2013 and beyond

It's pretty simple: the most birds seen or heard from one's yard during 2013 will be the "winner". Want in? O.k....then do it despite that.

2013 promises to be a lot less mean but still a carbon-free birding competition, even if slightly less exciting than a MEGA x EPIC hybrid.

Thursday, September 24, 2009

15 warbler species, 6 woodpecker species = incredible morning

As I stepped out the door at 930am the first bird I saw was a Cape May Warbler in the spruce by the driveway. I knew it was going to be good especially from the number of warbler seets coming from the woods. Interestingly enough, nearly all of the warblers I saw during almost 2 and half hours were in one flock (numbering ~40 birds). Aside from that flock warbs were rather scarce. Sometimes you just have to get lucky and stumble on the concentration... Anyway here's the breakdown of the warb tally for the morning:
Tennessee Warbler 14
Orange-crowned Warbler 1 (FOS)
Northern Parula 1
Magnolia Warbler 5
Cape May Warbler 1
Black-throated Blue Warbler 1 (FOY)
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) 1 (juvenile plumage still) + 2
Black-throated Green Warbler 2
Palm Warbler 2 + 2 (FOS)
Bay-breasted Warbler 3
Blackpoll Warbler 10
Black-and-white Warbler 2
American Redstart 6 (2 adult male)
Ovenbird 1
Common Yellowthroat 1
warbler sp. 15

I also had six woodpecker species which I'm pretty certain is a first for my yard. The most unexpected was a young flyover Red-headed that was among the large numbers of flickers and jays that were moving over all morning. There was also a young YBSA in the woods being chased around by a Hairy Woodpecker.

Other migrants came in the form of SWTH, GCTH, a lingering WOTH, LEFL, RCKI, SCTA, LISP, and WTSP.
All told I observed 60 species in the yard this morning, the best of the fall thus far.
Edit: My birdbath attracted 2 YRWA, 2 PAWA, 2 BLPW, 1 FISP, and a RBGR this afternoon which is basically my first action at it all fall...

3 comments:

  1. Good lord, man! The conditions must have been great for this. Congrats. Now all the rest of us have to fight over are the scraps...

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  2. Yeah a real foggy morning and a lot of birds apparently pushed in overnight... Tack on a YTVI and PHVI in the late aft while I was out in the woods helping my Dad construct a tree fort for my sisters...

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  3. This AM it looked like a helluva warbler group was forming in the canopy- BLPW, BTNW, NAWA right off the bat, plus multiple unIDed. But the water feature orgy never occurred- a handful of birds (incredibly, not including a SINGLE TEWA!!) came in around 2:30, but only totalling 4-5 individuals. I guess you can't hit it out of the park every day.

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