9BY2: Quarterly Report July 2, 2020
Posted by indigobunting in Uncategorized.trackback
Hey, gang. I’m still mute, at least here. A few of you are at last reading a little more about life since lockdown elsewhere.
The rose-breasted grosbeaks came back on May 3 again. Excluding 2013, when I got to bird in Arizona, I’m having my best numbers thus far. Nowhere near Tim’s count—he goes out a lot more.
Most days I hear the broad-winged hawk that’s been circling our neighborhood the last month or so.
It’s been a great year for warblers—or maybe we just had more time to see them. We saw northern parula, Cape May warbler, and bay-breasted warbler while we were sitting in our backyard! It was shocking. There have been American redstarts all over the place. And after seeing no indigo buntings last year (when everyone else was), Tim and I dashed to a friend’s house when she reported several at her feeder. I’ve since seen quite a few in the legit wild.
I heard my first-ever Swainson’s thrush on Saturday.
Here’s what I got this quarter: ruffed grouse, ring-necked duck, tree swallow, palm warbler, barn swallow, Savannah sparrow, Cooper’s hawk, brown-headed cowbird, broad-winged hawk, northern flicker, eastern towhee, yellow-bellied sapsucker, field sparrow, chipping sparrow, veery, swamp sparrow, Louisiana waterthrush, American bittern, gray catbird, chimney swift, house wren, ovenbird, rose-breasted grosbeak, yellow warbler, warbling vireo, ruby-crowned kinglet, common yellowthroat, blue-headed vireo, eastern kingbird, Baltimore oriole, black-and-white warbler, chestnut-sided warbler, worm-eating warbler, yellow-rumped warbler, great crested flycatcher, wood thrush, American redstart, northern parula, bobolink, ruby-throated hummingbird, least flycatcher, red-eyed vireo, white-crowned sparrow, Cape May warbler, bay-breasted warbler, indigo bunting, scarlet tanager, Wilson’s warbler, solitary sandpiper, spotted sandpiper, eastern wood-pewee, blue-winged warbler, blue-gray gnatcatcher, black-billed cuckoo, prairie warbler, osprey, black-throated green warbler, black-throated blue warbler, hermit thrush, marsh wren, magnolia warbler, red-breasted nuthatch, Swainson’s thrush.
Year-to-date count: 136. (2012: 102. 2013: 162. 2014: 102. 2015: 120. 2016: 104. 2017: 115. 2018: 130. 2019: 126.)
Route 153 
Lucky you! We’re seeing a whole lot of common grackles.
My son’s partner is very much into trees* and has taught me to identify various types of maples and oaks (and a muscle tree!!) she wants to learn more about birds she sees so we’re going to go birding sometimes when they move back to DC.
*We really bonded over our love of The Overstory — you were the first person I know who’d read it.
Such an interesting book!
Yay for seeing lots of Indigo Buntings. I yearn to see just one very special one!
My favourite names this time are gray catbird (I am envisaging a cat-like face), chimney swift (takes me back to Charles Dickens), and the blue-gray gnatcatcher.
I saw a takahe in the last month – okay, it was in a bird sanctuary here in Wellington (though I didn’t take a photo), but it is one of the rarest birds in the world, and was considered extinct for a long time. Flightless, and last count in 2019 was 418, a big increase after a record breeding season last year with 65 chicks.
First, aw, shucks. Second—isn’t blue-gray gnatcatcher fun to say? I don’t see them every year and was very excited. Third, I just looked up the takahe. Fantastic! And what an impressive bill…
It is a good year for birds–not that I can tell what they are, but I’ve never heard so much singing.
(I too loved the Overstory. And now I’m just recovering from The Beak of the Finch, which is breathtaking.)
Did I tell you I saw a cedar waxwing? I was delighted. First ever. And I saw 19 robins two weeks ago, the first of the season. Yesterday, four Black Vultures soared over the property, eyeing some recent roadkill. I used to disdain the vulture. Now I really have respect for it. What a job they have. (The Overstory is a favorite book of mine! )