19 May Migration

So migration has been slowww this spring. Today was better though, with over a dozen warbler species between Arapaho and Prairie Creek. The predawn rains probably halted some of the migrants. Finally picked up Bay-breasted Warbler, first one of the spring I've seen. And only the SECOND Ovenbird of the whole spring!! Today's finds at Prairie Creek:

Great Egret - 1 dropped down onto the lawn and proceeded to snatch a poor Carolina Anole from his display perch
Yellow-billed Cuckoo - 2
Black-chinned Hummingbird - 1 male
Eastern Wood-Pewee - 2++
Yellow-bellied Flycatcher - 2
"Traill's" Flycatcher
Least Flycatcher
Great Crested Flycatcher
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher - 1
Gray-cheeked Thrush - 2-3 including a singer
Swainson's Thrush - 10+
Gray Catbird - 4
Blue-headed Vireo - 2+
Warbling Vireo - 1-2
Red-eyed Vireo - 5+
Yellow Warbler - 3
Chestnut-sided Warbler - 3-4
Magnolia Warbler - 8
Black-throated Green Warbler - 6-8
Blackburnian Warbler - 2-3 ad male, 2 fem/imm
Bay-breasted Warbler - 1 fem/imm
American Redstart - 1 ad male, 1 imm male, 3-4 fem/imm
Ovenbird - 1
Mourning Warbler - 1 ad m, 1 fem/imm
Common Yellowthroat - 2 fem/imm
Wilson's Warbler - 10
Canada Warbler - 1 fem/imm
Rose-breasted Grosbeak - 1 HO
Baltimore Oriole - 2

Derek

11 May Migrants

Slow migration yesterday at Prairie Creek, only 3 species of warblers

Yellow-breasted Chat - 1, singing
Nashville Warbler
Yellow Warbler
Swainson's Thrush

another BRSP pic

Here's another Brewer's Sparrow pic, although this is from southwest Nebraska 19 September 2006. Out of the dozens or hundreds of Clay-colored and lesser numbers of Chipping I saw passing through western Nebraska that fall, I only saw one or two Brewer's and Field, so I took a pic. Fall birds are in fresher plumage than spring and I'm not sure if this is an adult or 1st yr bird.

Blue-winged Warbler!

Birding was slow today but the appearance of a Blue-winged Warbler spiced it up. Migrants from Arapaho Park and Prairie Creek Park, Dallas/Collin Co's., Texas:

Prairie Creek Park
-------
Eastern Wood-Pewee
Least Flycatcher
Ruby-crowned Kinglet - 1
Swainson's Thrush - 4
Gray Catbird - 1
BLUE-WINGED WARBLER - 1 fem/imm
Nashville Warbler - 1-2
Tennessee Warbler - 1
Black-and-white Warbler - 1
American Redstart - 1-2
Yellow Warbler - 1-2
Common Yellowthroat - 1
Magnolia Warbler - 3
Orange-crowned Warbler - 1, getting late
Wilson's Warbler
Northern Waterthrush - 1

Arapaho Park
--------
Green Heron - 1
Least Flycatcher
Eastern Phoebe - pair feeding 2 fledglings
Warbling Vireo - 5
American Redstart - 1
Magnolia Warbler - 2-3
Wilson's Warbler - 5
Chestnut-sided Warbler - 1
Yellow Warbler - 5
Common Yellowthroat - 1

-DH

Thanks to the westerly winds...

Crappy pics of the Brewer's Sparrow from the hood yesterday. Despite the poor photos that don't seem quite accurate, in person the ID was quite obvious, and on first sight the first thing that popped into my head was Cassin's/Brewer's Sparrow as this bird peered out of our sage bush, then moving up to the top twig for several seconds of clear view. When I caught sight of it's relatively shorter, notched tail I knew this was no Cassin's, it was a fine Brewer's Sparrow! Very dull face pattern, nice white eyering, and overall low contrast grayish sandy plumage. It hopped up onto the fence for a couple minutes for stunning looks. Got great looks at the finely streaked crown completely lacking white median stripe, very dull face pattern and overall plumage. Nape/sides of neck were NOT outstanding smooth gray as in a CCSP - on this bird it was just a dull sandy grayish with fine streaking blending it with the mantle and crown. Awesome bird and probably the 1st documented NCTX record of this species. These photos were taken a short while after the initial find as the bird moved from yard to yard but stayed in the same general area... I think it didn't want to stray too far from it's little slice of home aka the backyard sage bush! Photos taken 8 May 2007, Richardson, Dallas Co., Texas.

Conditions sucked for photography -these were taken with handheld Nikon A40 2mp camera held up to Leica 8x42 binoculars, in difficult light. The appearance of a dark whisker in the top photo was due to the shaded, backlit conditions... in all other views it seemed very faint or barely visible. In the same photo you can see some of the streaks on the sides of the neck. Compare pic of BRSP here which shows how much bolder the dark whisker can look in shade vs light.

-DH

Migrants 7 May 2007

17 warbler species today and a LATE Swamp Sparrow

Prairie Creek Park, Dallas/Collin Co's., Texas
---------------
(Prothonotary Warbler) - 1 reported by others
Yellow Warbler
Wilson's Warbler
Canada Warbler - 2
Tennessee Warbler
Nashville Warbler
Black-and-white Warbler
Black-throated Green Warbler
Chestnut-sided Warbler
Blackburnian Warbler
Ovenbird
Common Yellowthroat
Mourning Warbler
American Redstart
Magnolia Warbler
Eastern Phoebe
Great Crested Flycatcher
Traill's Flycatcher
Blue-headed Vireo
Philadelphia Vireo
Baltimore Oriole

Arapaho Park, Dallas Co.
-----------
Canada Warbler - 3
American Redstart - 2
Wilson's Warbler
Yellow Warbler
Black-throated Green Warbler
Black-and-white Warbler
Northern Waterthrush
Tennessee Warbler
Nashville Warbler
Chestnut-sided Warbler
Northern Parula
Common Yellowthroat
Magnolia Warbler
Franklin's Gull - 3
Yellow-crowned Night-Heron - 1
Yellow-billed Cuckoo - 1
Eastern Wood-Pewee - 1
Eastern Phoebe - 2
Great Crested Flycatcher
Yellow-bellied Flycatcher - 1
Least Flycatcher
"Traill's" Flycatcher
Cedar Waxwing - 5
Philadelphia Vireo - 1
Warbling Vireo - 1
Red-eyed Vireo - 1
Summer Tanager - 1 fem.
Baltimore Oriole - 5++
Orchard Oriole - 5++
Swamp Sparrow - 1, Late
White-crowned Sparrow - 1 ssp. leucophrys

-DH