Summer doldrums

Well I don't know about you guys, but things have been pretty slow in my yard the last 3 weeks. Probably the most interesting bird that I suspect is breeding in the conifer stand next door is a Red-breasted Nuthatch that comes into the peanut feeder every few days. I haven't confirmed two RBNU at once since late May, but even that date seems to indicate that they are summering in the area. For this far south in WI with so little coniferous habitat, that's a pretty good bird right now (SE WI has very different habitat makeup from SW MI). Other than that, an INBU has been singing his heart out in my woods now that the veg has thickened up. I also went out the other night to use some evening light and got this photo of a Tree Swallow near one of the many boxes I have up on the property. This is the third pair of TRES that have succesfully raised young this year. Surprising since Raccoons typically rob the nests (an EABL pairs first attempt was ended that way a couple weeks ago)

Surprises

Well, one of the surprises of the spring was my inabilty to pick up several year birds I considered likely or even "gimme". Among these were Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Wild Turkey, Rough-legged Hawk, Kestrel, Woodcock, and Brown Creeper, among others.

Well, another surprise was picking up one of these species TODAY- Brown Creeper (106). Must be a post-breeding dispersal from the nearby Rogue River corridor. Which makes me wonder if the Cerulean Warbler I found on territory 0.29 miles from my house in May has a chance of reaching my yard?

Premature Evacuation?

So let me get this straight... The guy who just HAPPENS to be holding on to the lead by the skin of his teeth has decided that the Warbler War is over. At a time when this is the scene at my water feature currently (105/109):

Seems to me somebody is afraid of letting the spring migration finish, no????

WARBLER WAR FINAL

I do officailly declare the Warbler War of spring 09 OVER.
Final Score:

Curtis: 38
Sean: 34
Caleb: 22
Dave: 3 (nice attempt at a comeback with your YWAR!)

Good fun, guys...let's do it again this fall. I'm gonna need to if I'm going to be motivated to get out for warblers this fall...I've got most of 'em covered for the year! Any date suggestions?

A.M. "peet-SAH" Delivery!

This A.M. I woke to the delightful "peet-SAH" call of an Acadian Flycatcher..."delivering" yard bird 105 and year bird 101. The premonition I had of the bird singing in my yard the previous evening helped for sure! ;)
Look out Caleb...I'm down, but NOT OUT!
Any day I should add Common Nighthawk (still a yard bird but I wasn't around last late spring and summer)...and maybe one of the other flycatchers...
And a hearty "welcome back" to Dave! Can't blame you for not birding your OH yard when the getting was so good in WI.

Still a few left...

Had fleeting looks at what appeared to have possibly been a Yellow-throated Warbler (!) in the thicket above the water feature. A bolt outside for a better look revealed nothing but silence in the now well-leafed out oaks. So, I resorted to the trusty iPod recording of a Black-capped Chickadee relentlessly mobbing a Northern Pygmy-Owl, interspersed with the song of an Eastern Screech-Owl to see if I could lure it down with the local chickadees. To my surprise, it worked, and the bird, while special, turned out to me a bit more mundane than my hopes for it had been:

It's not over yet

The spring migration, I mean (not the contest- that IS over!). To my surprise, I had a singing male Chestnut-sided Warbler in the yard (first male of this species ever for the yard). Didn't expect that... How's about a Mourning, Canada, or Connecticut Warbler or Yellow-bellied Flycatcher instead?