• May 7 RIVP
• May 7 Barney Walk
• May 8 Ottawa Park
• Home May 8
• Home May 9
• Sat, May 16 NCO
• Home Sun, May 17
• Home May 18

May 2015 birdwatching obs

#home - #toledo - #nature - #bird - #event

Mon, May 18, 2015.

I have not recorded bird obs for each day in our neighborhood while exercise walking and walking Barney. I wish that I had.

I don't know if this is a better than average migration through our area. I'll have to check BSBO banding data. But starting around May 2, we've had good migrating bird song in our neighborhood since.

May 7 RIVP

Early on Thu morning, May 7, DD and I birdwatched for 55 minutes at Rossford Island View Park, but I did not record the obs.

We heard a YTVI. We saw four INBU forage near each other on the gravel trail. We obs SCTA, RBGR, and several warbler species.

For under an hour, it wound up being fine birdwatching.

May 7 Barney Walk

Later in the morning on Thu, May 7, I walked Barney around our neighborhood.

~70 and sunny.

Obs during walk from 10:20 to 10:55 a.m.

RBGR - a
WCSP - a
TEWA - a
NAWA - a
MYWA - a
BLBW - heard 2 and saw both in two separate oak trees near each other
BTNW - a (Black-throated Green Warbler)
CSWA - a

May 8 Ottawa Park

On Fri, May 8, DD and I arrived at Ottawa Park around 7:30 a.m. From my Field Notes notebook:

EAWP
RCKI
BAOR
BGGN
AMRE

(people setting up at shelter house and someone cranked music, blaring way too loud. A Tom Jones song was one of the songs.)

WPWA
NAWA
BLBW
MYWA
REVI
NOPA
TEWA
BTNW
SCTA
WAVI
BHVI
WTSP
BWWA - Blue-winged Warbler along the stream within the woodlot between the parking lot and Douglas Rd. We heard it and watched it.
CMWA (Cape May)
SUTA - I heard the drippy call notes, but I dismissed it. Then a short while later, I spotted a bird way up, and I looked like a Summer Tanager. The skylight was poor, so I rushed around to the other side. The bird foraged slowly, so I was able to find it. It was an adult male SUTA. I watched it for several minutes. This bird was located in the same area as the BWWA.
BBWA
BLPW
RBGR
WOTH signing

The small stream held a fair amount of water, and in one spot, we watched several warblers and other birds bath.

Birds observed bathing: CMWA, 2 NOPA, BLPW, TEWA, MYWA, and REVI. The warblers got into the water and splashed. The REVI bathed by flying at the water and smacking the water and flying back up to a low perch over the stream. The REVI bathed like the WAVI that I watched bath a few years ago at Magee Marsh. The must be the vireo style of bathing.

By the stream area, we saw 4 or 5 Cape May warblers move through the understory.

Multiples of several species including: SCTA, BHVI, REVI, and many warblers. The activity was quite good in the woodlot, which contains a lot of oak trees.

This month, it has been obvious once again that the oak trees were major attractants to warblers and other bird species.

We ended birdwatching at Ottawa Park at 10:10 a.m. Around 2 to 2.5 hours of birdwatching.

On the way home, we stopped at the greenhouse/small grocery store, located at Douglas and Central (or Monroe). Cool little store. My first visit. We bought morel mushrooms that arrived earlier in the morning.

Home May 8

Early in the morning before going to Ottawa Park, I saw two Cape May warblers inches apart from each other up in an oak tree over our backyard. One male and one female.

At 10:40 a.m. over our backyard: 2 CMWA and TEWA.

The TEWA is an amazingly enthusiastic singer. It's strange not to hear a TEWA singing around our home. It's a common song each spring, during the second and third weeks of May.

Home May 9

In the morning ...

LISP - v
CMMA - a
BTNW - a
TEWA - a
WAVI - a
YWAR - a - unusual to hear a Yellow Warbler in our neighborhood
NOPA - a
Male HAWO on the suet - v
Barn Swallows flying around from the bridge area - a and v
MYWA - v
2 BLBW - a
CSWA - a v
WTSP - v

Sat, May 16 NCO

I'll write up notes about this fine day in another post.

Sherry, Dan, and I birded together from ~6:00 a.m. to ~8:10 p.m. The three of us together recorded 101 species. That's the number of species observed by all of us. We did record a few more species where one or two us did not observed the bird. For example, Dan and I heard the Yellow-billed Cuckoo, but Sherry didn't. It only sang once. Sherry saw a Blackburnian Warbler at Ottawa Park, and I heard one while we were stopped in downtown Toledo at Summit and Cherry, but Dan never observed a Blackburnian that day.

With the other species observed by at least one of us, and with the species recorded by our "helpers" that birded in Toledo, our group tallied 110 species. DD saw the MYWA in our backyard. It was the only Myrtle or Yellow-rumped recorded by our group.

Good bird finds:

• Summer Tanager at Swan Creek Metropark, yellow trail. It was a young male. We found it because it sang. We tracked it down and got to see it. It hung out in trees along an edge that separated a woodlot with a mostly-open area. Will need to check in a few weeks to see if it hung around and found a mate.

• Great Black-backed Gull at Walbridge Park. We viewed the Maumee River from the overlook. We also saw Common Terns and Caspian Terns.

• Ruddy Ducks and Lesser Scaup in the lake/bay at the north side of Cullen Park.

• Acadian Flycatcher heard in two places: in wet, dark area along the Ottawa River at Ottawa Park and in the wet, dark area along Swan Creek at Swan Creek Metropark. First time that we've recorded two Acadians on the NCO. We have observed the bird occasionally on NCO day at Swan Creek Metropark. I believe this is the first time that we have observed it at Ottawa Park.

• Willow Flycatcher in the same area as last year at Woodlawn Cemetery. We heard it and saw it in a shrubby, semi-open area at the end of Woodlawn, located near I-475/75 split. Noisy area. We obs a Yellow Warbler in this same area too, just like last year. This time, we need to revisit Woodlawn to see if the Willow Flycatcher is still around in June.

• Three locations where we observed the Northern Mockingbird: on a fence by a business on the UTMC grounds or area, on a fence that separates the Hoffman Road Landfill from the Ottawa River Interpretive Trail, and on a light pole at the Maritime Museum at the Marina District in downtown Toledo.

• Two locations for Savanna Sparrow and Eastern Meadowlark: UTMC and Marina District. Those birds can still be found downtown Toledo.

• Cliff Swallows at Woodlawn Cemetery and downtown Toledo on the MLK bridge.

Excellent day for flycatchers: GCFL, EAWP, LEFL and other empids. We did observe a few EAKI, but their numbers seemed lower than normal.

Excellent day for the number of SWTH.

Most numerous warbler was the AMRE. Fine day for the number of WIWA. We may have seen more WIWA than MAWA.

We heard a handful of WOTH singing.

We observed OROR at UTMC, Walbridge Park, and ORIT. The only one that we got to view was at ORIT.

Saw a male Eastern Bluebird at Woodlawn Cemetery, which surprised me.

Good day for SCTA numbers.

The only RBGR that we observed may have been the final bird that counted for our species list. We heard and saw at about 8:00 p.m. at International Park. I heard two birds making the sneaker-on-gym-floor squeaks. I eventually found a female RBGR. The male softly sang a partial song. Both flew out of sight. We didn't see the male.

We saw to AMKE: one on the light pole at UTMC that flew off and hovered a bit over a field, the other perched in and flew through the small woodlot at International Park between Miami St and the river.

Home Sun, May 17

~1:40 p.m., Partly to mostly cloudy, breezy, warm and humid, low 80s.

REVI - a v
BLPW - a
Barn Swallows flying overhead
CSWA - a v
AMRE - a
BAOR - a
TEWA - a
SWTH - a v - watched multiples forage up in the oaks. they liked to run along the large branches
BBWA - a v
LEFL - a
GCTH - a - only the second time that I've obs a GCTH in or near our yard. The song came from the neighbor's yard, one to two houses to our east. It sounded like the song came from up in a tree but low in the tree. Distinctive song. A SWTH sang over our backyard at the same time for a nice comparison.
MYWA

Home May 18

Mon, May 18 morning obs around our home.

~7:30 a.m.

EAWP - a
REVI - a
SWTH - a
TEWA - a
AMRE - a
BLPW - a

MOWA - Mourning Warbler. Second time that I've obs this bird in our yard. This morning, I stepped out back to move the garbage and recycle bins to the front street, and I heard the MOWA song immediately. I waited to hear it again to be sure. It sang again. I rushed back inside to grab my binocs. I easily found the bird perch lowish in the middle of the small tree that grows along the east side of our garage. I'm unsure of the type of tree. It's leaf growth lags behind other trees. It currently contains thick, fuzzy catkins-like things. I think that it produces berries later. The neighbor has wanted to cut it down for a long time. It's a small trunked tree. The MOWA was 30 to 35 feet high, perched, singing, and preening. I watched it for over five minutes. It never foraged. It preened and sang. It rotated its body once, facing me more, so I had a nice view of its bib and front. This is one of my favorite-looking birds. After it finished preening, it dropped straight down out of sight. It either dropped into our east spirea bushes or somewhere else in B and K's yard. I searched the spirea, but I saw nothing. The spirea bushes are at full bloom and quite dense with its small leaves and twigs.

Other birds around home this morning, May 18:

NOPA - a
BLBW - a
CSWA - a

At 9:00 a.m., two TEWA sang over our backyard.

At 9:30 a.m., the EAWP sang over our backyard.

Bird song quieted down noticeably between 10:30 and 11:00 a.m.

11:09 a.m. TEWA and EAWP and AMRE singing again over or near our backyard.

11:41 a.m. saw SWTH under the spirea in the west flower bed.

At 11:45 a.m. from inside the computer room, I heard the MOWA sing three times. I went outside, but I could not find it. I watched a GRCA land on our backyard swing. The MOWA song sounded lowish, maybe from the spirea or the middle oval crunchberry shrub. The song sounded like it came from the west side of the backyard, close to the house. Other warblers were signing and so was the EAWP.

Just before Noon, I heard the MOWA sing a few times. The song seems to come from the west spirea bed near our house. I searched out the west computer room window, and I saw a female MYWA forage low in our neighbor's pine bushes, located near our house. I also heard a LEFL sing.

SWTH singing near the west side of our house at 12:15 p.m.

Good birdsong activity around home at 12:43 a.m. The SWTH continues to sing along the west side of the house.