More Spring Warblers
Can you stand some more warblers? I hope so!
These are from the past two weeks in my backyard. 😊
Northern Parula
Black-throated Blue Warbler
Black-throated Green Warbler
Black-throated Green Warbler
Magnolia Warbler
Blackburnian Warbler
American Redstart
Common Yellowthroat
(this warbler species usually stays and nests in the marsh behind our property)
Yellow Warbler
Pine Warbler
Northern Parula
Black-throated Green Warbler
Blackpoll Warbler
I’m sure you noticed most of the warblers are in a specific tree species. I figured out last Spring that if I watched these four trees around 8:45-9:30 a.m. on our forecasted migration push the previous night, the warblers would come. The tree tops become lit with sunlight at that time, so insects are easier to see and be gobbled quickly as the warblers flit and flutter through them. And then like the snap of the fingers, the warblers move on. This year was the exact scenario.
I know I asked before but cannot remember the answer, who can tell me the tree species? (Eliza?) I’ll make a note this time and promise not forget!
I might get lucky in the next week or so with a few more warblers, but they have mostly pretty much flown through my coop! 😉
And finally, a bit of humor to round out my warbler Spring season.
😁
Leave Nothing But Footprints – #7 Chesapeake Forest Lands
This is my contribution for Heavens Sunshine’s weekly challenge, “One Step At A Time”.
So come along and hike with me, one step at a time!
Chesapeake Forest Lands, North Tara Rd, Federalsburg, Maryland
On my recent birding post Spring Warblers and More – May 9, this will share one of the four forest lands’ tracts Cristina and I birded that morning for the Dorchester County Bird Count.
The Chesapeake Forest Lands currently consists of 75,376 acres divided into 187 Management Units (Complexes) distributed across six counties on Maryland’s eastern shore. This includes more than 6,000 acres of wetlands and comprise portions of 23 separate watersheds.
These lands contain established populations of 150 threatened and endangered species, as well as being abundant with deer, turkey and waterfowl. Chesapeake Forest Lands are also dual-certified for sustainable forest management.
And, obviously, they are amazing for hiking!
We were walking this specific trail in hopes of locating a recent sighting of a Barred Owl to add for the day’s count. Unfortunately, we didn’t find one.
The late morning in this deep forest was cool and crisp, only a couple birds were singing. It was a wonderful leisure forest walk.
As we kept our eyes peeled for anything and everything of interest besides birds, Cristina spotted something new to us both and quite pretty!
Do you know what this is below?
I thought it was a flower of some type. Boy, was I wrong!
If you, too, don’t know, this is actually a Wool Sower Wasp Gall. What??!!
I’ve since learned these galls are found at low level, typically less than six feet from the ground, on freshly leafed-out White Oak, just as this one. They are found across the eastern and central United States and into southeastern Canada.
Per Maryland DNR’s Wildlife & Heritage Service, “The female wasp lays an egg in the stem of a White Oak tree. When the young hatch, an enzymic reaction takes place that causes the tree to form this Wool Sower gall. If you were to take this apart, you would see tiny seed-like structures that house the baby wasps.”
The galls do not harm the host trees, so the recommended practice is simply to leave them alone to complete their life cycle.
Mother Nature never ceases to amaze me!
Take a hike, short or long, one step at a time.
Mother Nature promises to reward you.
And please remember~~
Leave nothing but footprints.
Kill nothing but time.
Prothonotary Warblers
After birding the Chesapeake Forest Lands North Tara Rd on May 9 (my last post), I headed off on my own to two more locations in Dorchester County to continue participating in the Spring Count for eBird.
There’s a nice little swamp that I thought might produce some more species for my count, specifically the Prothonotary Warbler. They love a swampy setting, and although I’ve not checked there in the past nor heard of anyone seeing any there, my hopes were high on my list for the time of the year. There was no pull-off, so I had to park off the road onto a grassy shoulder and walk back.
Woohoo, I was not disappointed and on Cloud 9!
The first photo is the female, she popped out after all the male’s chatter; the rest are of the male with his rusty crown.
Givin’ me the eye!
There’s a possible chance this couple is breeding here. The male immediately popped out of the swamp scene to defend his territory, with a couple times swooping at my head flying across. I did a quick photo session and bid farewell, to leave them to their swampy, quiet home. What a memory, a bird I’ve only seen a couple times!
Spring Warblers and More – May 9
The Spring Warblers are passing through our area on their migration north. During this time, us birders get what we call ‘warbler neck’! 😜
Our Maryland county bird clubs participate in Spring and Fall counts every year for eBird during migration periods at established areas.
May 9 was Dorchester County’s bird count; Cristina and I birded four hours in the Chesapeake Forest Lands North Tara Rd, Federalsburg. We confirmed 42 species in the deep forest.
Lots of beauties! First the warblers…..
Worm-eating Warbler
Prairie Warbler
Prairie Warbler – See my wing!
Louisiana Waterthrush
Ovenbird
Black-and-white Warbler
Pine Warbler
And the others…..
Indigo Bunting
Eastern Towhee
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Eastern Wood-Pewee
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Yellow-breasted Chat
White-eyed Vireo
American Goldfinch (female)
These captured and the others must have wondered, what are these two female creatures walking our forest?!!
Next up, a pair of Prothonotarys…
1-2-3 Medium Bird Jubilee – #29
These three seed-eating birds share a large conical beak for power-crushing those big seeds.
The cardinals are my year-round buddies, but the other two are summer residents just arriving to my backyard!
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Blue Grosbeak
Northern Cardinal
Another shot of the Rose-breasted Grosbeak who I spotted at my feeders yesterday, he made my day!
Rose-breasted Grosbeak (male)
Apologies, things have been hectic with personal family problems; I’m going to try to get back to posting and catching up with your posts too, I miss them!
Five On The Wing – #42
It’s hard to think of better things
when watching birds fly on the wing
the wind so strong it blows them here
in dips and circles and far and near.
~~, excerpt from “Birds on the Wing”
Belted Kingfisher
(hunting the backyard marsh pond)
Red-breasted Nuthatch
(my pair just left week ago, they were a joy!)
Blue Jay
(I always hear & know when they are around)
Western Cattle Egret
(they started arriving last week)
Cedar Waxwings
(one of my favorite year-round birds to photograph)
Spring Birds and Blooms
It was the first of week of April when we began seeing this year’s first Spring peeks of tree buds and blooms.
Today it’s as if Mother Nature snapped her fingers *click* and the trees are all leafed up!
During the last three weeks, I tried to capture some nice compositions of birds surrounded by the tree buds or blooms in my backyard.
Here’s the photos I liked the most. They are in date order to see the changes of the trees as well.
Blue Jay
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
White-throated Sparrow
Northern Cardinal
Tufted Titmouse
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher (arrived two weeks ago, staying until fall)
Carolina Chickadee
White-eyed Vireo (arrived three days ago, staying until fall)
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Now the challenges of all those leaves that are getting bigger and bigger by the day, hiding the birds! 😉
Leave Nothing But Footprints – #6 Lazy H Campground
This is my contribution for Heaven’s Sunshine’s weekly challenge, “One Step At A Time”.
So come along and hike with me, one step at a time!
Lazy H Campground, Akron, Iowa
Over a mile of intertwining forest trails
Back in 2021 when we were crisscrossing the United States in our RV, we pulled into Lazy H Campground to rest up for a couple days after driving two long days.
The next morning, their trails were calling! So off we went to refresh our legs and explore the forest trails behind the campground.
A beautiful invite to hike!
My husband suddenly stopped me and told me not to move. Off in the distance, he saw what was possibly a mountain lion or bobcat resting atop a downed tree! I then saw it too.
My husband had me back up behind him, and we slowly went back around the bend and then hightailed it back to the campground. We soon saw a campground worker and went directly to him to alert and report what we saw!
He started laughing, telling us there were all kinds of surprises in the woods. He assured we were safe, there definitely were not any lions or bobcats in the area.
And then he enlightened us about one of the campground’s “family fun” was to take a hike through their ‘walking safari’, where they have placed life-size ‘wildlife’ throughout the woods, on the ground, eye level and up in the trees, as if they were in their natural habitat. He guessed the front desk at check-in forgot to mention the wildlife safari. They had forgot.
Yep, we were bumbling east coast fools! 😂
Laughing (and embarrassed!), we turned back around and went back on the trail, and this time I took photos of what we saw of that wild cat.
It sure did look real from a lot further back with the naked eye! 🤣
Life-size, stuffed toy tiger
Spread out and far apart, some “animals” were easy to spot and some were not. When you hadn’t seen one for a bit, it was then you knew you really had to look to find it.
But real wildlife was also around, and I went back to concentrating on what was alive!
My four favorite ‘real’ wildlife shots from the beautiful, intertwining “safari” trails~~
White-tailed Deer (real!)
Red-headed Woodpecker (real!)
Yellow Warbler collecting nesting materials (real!)
Eastern Tiger Swallowtail
Take a hike, short or long, one step at a time.
Mother Nature promises to reward you.
And please remember~~
Leave nothing but footprints.
Kill nothing but time.
1-2-3 Medium Bird Jubilee – #28
More on the lines of handsome and beautiful for these common medium-sized birds in my backyard.
Gray Catbird
(popping out of hiding)
Cedar Waxwings
(drinking water around pump on our pool cover, ignoring my bird baths 😏)
Brown Thrasher
(a pair is nesting in the marsh thicket background of this photo)
Northern Mockingbird
(my backyard “mayors” hunting insects & keeping tabs on intruders; I think they like me 😉 )
Belted Kingfisher
(female ID’d by rust-colored belly band, fishing the marsh pond)
Comparing Bird Couples – #2
With some birds, it appears there’s almost no way of telling which is male and female by looks alone. Some may have just slight, maybe hardly noticeable differences. And for others, it’s quite obvious between the two sexes. The reasons for this are simple.
The male and female of a bird species that looks different (sexual dimorphism) is because of their mating, behavior, and survival pressures. The males develop bright plumage and songs to attract females and fight rivals, while females are drab for camouflage while nesting and brooding. These birds usually do not mate for life.
Bird species where both sexes look alike (monomorphism) often share high nesting duties with nest building, incubating eggs and protecting territory as well as hunting, making camouflage equally important for both sexes. They will also mate for life.
When birds sexes do look different, we often associate the bird with the male’s look and gorgeous coloring. Learning the females can be difficult sometimes as they look no way near like their mate. However, when they look alike, learning what is the slight difference that tells you it’s a female is the ID key.
Compare for yourself!
Northern Cardinals
(male left, female right)
Red-bellied Woodpeckers
(male has red on head/nape, female only on nape)
Northern Flickers, Yellow-shafted
(male has black ‘mustache’, female not)
Eastern Towhee, Red-eyed
(male on left, female on right)
House Finches
(male on left, female on right)
Bay Photos by Donna 