Waterthrush with a southern accent

Yeah that's right, I heard it singing along the edge of the downfall logs by the wetland and didn't trust my ears, then walked around and visually confirmed the little sucker. Lots of MYWA here this morning but had to work for even YWAR and COYE. That's alright though, quality, not quantity!

SAVS and YWAR

Finally nailed a nocturnal SAVS by ear and microphone last night- not sure what took so long (90/131), then YWAR this morning. Had WAVI yesterday and am hoping for more migrants today...

A few more...

Yesterday I added Scarlet Tanager (59), Indigo Bunting (60) and Baltimore Oriole (61). Today I added Blue-headed Vireo(62). Only 38 behind 2nd place! Sheesh.
Should be some more to add tomorrow if I get myself out of bed to bird before going to work from 8am (tues) till 12:30 am (wed). Ugh!

#100

Yo, Black-crowned Night-Heron and Orange-crowned Warbler provided # 99 & 100 for the year.

Note my all time yardlist is now 104 -- looking forward to when life and year converge.....

Nice 3-way tie for the silver.

GRCA, NOPA, and AMPI

Only was able to snag three yearbirds this morning, but the parula was life yardbird #110 and the pipit was yearbird #100! Now off to spend the rest of the day in more attractive habitat...

Yard Stuff

GCFL, SCTA, NOPA. Plus a lot of stuff like a truck load of YWAR, GRCA, and COYE. The BARS are back in the barn. Good times.

Sora story and the one that got away.....

Last night was spent around a campfire playing music around a campfire in Bark River. Over the course of the night a few sips were apparent overhead. A little before two I told my buddy about the yardbird competition and focused on the obsession that is Caleb. I explained the nocturnal mics and the rules for counting birds ending on Silly's story about the Black Oak Sora. I kid you not -- 30 seconds after I finished telling the tail I heard a SORA overhead give a 2-note flight call. I was blown away -- and when Chris said she heard it too I got suspicious. I made her hand over her iPhone to prove she didn't play the call. It was legit, and one of the spookiest things that has ever happened to me. The house is in an old neighborhood, with no wetlands nearby, 10-15 miles inland.

This morning the were 1000 plus Bonaparte's Gulls sitting on the offshore sandbar in perfect light. Probably should have stayed put but a run out to Portage Point produced 3 Little Gulls that would have been visible from the platform....oh well.

nice to have may.

Fitzy moving up

Wow, Sean, very impressed with the 17 yardbirds in a day! You're damn near taking the lead outright. Latitude and lack of lake effect continue to set me back compared to Chewy and Fitzy, but I do think that with time my habitat should give me an advantage over Sean.

Today I had several new ones: Mute Swan (tough for anybody else but Kaps and Rick, I'd bet), GREATER YELLOWLEGS (silent flyby right after the passing of a front system when a lot of birds took flight), White-crowned Sparrow, 2 Black-throated Greens, Ovenbird, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, and 2 Green Herons which flew by in the morning.

Skye- I still find it crazy what a huge proportion of your yearbirds are also yard lifers! A sign of past (lack of) effort, perhaps. Here's hoping for another large flight tonight...

More T-storms = more birds

New for this morning were singing TEWA, RBGR, HOWR, calling SWTH, and a flyover MAWA. Then as I'm typing this a NAWA piped up from across the parking lot. The NAWA was life yardbird #109, taking me to a tie with Curtis.

Dendroicstra strikes!

After a day on the Galien River with Caleb counting Yellow-throated Warblers (et.al.) I came home, cleaned up the kayak and took a quick stroll in the yard at about 5pm...and it PRODUCED! I only wonder what I would have gotten if I had birded it at 7am!

Palm Warbler - 1
Tennessee Warbler - 1
Nashville Warbler - 2
Ovenbird - 1
Yellow-rumped Warbler - 1
Yellow Warbler - 1

On our separate trips down the Galien today our cumulative warbler tally was 16....migration is in FULL SWING and I'm LOVING IT!
OVEN, BWWA, COYE, YTWA, BAWW, TEWA, NAWA, LOWA, YRWA, BTNW, NOPA, YWAR, PROW, BLBW, NOWA, BTBW.
Oh, and it's ironic what's missing from the list: Cerulean Warbler - no biggie, had it yesterday! ;)

the Haas Tract: Michigan's new Hawk IBA???

howdy all,

it is ON! there is a crazy good hawk flight over Marquette today. I have had easily 700+ BWHA's so far, and also have had NOGO, PEFA, AMKE, RLHA, BAEA, RTHA, (2 GOEA flying together!) and best of all, an adult light-morph SWAINSON'S HAWK!!!

This is only the second county record, the last being in 1977! Rough-winged Swallow, Brown Thrasher, House Wren, Lincoln's & White-crowned Sparrows are all new for the yard as well.

back to the yard! more here later!

~TOR

Oh M(a)y!

Walked out this morning, and was greeted by the call notes of a young male Orchard Oriole in the top of a Cottonwood. It quickly moved on, but I knew it was going to be good when that was my first bird! Passerines were not super thick, but the song diversity was music for my ears. Year pickups included: Great Egret, Spotted Sandpiper, and White-crowned Sparrow. Pretty much every other year addition also doubled as life yardbirds: Warbling Vireo, Common Yellowthroat, Green Heron, Bobolink (singing male as it flew over), Eastern Kingbird (also a flyover), Baltimore Oriole, and a lone Lesser Yellowlegs among 33 solitary sands (!!) on the mudflats below the beaver dam. The only other warb aside from the COYE was a singing palm warbler outside my apartment. Can't wait for what the next few weeks have in store! Curtis, your life yardlist is about to fall!