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Posts Tagged ‘magnolia warbler’
Thursday, May 20th, 2010
 Lady's slipper. The day dawned sunny. We hit the Beech Hill trail early, and in a hurry, on account of I had a bird walk to lead for the Georges River Land Trust at 9 a.m. at the Thorndike Brook access point of the Georges Highland Trail.
 Magnolia warbler. We walked kind of fast at first, with many species calling after yesterday’s rain. Heading left toward the upper trail, I heard and saw a little bevy of small insectivores up in the trees. Chestnut-sideds were singing, and a black-and-white, a red-eyed vireo, a black-and-white warbler—and a song I didn’t recognize. It took a while to spot the singing magnolia warbler responsible for the sound. Maybe I can remember it for next time.
A white-throated sparrow, a drumming grouse—raven, thrush, and dove. At one point, Jack paused and looked around, and his hackles rose high. I looked around also but saw nothing. Had he caught the scent of something? Did he see a moose? I could’ve asked him, but he would’ve refused to answer.
I listed twenty-five species on our quick trip up and down. Within an hour, I was headed up Route 17 to the Thorndike Brook access point of the Georges Highland Trail.
 Red-eyed vireo. A good group showed up, from quite young to well-seasoned. Perhaps the most knowledgeable birder there besides me and Douglas (who also came) was an impressively well-versed boy of ten or twelve, who knew calls, spotted hard-to-spot birds, and actually taught me a thing or two. At one point I heard a sweet, musical song I didn’t recognize, the group looked off in that direction, and the kid said, “I see a brown creeper.”
Sure enough, that’s what was making the call.
We heard and/or saw vireos and thrushes and warblers—including blackburnian warblers in the same two spots Douglas and I encountered them Monday. But the most exciting moment for by far was when I heard the plaintive woodland call of an eastern wood-pewee, a first-of-year bird. I simply love the little nondescript flycatcher’s mood-inducing song.
The temperature climbed into the 70s (F). Mosquitoes were out. Dragonflies were testing their wings. In twilight—which seemed to linger—a group of wispy pink clouds hung in a southern sky the color of a luminous ocean. Or something like that. I truly lovely sky.
 Common yellowthroat. Beech Hill List
At 6:15 a.m., I walked the wooded trails.
1. Common yellowthroat
2. American crow (voice)
3. Ovenbird (voice)
4. Chestnut-sided warbler
5. Yellow warbler (voice)
6. American goldfinch (voice)
7. American robin
8. Veery (voice)
9. Red-eyed vireo
10. Black-and-white warbler (voice)
11. American redstart (voice)
12. Blue jay (voice)
13. Magnolia warbler
14. Eastern towhee
15. White-throated sparrow (voice)
16. Ruffed grouse (drumming)
17. Gray catbird
18. Black-capped chickadee
19. Mourning dove
21. Common raven
22. Nashville warbler (voice)
23. Song sparrow (voice)
24. Tufted titmouse (voice)
25. Hermit thrush (voice)
26. Wood thrush (voice)
Georges Highland Path List
At 9 a.m., I walked via the Thorndike Brook access point.
Tufted titmouse (voice)
Common yellowthroat (voice)
Chestnut-sided warbler
American crow (voice)
27. Bald eagle
American goldfinch
Ovenbird (voice)
Blue jay (voice)
Black-capped chickadee
28. Cedar waxwing (voice)
Eastern towhee
Black-and-white warbler
29. Black-throated green warbler (voice)
Song sparrow (voice)
30. Great blue heron
Red-eyed vireo
American redstart (voice)
Nashville warbler (voice)
31. Black-throated blue warbler (voice)
32. Brown creeper
American robin
33. Tree swallow
Hermit thrush (voice)
Wood thrush (voice)
Common raven
34. Eastern wood-pewee
35. Blackburnian warbler
36. Turkey vulture
37. Dark-eyed junco
Elsewhere
38. House sparrow
39. Herring gull
40. Northern cardinal
41. European starling
42. Rock pigeon
Tags: American crow, American goldfinch, American redstart, American robin, bald eagle, black-and-white warbler, black-capped chickadee, black-throated blue warbler, black-throated green warbler, blackburnian warbler, blue jay, brown creeper, Cedar waxwing, chestnut-sided warbler, common raven, common yellowthroat, dark-eyed junco, eastern towhee, eastern wood-pewee, European starling, gray catbird, hermit thrush, herring gull, house sparrow, magnolia warbler, mourning dove, Nashville warbler, northern cardinal, ovenbird, red-eyed vireo, rock pigeon, ruffed grouse, song sparrow, tree swallow, tufted titmouse, turkey vulture, veery, white-throated sparrow, wood thrush, yellow warbler
Posted in Lists, Observations | No Comments »
Thursday, May 13th, 2010
 Mourning dove. Still a little nippy out when dog and I headed to the hill, but at least the sun shone brightly and there wasn’t a lot of wind to speak of. Not a load of early birds, but I heard the songs of maybe a half dozen species within the first few minutes. Many of them warblers.
 Black-and-whitewarbler. Not much action, though, until we turned onto the upper wooded trail where the sun had warmed the crowns of a grove of aspen. The trees were crawling with warblers. I heard black-and-whites, black-throated greens, chestnut-sideds—they were flitting around in the upper branches, though, which made photographing them a challenge. I did manage to get a bead on one yellowish bird (black-throated green, I figured) and snapped off a shot. Nothing to write home about, surely.
The resident raven flew over, as it’s done with some regularity. I love listening to its croaks and growls. And I flushed a mourning dove, which didn’t fly too far. And many of the birds I heard today I actually even laid eyes on.
Didn’t count too many, though. I figure one group has gone silent on account of nesting; another group was hunkered down on account of the cold. No phoebe sat on the nest under the Beech Nut porch roof. I heard no prairie warbler. I saw no hawks or falcons or tree swallows. I did hear another great crested flycatcher, though, and a tanager. I also heard two species I didn’t recognize. Mysteries.
The first was singing along with a yellow warbler in a cluster of young trees down the open southern slope. I tried to memorize its voice: a tumble of notes dipping down, dipping down, then rising again at the end. It sang this song over and over, sounding like a warbler. I don’t know any warbler with that song, though. Later, I went online and listened to all wood-warbler voices—it sounded like an orange-crowned, sort of, but I’m unfamiliar with the species.
The second mysterious voice came from far down the northern wooded slope on our return to the parking lot. A regular, clear “dong dong dong dong.” Four notes. Always the same. The maddening thing is, I’d heard this call before—each of the past two years. And coming from the same vicinity. I went looking for the bird, couldn’t find it. It sounded like a warbler’s song, but I couldn’t ID it through research. Maddening.
And here it was again.
I didn’t count those two birds when I tallied up the day’s list. I think next time I’ll head off-trail and see what I can see.
When I downloaded my photos later today, I discovered that the yellowish warbler I’d taken pictures of wasn’t a black-throated green, as I’d suspected—it was a magnolia warbler. A first-of-year bird. A nice surprise.
 Magnolia warbler. Beech Hill List
At 7 a.m., I walked all trails.
1. Ovenbird
2. Black-capped chickadee
3. Black-throated green warbler
4. Common yellowthroat
5. American crow
6. Chestnut-sided warbler
7. Black-and-white warbler
8. Magnolia warbler
9. American goldfinch
10. Eastern towhee
11. Gray catbird
12. Common raven
13. Mourning dove
14. Nashville warbler
15. Blue jay
16. Field sparrow
17. Song sparrow
18. Savannah sparrow
19. Yellow warbler
20. Hermit thrush
21. White-throated sparrow
22. Great crested flycatcher
23. Northern flicker
24. Red-eyed vireo
25. Pileated woodpecker
26. Scarlet tanager
Elsewhere
27. Tufted titmouse
28. American robin
29. Eastern phoebe
30. Herring gull
31. American redstart
32. House finch
33. Rock pigeon
34. Turkey vulture
 Beech Nut, 13 May 2010.
Tags: American crow, American goldfinch, American redstart, American robin, black-and-white warbler, black-capped chickadee, black-throated green warbler, blue jay, chestnut-sided warbler, common raven, common yellowthroat, eastern phoebe, eastern towhee, field sparrow, gray catbird, great crested flycatcher, hermit thrush, herring gull, house finch, magnolia warbler, mourning dove, Nashville warbler, northern flicker, ovenbird, pileated woodpecker, red-eyed vireo, rock pigeon, savannah sparrow, scarlet tanager, song sparrow, tufted titmouse, turkey vulture, white-throated sparrow, yellow warbler
Posted in Lists, Observations | No Comments »
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| Bird Report is a (sometimes intermittent) record of the birds I encounter while hiking, see while driving, or spy outside my window. —Brian Willson |
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