Female Connecticut warbler by Connor Hawey
May 23rd: We banded 32 birds of 16 species today which we consider good for this late in the season. Flycatchers continue to be abundant including eastern-wood pewees and some Empidonax species as well. We were visited by 27 students from Western Secondary School who enjoyed seeing a wood thrush and an American redstart up close.
May 24th: A quieter morning but great weather! A whip-poor-will was observed calling then flying away in the netting area. Otherwise, it was a quiet morning. During the census, Patrick saw the US Brig Niagara sailing on the horizon; she looked good in the haze.
May 25th: The numbers and variety of warblers and other migrants seem to have dropped today, however, there are now lots of yellow-billed cuckoos around. Red-eyed vireos and flycatchers are present too.
May 26th: Quite a few cedar waxwings today. Connor observed a large flock of black-bellied plover. A female Connecticut warbler was banded. A large flock of blackbirds was observed on the census.
May 27th: Several Black-billed cuckoos were observed along with a black-throated green warbler. Magnolia and Canada warblers were also observed. Cuckoos were noted on the census as well. On the census, a pair of grey fox kits were observed playing before running into the woods. Their facial markings are very interesting!
May 28th: Another quiet but hot morning – the lack of wind made things uncomfortable. Still, 46 species were observed this morning including an orchard oriole.
May 29th: Another very hot morning thanks to a lack of wind. The census was quiet, except for the red-winged blackbirds of course, until we stepped onto the west beach: we counted 28 American white pelicans among the many gulls. There are still some migrants passing through but it has slowed down. We banded 3 Swainson’s thrushes and observed a hooded warbler in the netting area.
May 30th: Lovely weather but the birds are quite quiet with 43 species observed overall. We had a black-crowned night-heron on the census. Four birds were banded today: black-billed cuckoo, American robin, yellow warbler and a red-winged blackbird.
Reminder: PIBO has started uploading our census data to eBird (only the census as it fits the eBird protocol). As the census takes place at Fish Point Nature Preserve, all data are reported to that “hotspot” and can be viewed here: https://ebird.org/hotspot/L761132 As an added bonus to the streamlined data collection, we get to share what we are seeing each day.
