Emboldened by my successful run for the Prime Hook Wood Sandpiper a few weeks back I made a trip to familiar territory of the Bombay Hook NWR near Smyrna, DE in search of the reported Little Egret. I'd seen a few Little Egrets at my old UK childhood birding patch in January (much to my surprise), but I'd never seen one in the USA.
Little Egret looks a lot like a white Western Reef-Heron, and in fact one may be a subspecies of the other - the taxonomy is in flux. The most pressing problem is telling it from Snowy Egret, with which it shares similar overall size, black legs with yellow feet, and of course an overwhelming whiteness. Telling Little Egret from Snowy is not an issue in the UK. However here in the USA more subtle clues are needed. For one thing Little Egret has a rather thicker and longer bill - it presents as heavier than the Snowy's. The other thing, and something shown by the Delaware bird, is the presence of two thick plumes on the back of the head in contrast to the wispier plumes of the Snowy Egret. A recent post on BIRDWG01 by Alvaro Jaramillo also mentioned that the breast plumes were thicker and coarser in Little Egret. Of much less use, in general, are the bare parts since Little Egret can show yellow lores and the feet have a variable color too. In the case of this specific individual the Little Egret's lores were dull blue-gray so this was another ID mark for this bird, although perhaps not for the species in general.
Getting to Bombay Hook around 8am the tide was high, which I figured would push the small egrets into the pools. Barn Swallows and Purple Martins were at the visitor center. The first pool contained a decent number of Great Egrets, showing just how variable the size of a Great Egret can look when you're looking for small white herons. There were one or two Great Blue Herons as well. In the second pool, Shearness, there were quite a few of both those heron species, Black-necked Stilt and some nervous Killdeer. At the far end of the pool there were a couple of Snowy Egrets. Then onto Bear Swamp pool where there were almost no herons at all. I alternated between Shearness and Bear Swamp while I was there, because this is where the bird was seen. After 3 hours of covering the 3 pools at the reserve, and I wasn't the only one doing this, I gave up and came home. I've seen no sightings of the Little Egret from the past weekend, either.
Nice sightings while I was there were a couple of in-flight Clapper Rails, 5 Bald Eagles (one adult, 4 immatures), several Black-necked Stilts, Marsh Wren. Very few terns were in evidence - perhaps on breeding colonies elsewhere. Other birds included Ruby-throated Hummingbird, Indigo Bunting, Eastern Wood-Pewee, Eastern Kingbird, Common Yellowthroat and Swamp Sparrow. I attempted a wander down the boardwalk trail to look for other passerines but was literally bombarded by biting insects within the first 50 yards (the greenheads grew more enthusiastic as it got hotter through the morning) so I gave up on that. Not a bad trip, 2 hours each way from Princeton and some relatively cheap gas found at Carney's Point on the NJ side, but ultimately the first failed chase after ten successful ones got me from 599-609.
Can't get them all.
Saturday, June 14, 2008
Friday, June 13, 2008
Fledgelings, Princeton
The European Starlings and American Robins had their first fledgelings in mid May, the Common Grackles appeared to have starting fledging shortly after that, but this week's new birds of the season were Chipping Sparrows that seem to be popping up all over Princeton University campus in their highly streaked juvenile plumage and begging for food noisily. Over at my apartment complex the Brown Cowbirds are still in evidence but I'm thankful that I haven't run into any juveniles of that species yet.
Monday, June 9, 2008
Delaware Water Gap, June 7th
In a slightly insane move I ignored the prospects of getting fried in 90+ degree heat and drove to the Delaware Water Gap NRA on Sunday to look for breeding warblers.
Van Ness Rd, near Layton, has been in recent years a pretty reliable spot for Golden-winged Warbler, including a male that sings a "Blue-winged" song, albeit with somewhat of a flourish. Visually the bird looks like a pure Golden-winged. However I was reading a paper from 1997 by Frank Gill (Evolution, Vol. 51, No. 2, pp. 519-525) that indicated that gene flow from Blue-winged to Golden-winged was strictly one way and that Blue-winged supplanted Golden-winged within 50 years. The cheery title was "Local Cytonuclear Extinction of the Golden-Winged Warbler".
If that wasn't rough enough on Golden-winged, the habitat along Van Ness Rd has been going through rapid succession, possibly aided and abetted by non-native species like multiflora rose. So, as you might have guess, there were no Golden-winged Warblers this year along Van Ness Rd, although that same weekend a "Lawrence's" Warbler (Golden-winged X Blue-winged) was reported singing a few miles to the north. There were plenty of Blue-winged Warblers, along with Chestnut-sided, Yellow, Prairie Warblers, Common Yellowthroat, Scarlet Tanager and Eastern Towhee. Still a good place but the best area for Golden-winged is now Sterling Forest over the border in NY where they still hang on.
After finishing up at Van Ness I took a run into Stokes State Forest over the other side of Rt. 206. I stopped at the bridge over the Flatbrook River (Crigger Rd). At this parking lot, where the road becomes one-way, it was less productive than usual. I had heard Blackburnian Warbler and Least Flycatcher on the way up Grau Rd, but they weren't here where I'd seen them in previous years (in 2007 I watched a Blackburnian male bathe at the water standpipe here). However following the trail down the Flatbrook from the bridge I did hear Blackburnian and Black-throated Green in the dense pines, along with the usual Acadian Flycatcher and as a bonus a single tame Hermit Thrush. Based on the range map from the Birds of North America Online this would be the southerly limit of breeding for Hermit Thrush in the more coastal areas around here.
Going back along Crigger Rd towards High Point State Park, and after shedding two noisy Harleys that were tailing me, it wasn't all that difficult to find Cerulean Warbler singing along the road. Their favorite spot seems to shift from year to year. Also here was Yellow-throated Vireo. After turning right (east) onto Deckertown Pike I cut north along Sawmill Rd into High Point State Park. Here again, Least Flycatcher, Cerulean Warbler and Yellow-throated Vireo were audible along the road. There was abundant American Redstarts on these higher elevations, and Ovenbirds were heard throughout.
Because the temperature was rising rapidly into the 90's I didn't chase every single bird song or go chasing after northern NJ highland specialties like Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, so I retreated out of High Point and Stokes SF back to Rt. 206 and returned home.
Van Ness Rd, near Layton, has been in recent years a pretty reliable spot for Golden-winged Warbler, including a male that sings a "Blue-winged" song, albeit with somewhat of a flourish. Visually the bird looks like a pure Golden-winged. However I was reading a paper from 1997 by Frank Gill (Evolution, Vol. 51, No. 2, pp. 519-525) that indicated that gene flow from Blue-winged to Golden-winged was strictly one way and that Blue-winged supplanted Golden-winged within 50 years. The cheery title was "Local Cytonuclear Extinction of the Golden-Winged Warbler".
If that wasn't rough enough on Golden-winged, the habitat along Van Ness Rd has been going through rapid succession, possibly aided and abetted by non-native species like multiflora rose. So, as you might have guess, there were no Golden-winged Warblers this year along Van Ness Rd, although that same weekend a "Lawrence's" Warbler (Golden-winged X Blue-winged) was reported singing a few miles to the north. There were plenty of Blue-winged Warblers, along with Chestnut-sided, Yellow, Prairie Warblers, Common Yellowthroat, Scarlet Tanager and Eastern Towhee. Still a good place but the best area for Golden-winged is now Sterling Forest over the border in NY where they still hang on.
After finishing up at Van Ness I took a run into Stokes State Forest over the other side of Rt. 206. I stopped at the bridge over the Flatbrook River (Crigger Rd). At this parking lot, where the road becomes one-way, it was less productive than usual. I had heard Blackburnian Warbler and Least Flycatcher on the way up Grau Rd, but they weren't here where I'd seen them in previous years (in 2007 I watched a Blackburnian male bathe at the water standpipe here). However following the trail down the Flatbrook from the bridge I did hear Blackburnian and Black-throated Green in the dense pines, along with the usual Acadian Flycatcher and as a bonus a single tame Hermit Thrush. Based on the range map from the Birds of North America Online this would be the southerly limit of breeding for Hermit Thrush in the more coastal areas around here.
Going back along Crigger Rd towards High Point State Park, and after shedding two noisy Harleys that were tailing me, it wasn't all that difficult to find Cerulean Warbler singing along the road. Their favorite spot seems to shift from year to year. Also here was Yellow-throated Vireo. After turning right (east) onto Deckertown Pike I cut north along Sawmill Rd into High Point State Park. Here again, Least Flycatcher, Cerulean Warbler and Yellow-throated Vireo were audible along the road. There was abundant American Redstarts on these higher elevations, and Ovenbirds were heard throughout.
Because the temperature was rising rapidly into the 90's I didn't chase every single bird song or go chasing after northern NJ highland specialties like Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, so I retreated out of High Point and Stokes SF back to Rt. 206 and returned home.
Friday, May 30, 2008
Heislerville WMA, May 29th 2008
In another part of Heislerville WMA I spent Thursday morning admiring the collection of shorebirds and Laughing Gulls gathered to feed off Horseshoe Crab eggs. There were a good number of Red Knots, second only in number to the abundant Semipalmated Sandpipers. Laughing Gulls and Ruddy Turnstones were also numerous, there were several Sanderlings (less than I had anticipated) and a few Short-billed Dowitchers. And precisely one Willet.
What there weren't many of, however, were Horseshoe Crabs, and I saw several dead ones and about 10 live ones. Of course it's past full moon, and despite the presumably warming water it is not optimal spawning conditions. Who knows if they will wait for the next full moon (mid-late June) or will finish spawning sooner ?
Further away from the shore I found my first-of-season Willow Flycatcher, and the Seaside Sparrows and Marsh Wrens were numerous in the salt marsh. The water level in the impoundment at Heislerville had dropped considerably since as recently as last Monday, making it less than ideal for photography. I watched shorebirds trickling into the impoundment as the tide rose, but I decided to try and beat traffic and left the area at 3:30pm. I did not find the Curlew Sandpiper(s) but the light was harsh and the birds were in the center of the impoundment rather than pushed further towards the edges.
Links:
Tide predictor for Delaware Bay
Moon phase predictor
What there weren't many of, however, were Horseshoe Crabs, and I saw several dead ones and about 10 live ones. Of course it's past full moon, and despite the presumably warming water it is not optimal spawning conditions. Who knows if they will wait for the next full moon (mid-late June) or will finish spawning sooner ?
Further away from the shore I found my first-of-season Willow Flycatcher, and the Seaside Sparrows and Marsh Wrens were numerous in the salt marsh. The water level in the impoundment at Heislerville had dropped considerably since as recently as last Monday, making it less than ideal for photography. I watched shorebirds trickling into the impoundment as the tide rose, but I decided to try and beat traffic and left the area at 3:30pm. I did not find the Curlew Sandpiper(s) but the light was harsh and the birds were in the center of the impoundment rather than pushed further towards the edges.
Links:
Tide predictor for Delaware Bay
Moon phase predictor
Monday, May 26, 2008
Heislerville WMA, May 26th
I made an afternoon run to Heislerville WMA in southern NJ to take photos of shorebirds. High tide was ~2pm so by the time I got down there it was 3 hours past high, with a few birds exiting the impoundment that had been drawn down for them. But many remained - mostly Semipalmated Sandpipers but also Dunlin, Semipalmated Plover, a few Short-billed Dowitchers. And a Curlew Sandpiper. As in 2007, a brightly-plumaged male Curlew Sandpiper was present on the north side of the impoundment, and not particularly shy either.
Despite being the Monday afternoon of Memorial Day, traffic was not too horrendous either.
Shorebird list:
Black-bellied Plover
Semipalmated Plover
Willet (East Point Road)
Ruddy Turnstone
Red Knot (East Point Road)
Sanderling (East Point Road)
Semipalmated Sandpiper
Dunlin
Curlew Sandpiper
Short-billed Dowitcher
Despite being the Monday afternoon of Memorial Day, traffic was not too horrendous either.
Shorebird list:
Black-bellied Plover
Semipalmated Plover
Willet (East Point Road)
Ruddy Turnstone
Red Knot (East Point Road)
Sanderling (East Point Road)
Semipalmated Sandpiper
Dunlin
Curlew Sandpiper
Short-billed Dowitcher
Heislerville WMA, May 25th
In a fit of enthusiasm I baled out of Princeton at 5:30 am and made my way down I-295 and Rt-55 to Heislerville WMA on the southern Delaware Bay shore in NJ. I got there at 7am and found that I had badly miscalculated the tide and the number of shorebirds in the impoundment was low, and getting lower as they flew out to the saltmarsh to feed.
So instead I headed over to Jake's Landing near Dennisville to try and take photos of the usual suspects - in the case of Jake's Landing this is Seaside Sparrows and Marsh Wrens, neither of which were totally cooperative but I did get a few photographs. I saw a few Clapper Rails flying around (and heard far more) but failed to see any Saltmarsh Sharp-tailed Sparrows as I had done there the previous weekend. Surprisingly, given prior experience, I was neither devoured by no-see-ums nor disturbed every five minutes by boat launchers. A couple of cars with birders were all I found there - has this place become unpopular with the boating public ?
Once the sun started to get high and I tired of creeping up on Seaside Sparrows I headed to the nearby Belleplain State Forest and staked out the Prothonotary Warbler site on Sunset Road. As if by magic the male Prothonotary put in an appearance within 5 minutes, singing over the road. I hung out there for a while, taking pictures as it periodically dropped by (or flew by) and then, in what's a first for me at that location, spotted a female Prothonotary being far less conspicuous except for one brief interaction between the two. Also present were assorted usual suspects: Hooded Warbler (I actually saw one), Pine Warbler, a probable Worm-eating Warbler, Blue-winged Warbler, Louisiana Waterthrush, Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Acadian Flycatcher, Eastern Towhee. [Note added later - in early June a Swainson's Warbler was reported singing around this spot, but since nobody has laid their eyes on it, it could conceivably be another warbler singing a strange song].
Despite the bust at Heislerville early in the day it turned out to be relatively productive and worthwhile. On the way out I surveyed Heislerville WMA again at closer to high tide (1pm ?) and had the added bonus of a Curlew Sandpiper seen well but in harsh light at 11:30am.
Highlights:
Clapper Rail (Jake's Landing)
Black-bellied Plover (Heislerville WMA)
Semipalmated Plover (Heislerville WMA)
Semipalmated Sandpiper (Heislerville WMA)
Dunlin (Heislerville WMA)
Curlew Sandpiper (Heislerville WMA)
Short-billed Dowitcher (Heislerville WMA)
Yellow-billed Cuckoo (Belleplain SF)
Acadian Flycatcher (Belleplain SF)
Great Crested Flycatcher (Belleplain SF)
Marsh Wren (Jake's Landing)
Blue-winged Warbler (Belleplain SF)
Yellow-throated Warbler (Belleplain SF)
American Redstart (Jake's Landing)
Prothonotary Warbler (Belleplain SF)
Worm-eating Warbler (Belleplain SF)
Louisiana Waterthrush (Belleplain SF)
Eastern Towhee (Belleplain SF)
Seaside Sparrow (Jake's Landing)
Boat-tailed Grackle (Jake's Landing)
So instead I headed over to Jake's Landing near Dennisville to try and take photos of the usual suspects - in the case of Jake's Landing this is Seaside Sparrows and Marsh Wrens, neither of which were totally cooperative but I did get a few photographs. I saw a few Clapper Rails flying around (and heard far more) but failed to see any Saltmarsh Sharp-tailed Sparrows as I had done there the previous weekend. Surprisingly, given prior experience, I was neither devoured by no-see-ums nor disturbed every five minutes by boat launchers. A couple of cars with birders were all I found there - has this place become unpopular with the boating public ?
Once the sun started to get high and I tired of creeping up on Seaside Sparrows I headed to the nearby Belleplain State Forest and staked out the Prothonotary Warbler site on Sunset Road. As if by magic the male Prothonotary put in an appearance within 5 minutes, singing over the road. I hung out there for a while, taking pictures as it periodically dropped by (or flew by) and then, in what's a first for me at that location, spotted a female Prothonotary being far less conspicuous except for one brief interaction between the two. Also present were assorted usual suspects: Hooded Warbler (I actually saw one), Pine Warbler, a probable Worm-eating Warbler, Blue-winged Warbler, Louisiana Waterthrush, Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Acadian Flycatcher, Eastern Towhee. [Note added later - in early June a Swainson's Warbler was reported singing around this spot, but since nobody has laid their eyes on it, it could conceivably be another warbler singing a strange song].
Despite the bust at Heislerville early in the day it turned out to be relatively productive and worthwhile. On the way out I surveyed Heislerville WMA again at closer to high tide (1pm ?) and had the added bonus of a Curlew Sandpiper seen well but in harsh light at 11:30am.
Highlights:
Clapper Rail (Jake's Landing)
Black-bellied Plover (Heislerville WMA)
Semipalmated Plover (Heislerville WMA)
Semipalmated Sandpiper (Heislerville WMA)
Dunlin (Heislerville WMA)
Curlew Sandpiper (Heislerville WMA)
Short-billed Dowitcher (Heislerville WMA)
Yellow-billed Cuckoo (Belleplain SF)
Acadian Flycatcher (Belleplain SF)
Great Crested Flycatcher (Belleplain SF)
Marsh Wren (Jake's Landing)
Blue-winged Warbler (Belleplain SF)
Yellow-throated Warbler (Belleplain SF)
American Redstart (Jake's Landing)
Prothonotary Warbler (Belleplain SF)
Worm-eating Warbler (Belleplain SF)
Louisiana Waterthrush (Belleplain SF)
Eastern Towhee (Belleplain SF)
Seaside Sparrow (Jake's Landing)
Boat-tailed Grackle (Jake's Landing)
Saturday, May 24, 2008
Central Park, May 24th 2008
On what may prove to be my last Central Park visit for spring, birding at Tanner's Spring started out very slow, but the hot spot of the recent days - the bridle path along the south side of the Reservoir - was still productive. There were multiple Blackburnian Warbler males and at least on Bay-breasted Warbler along with a decent selection of other warblers.
Elsewhere Turtle Pond was quiet, as was most of the Ramble apart from the tail end of a termite hatch-out that we caught at the Oven. Cedar Waxwings, a Scarlet Tanager and a small number of warblers were happily fly-catching the slow moving flying termites. Other reports indicated that termite hatch-outs occurred at the Lower Lobe (Wagner Cove) and Upper Lobe at more-or-less the same time. This corresponds to what I've empirically observed about termite hatch-outs - that they always seem to occur around late morning. At one point it almost looked as if a Green Heron flew in to check out the hatch.
A visit to the Lower Lobe before exiting the park turned up Northern Waterthrush and multiple Solitary and Spotted Sandpipers. 14 warbler species in total.
Migrant list:
Solitary Sandpiper
Spotted Sandpiper
Yellow-bellied Flycatcher
Eastern Kingbird
Swainson's Thrush
Wood Thrush
Cedar Waxwing
Northern Parula
Chestnut-sided Warbler
Magnolia Warbler
Black-throated Blue Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Bay-breasted Warbler
Blackpoll Warbler
Black-and-white Warbler
American Redstart
Ovenbird
Northern Waterthrush
Common Yellowthroat
Wilson's Warbler
Canada Warbler
Scarlet Tanager
Lincoln's Sparrow
Elsewhere Turtle Pond was quiet, as was most of the Ramble apart from the tail end of a termite hatch-out that we caught at the Oven. Cedar Waxwings, a Scarlet Tanager and a small number of warblers were happily fly-catching the slow moving flying termites. Other reports indicated that termite hatch-outs occurred at the Lower Lobe (Wagner Cove) and Upper Lobe at more-or-less the same time. This corresponds to what I've empirically observed about termite hatch-outs - that they always seem to occur around late morning. At one point it almost looked as if a Green Heron flew in to check out the hatch.
A visit to the Lower Lobe before exiting the park turned up Northern Waterthrush and multiple Solitary and Spotted Sandpipers. 14 warbler species in total.
Migrant list:
Solitary Sandpiper
Spotted Sandpiper
Yellow-bellied Flycatcher
Eastern Kingbird
Swainson's Thrush
Wood Thrush
Cedar Waxwing
Northern Parula
Chestnut-sided Warbler
Magnolia Warbler
Black-throated Blue Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Bay-breasted Warbler
Blackpoll Warbler
Black-and-white Warbler
American Redstart
Ovenbird
Northern Waterthrush
Common Yellowthroat
Wilson's Warbler
Canada Warbler
Scarlet Tanager
Lincoln's Sparrow
Friday, May 16, 2008
Spring migration - Central Park - May 14th, 15th 2008
Originally planning to skip the park on May 14th, an excited post on eBirdsNYC induced me to hop on the train and come in for the afternoon. A late start meant a limited warbler list on what may have been the biggest day of the season. Migration unpredictability was emphasized by the overnight wind being from the ESE. The best bird of the day was unquestionably a Chuck-will's-widow - only the second one I've seen - roosting on the point. Like last year's bird this one was an adult female.
Other than that there was a decent trickle of warblers in Tanner's Spring on the 14th:
Nashville Warbler
Northern Parula
Yellow Warbler
Chestnut-sided Warbler
Magnolia Warbler
Black-throated Blue Warbler
Black-throated Green Warbler
Black-and-white Warbler
American Redstart
Ovenbird
Common Yellowthroat
but I only managed a paltry 11 species.
On the 15th absolute numbers were down, but I had perhaps my best birding day with Tennessee and multiple Cape May Warblers, plus one Blackburnian. Activity at Tanner's Spring was far slower, enlivened by Canada Warbler and White-eyed Vireo but compromised by over-use of flash by the gaggle of photographers there. A nice addition was a Black-billed Cuckoo near Tanner's Spring, my first cuckoo of the season. Other firsts were a Least Flycatcher and my first Scarlet Tanagers in the park this year.
Migrant list:
Wood Duck
Black-billed Cuckoo
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Least Flycatcher
Eastern Kingbird
White-eyed Vireo
Blue-headed Vireo
Warbling Vireo
Red-eyed Vireo
Barn Swallow
House Wren
Veery
Swainson's Thrush
Wood Thrush
Tennessee Warbler
Northern Parula
Yellow Warbler
Chestnut-sided Warbler
Magnolia Warbler
Cape May Warbler
Black-throated Blue Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Black-throated Green Warbler
Blackburnian Warbler
Blackpoll Warbler
Black-and-white Warbler
American Redstart
Ovenbird
Northern Waterthrush
Common Yellowthroat
Wilson's Warbler
Canada Warbler
Scarlet Tanager
Field Sparrow
Swamp Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Other than that there was a decent trickle of warblers in Tanner's Spring on the 14th:
Nashville Warbler
Northern Parula
Yellow Warbler
Chestnut-sided Warbler
Magnolia Warbler
Black-throated Blue Warbler
Black-throated Green Warbler
Black-and-white Warbler
American Redstart
Ovenbird
Common Yellowthroat
but I only managed a paltry 11 species.
On the 15th absolute numbers were down, but I had perhaps my best birding day with Tennessee and multiple Cape May Warblers, plus one Blackburnian. Activity at Tanner's Spring was far slower, enlivened by Canada Warbler and White-eyed Vireo but compromised by over-use of flash by the gaggle of photographers there. A nice addition was a Black-billed Cuckoo near Tanner's Spring, my first cuckoo of the season. Other firsts were a Least Flycatcher and my first Scarlet Tanagers in the park this year.
Migrant list:
Wood Duck
Black-billed Cuckoo
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Least Flycatcher
Eastern Kingbird
White-eyed Vireo
Blue-headed Vireo
Warbling Vireo
Red-eyed Vireo
Barn Swallow
House Wren
Veery
Swainson's Thrush
Wood Thrush
Tennessee Warbler
Northern Parula
Yellow Warbler
Chestnut-sided Warbler
Magnolia Warbler
Cape May Warbler
Black-throated Blue Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Black-throated Green Warbler
Blackburnian Warbler
Blackpoll Warbler
Black-and-white Warbler
American Redstart
Ovenbird
Northern Waterthrush
Common Yellowthroat
Wilson's Warbler
Canada Warbler
Scarlet Tanager
Field Sparrow
Swamp Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Spring migration - Central Park - May 13th 2008
Migration ramp-up continues even in the absence of favorable winds, not least of all shorebird migration with Spotted, Solitary and Least Sandipipers all found at the Lake's Lower Lobe (aka Wagner Cove). Least Sandpiper is pretty uncommon in the park, but certainly not unprecedented. While the warbler list wasn't spectacular I still found 14 species, including a Prairie Warbler at Strawberry Fields. Other notables were Indigo Bunting and Yellow-throated Vireo - both singing males. Late in the day a somewhat unusual immature Broad-winged Hawk was hunting near Tanner's Spring, moving through the woodland with notably greater speed than the local Red-tails.
Migrant list:
Broad-winged Hawk
Spotted Sandpiper
Least Sandpiper
Great Crested Flycatcher
Yellow-throated Vireo
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Barn Swallow
House Wren
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Wood Thrush
Nashville Warbler
Northern Parula
Chestnut-sided Warbler
Magnolia Warbler
Cape May Warbler
Black-throated Blue Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Black-throated Green Warbler
Prairie Warbler
Black-and-white Warbler
American Redstart
Ovenbird
Northern Waterthrush
Common Yellowthroat
Eastern Towhee
Swamp Sparrow
Indigo Bunting
Migrant list:
Broad-winged Hawk
Spotted Sandpiper
Least Sandpiper
Great Crested Flycatcher
Yellow-throated Vireo
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Barn Swallow
House Wren
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Wood Thrush
Nashville Warbler
Northern Parula
Chestnut-sided Warbler
Magnolia Warbler
Cape May Warbler
Black-throated Blue Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Black-throated Green Warbler
Prairie Warbler
Black-and-white Warbler
American Redstart
Ovenbird
Northern Waterthrush
Common Yellowthroat
Eastern Towhee
Swamp Sparrow
Indigo Bunting
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