May 2, 2011

This morning I walked outside and was greeted by north winds, cool temperatures and lower humidity. The birds were very active today just about everywhere! A flock of Cedar Waxwings flew in to check if there were any ripe mulberries on the tree. Carolina Chickadees and Carolina Wrens attended to begging youngsters. It was the best species total of the spring - 51. There were no FOS (first of season) birds today, but quite a variety. I'm looking forward to walking down in the morning with these stronger north winds and see what all stayed overnight!

Some of the more interesting sightings today were large flocks of swallows flying low over the trees feeding. I couldn't see what kind of insect they were preying on, but they were going after something. I kept expecting two of them to run into each other as fast as they were flying, but never saw a collision. A lone Anhinga flew overhead. There were three female and one male Rose-breasted Grosbeak at the feeders in the woods. They seem to like peanuts. While walking along the gully, a Belted Kingfisher flew in and announced his presence with his rattle call.

My BirdCam was quite active today. I put an empty card in around 4:00 on Sunday. At 6:00 pm tonight, it had 370 pictures on it! Here are a couple of my favorites:

American Redstart (female), Red-eyed Vireo (on fence), Baltimore Oriole, Tufted Titmouse, Black-and-white Warbler (right)

American Redstart (male)

And one from yesterday:

Golden-winged Warbler - a near-threatened warbler species

I have been very pleased with my BirdCam this spring! I'm glad I was able to provide some water for the birds. It's the best way to get photos of the widest variety of birds, but it also provides water that is hard to find with the drought conditions.

You can see all of my BirdCam images here.

Birds Seen 5/2/11 (51 species): Black-bellied Whistling-Duck, Anhinga, Great Egret, White Ibis, Turkey Vulture, Mississippi Kite, Cooper's Hawk, Red-shouldered Hawk, White-winged Dove, Mourning Dove, Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Common Nighthawk, Chimney Swift, Ruby-throated Hummingbird, Belted Kingfisher, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Downy Woodpecker, White-eyed Vireo, Red-eyed Vireo, Blue Jay, American Crow, Purple Martin, Tree Swallow, Cliff Swallow, Barn Swallow, Carolina Chickadee, Tufted Titmouse, Carolina Wren, Eastern Bluebird, Swainson's Thrush, Gray Catbird, Northern Mockingbird, European Starling, Cedar Waxwing, Golden-winged Warbler, Northern Parula, Yellow Warbler, Magnolia Warbler, Blackburnian Warbler, Black-and-white Warbler, American Redstart, Common Yellowthroat, Hooded Warbler, Summer Tanager, Northern Cardinal, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Indigo Bunting, Red-winged Blackbird, Brown-headed Cowbird, Baltimore Oriole, House Sparrow