Notes - Mon, May 12, 2014

At 8:03 a.m., Barney and I began birdwatching outside around our home. Observations:

Ovenbird Warbler sang from the backyard.

Nashville Warbler sang.

Distant Carolina Wren sang.

Three to four Tennessee Warblers sang around our home.

At least two American Redstarts sang.

I saw at least three Swainson's Thrushes visit our backyard.

Red-eyed Vireo sang.

Saw and heard the Yellow-rumped Warbler.

Heard and saw other local birds too, such as ETTI, BCCH, RBWO, NOCA, MODO, HOSP, WBNU, BHCO, DOWO, AMGO, AMRO, BLJA, HAWO, NOFL, HOFI.

Multiple times this morning, I heard a Wood Thrush sing near our backyard. That's a good urban lot observation. I think the bird sang from a neighbor's tree or shrub. Unsure. It seemed close, but their vocals can be misleading, location-wise.

Two or three Blackburnian Warblers observed. Heard and saw at least one male and saw a female. Saw the female in an oak tree over the top of our house. Also saw the male a couple times in oaks over our yard.

The RBWO was not as vocal this morning as it had been the previous two or three days.

Heard and saw a Bay-breasted Warbler.

Heard and saw a Chestnut-sided Warbler.

Saw a TEWA perched low in a backyard oak. Watched it sing its loud and vigorous song.

Saw one TUVU soaring to the southwest, and then TUVU flew low over our home to the northeast.

Three Mallards flew over.

Male Baltimore Oriole landed on power cable along the east side of our house. It perched below the roof line. The cable connects to the meter. The oriole then flew to the south end of our yard.

Saw a Cape May Warbler.

I watched two male Indigo Buntings forage high in oak tree near the south edge of our backyard. The birds foraged about 15 inches from each other. They moved to other trees together too. Migration buddies. They appeared to be adult males. I got clued into their presence by their electronic buzz call note.

Rain came close. Heard distant thunder. Checked radar on my tablet at 9:21 a.m. Line of storms, stretching south to north moved east-northeast through southern Michigan with southern end of the line touching the OH-MI border and dipping into northeast Fulton County. It appeared that the line would miss us, and it did except for a few sprinkles. The line contained cells with heavy rain. A separate cell existed in south central Fulton County that moved northeast, but it missed West Toledo too.

Heard the Blackburnian Warbler sing again near our home.

The morning started with some sunshine peering through the mostly cloudy sky, but by 9:25 a.m, the sky had clouded over. The light dimmed. The birdwatching light got much different. Harder to see birds way up in the tall oaks. But the birdsong remained great.

Heard the electronic buzz of the INBU call note again.

The male and female AMGO visited our feeders.

The WOTH sang again near our backyard.

Chimney Swift flew low over our backyard.

Then wow, instant quiet. No song at 9:34 a.m. Strange. I wondered if a raptor entered the area. I did not hear any sudden alarm notes from BLJA, NOCA, AMRO, nor from any other birds. But it was like a switch had been turned off, disabling the bird song.

At 9:36 a.m., heard the SWTH make its 'weet' or 'wwit' call note. Then heard a BAOR sing some north of our home. But two AMRO gave their soft, high-pitched alarm note.

At 9:37 a.m., some more song resumed from TEWA, CSWA, and WOTH.

Female NOCA visited our feeder.

Blackburnian Warbler