Just A Few Notes from May 10

This morning there weren't many birds moving. I'm thinking spring migration is winding down to the end. I still haven't seen or heard a Yellow-billed Cuckoo. Hopefully they'll start singing soon!

Probably the most interesting bird I saw today was while I was looking out of the bathroom window waiting for the shower to warm up! Four Mississippi Kites were flying around over the woods. One had something in his talons and was eating it on the wing. That was pretty neat. I kept trying to turn one of them into a Swallow-tailed Kite, but couldn't!

The SY male Purple Martin was back this morning with a female. He was singing and going to the house. She never landed on the house, although she had a couple of close fly-bys. I've known of martins to start nest as late as the last week of May, but that's not very common. We'll see . . .

Birds seen May 10 (30 Species): Great Egret, Little Blue Heron, Cattle Egret, White Ibis, Black Vulture, Turkey Vulture, Mississippi Kite, Red-shouldered Hawk, Laughing Gull, Eurasian Collared-Dove, Mourning Dove, Barred Owl, Chimney Swift, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Downy Woodpecker, White-eyed Vireo, Red-eyed Vireo, Blue Jay, Purple Martin, Northern Rough-winged Swallow, Barn Swallow, Carolina Chickadee, Tufted Titmouse, Carolina Wren, Eastern Bluebird, Northern Mockingbird, Northern Parula, Magnolia Warbler, Kentucky Warbler, Northern Cardinal

'08 Property Birds as of May 10: 118
'04 Property Birds as of May 10: 105

Pretty Quiet These Days

Things are pretty quiet around the property these days. I haven't been down in the woods in a long time, mainly because of the mosquitoes and because I've been very busy. The juvenile bluebirds continue to feed in our front yard. The Eurasian Collared-Doves have obviously had a successful breeding season. The numbers of ECDo at my feeders has increased by six in the past couple of weeks. I still occasionally see a Mourning Dove and a couple of Inca Doves at my feeders. The House Sparrow numbers have gone up, which I'm not excited about at all. It is fun to look out and see the cardinals feeding their newly fledged youngsters.

It won't be long befire the hummingbirds show up again! Just another month or so and I'll be mixing sugar water every day. Come out and see them this year!