Mid-Summer Birds, Beasts, and Bugs

 Adult and juvenile Barn Swallows sunning themselves on the metal roof of a barn.

One was too lazy to pick up this dragon fly near the barn.

July is a real challenge for birding. The birds are quiet, usually staying well hidden in the foliage, feeding their young or fattening themselves up before fall migration.

Some observations are serendipitous such as a flock of Cedar Waxwings  performing aerial acrobatics over the West River in pursuit of insects, fluttering, zigzagging, turning and twisting and intermittently perching on to a tree to rest. The biting deer flies, usually helicoptering around one's head this time of year looking for a suitable landing spot,  are mercifully absent because of the heavy rains we've had.

The one species I would encounter almost without fail when walking past a moist  thicket are the Common Yellowthroats. They are very territorial and just passing by will trigger their Tchak, tchak alarm calls. With a little bit of pishing they'll usually pop right out.

When not distracted they are busy feeding their offspring

House Wrens are almost done feeding their young in their nest. They are almost ready to fledge.

And a couple of days later:  

Late afternoon I saw a brown shape foraging in the grass ahead. Only on coming closer did I realize it was a doe.

Taking a walk with my dog on the gravelly path up the hill brown and gray winged grasshoppers were popping up with every step, whirring through the air and dropping down a few feet further up.

 They are almost invisible unless you look very closely.

In the meadow on top of the hill a flock of 6 to 8 Bobolinks, juveniles and females, no males, were fattening up for the fall migration later this month.

Getting ready for take-off

A solitary male Indigo Bunting on a look-out from the top of a tall pine

Goldfinches showing up to feast on the seeds of the two tall thistles in our yard. 

Several times a day this Downy Woodpecker is taking a drink from my hummingbird feeder.

It's August. The end of summer is in sight. Shorebird migration is already well under way and warblers and nighthawks are soon to follow. 

Late Migrants

I was walking with my dog along the West River Trail starting at the Dummerston end and ran into a mixed flock of Blue-headed Vireos, Yellow-rumped Warblers and Chickadees.

On my way back they had all moved on. There were lots of sparrows though, mostly white-throated. I am not sure what this White-throated Sparrow was eating.

Here are some photos of other recent fall sightings.

Scarlet Tanager, probably adult female

Red-eyed Vireo

Common Yellowthroat, probably first winter male

Wilson's Warbler, adult male

Happy fall birding!

End of Summer Birds

Summer is winding down. The first cool nights are here. The bird population in our yard is changing. I haven't seen any Robins for some time doing their running, stopping and listening for worms in the ground. It's oddly silent except for the raucous cries of the Blue Jays and Crows. I still hear an occasional Gray Catbird, though, giving its cat-like calls from deep inside a shrub. 

This one is was sitting out in the open and was about to launch into flight.

A couple of weeks ago three or four Chestnut-sided Warblers were moving around in the thicket close to our driveway with one of the them looking like a male. I went  to get my camera, but then only found this one bird, probably a first year youngster. 

When walking along a trail pishing will usually draw out one or two Common Yellowthroats 

Dragon flies and butterflies abound. Avian migration in the fall is kind of protracted and all you can do is be on the lookout. In my next post I'll talk about Nighthawk migration.

Happy Birding!

With Warblers patience, patience, patience...

I took a break - no birding, blogging or commenting - while my camera was being repaired. I was afraid I was going to miss all of the spring warbler season and was getting pretty morose, but I got the camera back just in time.

Warblers don't sit still for a photo shoot. It takes patience, patience and more patience. Most of my photos ended up just showing leaves and bird-shaped shadows. So I am going back for another try at that elusive Prairie Warbler, or the Black-throated Green Warbler, the Black-throated Blue Warbler....

This Canada Warbler was flitting through dark moist undergrowth on a neighbor's wood lot.

A Chestnut-sided Warbler was singing high up in a tree.

A Common Yellowthroat scolding me, but then calmed down.

Yellow Warblers always have such an innocently sweet expression, but they are ferocious predators of invertebrates!

Not a warbler but a Warbling Vireo

My time waiting for my camera wasn't all wasted. I got to go shopping for some sorely needed spring clothing, caught up with my emails with friends and relatives and got to read a couple of books. It actually turned out to be a nice respite from bird-centered activities - just too bad it had to be during peak warbler migration.

Must check out: amazing distribution maps for many species in the "State of the Birds 2011" report with much of the information collected by eBird  -- shows how important it is to submit your sightings.

Cheers and good birding!

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