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.

 

Home is where the health is--and the birds...6 May 2020

Last night around this time, a huge and violent storm rolled through here, dumping lots of rain really fast, and throwing hail in with the bargain. I hoped that some birds would materialize this morning, because being on the downside of migration, it's been slow the past few days.

The morning started slow, but Rob Dobbs texted that he was seeing stuff across town so I kept my eyes alert. The weather was great, it was a beautiful day, but there wasn't much in the way of birds. The cherry tree with its ripe fruit had a couple of thrushes ducking in and out (I wonder if ducks thrush in and out...), a few eastern Kingbirds flew by, and that was that for migrants.

Cedar Waxwings were zipping around overhead looking for a big berry score,

and the typical egrets and herons passed over head, although when the north wind is blowing the seem to take a different route.

The Mississippi Kites are getting serious about nesting, and a pair (including the 1 year old with banded tail and patchy underwings) was doing crazy aerobatics over the backyard.

One landed on the snag of the cherry tree and didn't seem to mind me snapping pictures.

Then the wind picked up and I went in for a while.

My wife was in our little attic room teaching online, and she sent me a text saying there was a small orange and black bird by her window, so I went back out to see what was there.

I got a nice surprise. There was an orange and black male American Redstart, which was great, but there were also two "female plumaged" redstarts. Then I realized that there were two males; so four American Redstarts.

One of the female-plumaged redstarts appeared to be a female, due to small size, very plain plumage, and rounded tail feathers.The other had a couple of black blotches on the chest, sort of its peach fuzz, which would ID it as a 1 year old male. At the end of the summer, he'll shed his plain garb and the feathers he'll grow in will be orange and black and white.

Within a few minutes, another bit of flycatching caught my eye, and it turned out to be a male Magnolia Warbler.

Then, another bird flycatching its was through my trees, a Chestnut-sided Warbler, a one-year-old male.

Then movement near the ground caught my eye and a Hooded Warbler hopped up and posed.

Then a male Hooded, and then more movement in the trees, and it was a Yellow-throated Vireo.

I ended up adding Black-throated Green Warbler, Tennessee Warbler, Red-eyed Vireo, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, and Scarlet Tanager to the list as they foraged in live oaks or attacked the mulberries and cherries.

Around sundown, a Common Nighthawk flew over, and as it got dark, I heard a Screech Owl nearby, and was able to find it in a live oak hanging over the front yard.

All in all, a pretty good day, and likely one of the last of the good inland migration days.