With migration well underway we now are in a short, sweet period in which
summer residents and winter guest are overlapping. In the yard, Rose-breasted
Grosbeak fest is continuing. We now had grosbeaks in the yard daily for the
past 9 days. It is a nice mixture of adults and a few half-baked juvenile
males. Their bodies look adult, but the head is still brown. Funny they look.
We see them at the feeders and foraging on native berries such as Pokeweed,
Dogwood, and Cherry.
After being absent for a few days both a House Wren (very vocal) and a
Ruby-throated Hummingbird are back. The hummingbirds had left us just before
the recent cold front but today we saw a single bird checking out the Coral
Honeysuckle. The vine still has some flowers which the hummingbird enjoyed.
The warblers have been rather good this month. Today we found a Worm-eating
Warbler in the Redbuds, Common Yellowthroat in the Joe Pye weeds,
Black-throated Green, American Redstart and juvenile Cape May in the pokeweed
and Woodland sunflowers. With a yard full of native plants we see more and more
birds like the warblers going after the many insects the native attract. I
always have the feeling that we miss birds because the move around quietly in
the thick vegetation.
Winter guest are arriving. Last Friday we had our first Yellow-bellied
Sapsucker and today we saw 2 Ruby-crowned Kinglets and 4 White-throated
Sparrows. Our previous FOS for White-throated Sparrows was October 6 but, in
most years, they arrived around Oct 12. So, this is way earlier than expected.
Lots of feeder activity today with the usual suspects visiting such as Carolina
Chickadees, Tufted Titmouse, Mourning Doves, Downy Woodpeckers, Hairy
Woodpecker and Red-bellied Woodpecker. It is always fun to see the ballet when
all these birds jockey for position. Frequently this spectacle is broken up by
a Blue Jay crashing the party. No mid air collisions between birds have
happened yet.
We ended up recording 28 species, not wait make that 29 (a Barred Owl just
called) in the yard today.
Happy Birding
Gerco
Leesburg, VA
Ps - I hope the birds stay around for the upcoming LWC Birdathon in which my
team the Raven Loonatics will participate in. It'll be interesting doing that
in the fall. Details can be found here:
https://loudounwildlife.org/citizen-science/bird-counts/celebratebirds-birdathon/
https://loudounwildlife.org/2019/04/birdathon-donation-form/
[cid:image001.jpg@01D695DD.69C61AB0]
Species: 28 - Subspecies: 0 - Forms: 28
Total Records: 28
NAME MAX CNT
TAYLORSTOWN--HOME - 28
Mourning Dove 2
Ruby-throated Hummingbird 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker 3
Downy Woodpecker 3
Hairy Woodpecker 1
Pileated Woodpecker 1
Barred Owl 1
Blue Jay 2
Carolina Chickadee 4
Tufted Titmouse 4
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 2
White-breasted Nuthatch 1
House Wren 1
Carolina Wren 2
Eastern Bluebird 3
American Robin 5
Cedar Waxwing 3
American Goldfinch 4
Chipping Sparrow 1
Field Sparrow 1
White-throated Sparrow 4
Worm-eating Warbler 1
Common Yellowthroat 1
American Redstart 1
Cape May Warbler 1
Black-throated Green Warbler 2
Scarlet Tanager 1
Northern Cardinal 8
Rose-breasted Grosbeak 1
Birder's Diary - www.BirdersDiary.com<http://www.BirdersDiary.com> - 9/28/2020
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