Snag List

Looking up from my backyard, there's a black cherry/merisier (Prunus serotina) rising up above my toothache trees. The trunk is just across the fence in the neighbor's yard, and as with most wild cherry trees, it was probably planted by a peripatetic bird that ate des merises somewhere nearby and planted a lucky seed with its poop. The tree probably got so big by salutary neglect as it was far enough from the house and small enough for long enough that the homeowners let it do its thing. Now it would take a tree service to remove it.

Right now the tree is fruiting, which is usually good for a few birds, but it has a certain other charm that I love it for. Being a cherry tree, some of its limbs seem to fall victim to age fairly quickly.  One such limb rises high above the green leafy mountain and forms a nice inviting snag.

Over the years this snag has been changing, but it's always been worth looking at for birds. Last May 13, I looked up at the snag before leaving for school and saw this nice Olive-sided Flycatcher, a great yard bird.

That encounter got me to thinking about all of the birds I've seen ascend or descend to that snag. Hummingbirds love it, so Ruby-throats, Rufous, and Black-chinned have risen to the snag to survey their domains. Eastern Kingbirds have dropped out of the sky to rest on it. The number of birds that I've seen it is pretty long. A snag is a great thing to have in a yard.

Here's a sample of photos illustrating a portion of my Snag List from the lockdown, so from March 13ish-today.

Red-bellied Woodpecker

Eastern Wood Pewee

Blue Grosbeak

Northern Mockingbird

Summer Tanager

Downy Woodpecker

Blue Jay

White-winged Dove

Tufted Titmouse

Great Crested Flycatcher

Mississippi Kite

Fox Squirrelbird

Carolina Wren

How Many Magnolias?

I've had Magnolia Warblers on 5 days during the last week. I wonder how many Magnolia Warblers that amounts to. How many of these sighting pertain to the same bird(s)? 

I tried to find comp photos with similar angles to link each day's sighting to that of the the day before and after it, if applicable. 

 

Magnolia Warbler 10 May 2020

I've had the great fortune of being visited by Magnolia Warblers for most of the last several days. Today there were two, this bird that appears to be a one year old male, and a female that I didn't get good pictures of. The male was cooperative and vocal, singing its beautiful song constantly. Unfortunately for me, by about 9:00 this morning, most of the migrants in the yard left and I didn't see or her them again.

Here's a gallery of Magnolia Warbler photos, showing different looks at this complexly patterned bird.

7 May 2020, Day 2 after a front

In the wake of the violent front that blew through here just before midnight on the 5th, clear skies, north winds, and cooler temperatures settled in over Acadiana. The storm seems to have knocked birds down, as evidenced by yesterday's decent showing. Judging by today's suspiciously similar core list of migrants, I'd say that a good number of birds spent the night instead of taking off yesterday evening.

The backyard had a three ring circus of activity around the trio of toothache trees along the northern edge of the yard. Four American Redstarts, a Magnolia Warbler, a Chestnut-sided Warbler, and a Hooded Warbler juggled airspace high and low in their foraging sallies. They were joined off and on by a couple of Red-eyed Vireos that were alternating between catching bugs and plucking fruit from the cherry tree just across the fence in Neighborland.

 The vine tangle and understory connecting the trees provided a corridor for the warblers and vireos to stretch their feeding areas. The cherry trees held the same basic group as yesterday, heavy on thrushes, but with reinforcements.

A Veery was an addition to yesterday's Swainson's and Gray-cheeked thrushes, and there seemed to be more Swainson's in the group as well.

I've always wondered if birds that show up inland on Day 2 after fronts such as this one are brand new arrivals or birds that were grounded to the south of us on Day 1 that are matriculating their way northward before taking giant steps for birdkind into the heart of the continent. That question returned to my mind today as I watched small stuff that seemed to be drifting solo or in small, disjointed groups that left the environs of the yard and just seemed to keep going, picking its way across the oak forest of the subdivision.


"New" birds not recorded yesterday in that latter category included Black-and-white Warbler, Blackburnian Warbler, Bay-breasted Warbler, Ovenbird, and the Yellow-billed Cuckoo and Veery mentioned above.  The Blackburnian and Ovenbird were my first of the year and were welcome sights; I've managed to see almost all of the area's expected spring warblers this spring without ever leaving the yard. My two-day warbler total after the front was 10 species, not a bad total at all.

I got a close look at a Painted Bunting yesterday when it landed within 2 feet of me, and today I got to watch it mâcher the spent stalks of Lyreleaf Sage to work the seeds free.

I have a feeling that there'll be a big liftoff tonight and not much will be around tomorrow. It was nice to enjoy it while it lasted.