favorite place later this week for part of my vacation: the Cornell Lab of Ornithology! I will tell you more about this soon!
BirdNation 