5/16/2022
Catching up on a couple of weekends, here. Things have been pretty lackluster. The weather was keeping things bottled up south of us. Rain and north winds kept things from moving in. Monday hit and the south winds and good weather arrived. Birding posts went nuts. By the time this weekend arrived, things were pretty dead, again. I do not know if everything moved when it had the chance or if there is a second wave coming. It honestly feels like migration is over. It is mid-May....
I really do not have much more to say about it. I spent most my time over the past couple of weekends at Eagle Creek Park. I have not shot from the house much. There has not been much here. I had a couple decent birds move through. The grosbeaks departed after only a few days and no more showed up. The threat/promise from the previous week's blog post did not pan-out. At least I got a few more shots. I would have liked the chance to setup a prop or two, though.
I did get lucky and had a Great Crested Flycatcher come through the yard on a rainy day. I had to run outside in my socks. The orioles proved particularly shy this year, too. I only had one day where they came into the buckeye tree where I could get a shot. Same with the warblers; very few came through the yard. I am grateful for what did, though. It has been some rough days at work, and they provided a bit of an uplift.
As for Eagle Creek, well, I do not really have much to add. This last weekend did provide a bit of a treat though. Saturday's highlight was a Mourning Warbler. I do not find this bird every year and was happy to see it; even if I missed out on a photo. Sunday, after much debate, I headed back to Eagle Creek to look for the Mourning Warbler, again. As I pulled up, I could already hear the Run DMC of warblers giving its scratching-like call. There was a Connecticut Warbler in the area. I tried pishing it out, but it would not budge. Curiously, I walked around to the other side of the area it was calling from and found the brush was fairly open. I could even see the bird bouncing around in the area. Some pishing pulled it forward, and I got some ID shots, but it had a small vine over its face. And then the catbirds came in and flushed it back. With the help of another birder, the bird was eventually tracked back down. We spent a half hour cautiously following it as if foraged in various little islands of dense tangles. The bird was finally flushed away by some walkers with yappy dogs. Some year, I will get a good photo of this bird. The rest of the day was a bit of roller coaster of luck. I found a Mourning Warbler that pished in easily while I was in my car. When I parked and walked back for better pics, it would not pop back up. I ran across a heard-only Canada Warbler. I closed out the day with a Wilson's Warbler foraging in some vines. It is hard to complain about a day with Connecticut, Mourning, Canada, and Wilson's Warblers.
And, for special mention, my two skulkers I usually miss out on in a year.
Some year, I will get better shots of these birds. It is good to have goals.
Thanks for reading,
Mike