Normally by now, Warbling Vireos would be strung all along the river singing vigourously….but so far, we have encountered only a few.
We like to share the census around. The census consists of a “bird walk” which follows the same route and is done about the same time each day. It should last between 60 and 75 minutes. The birds recorded during this walk help determine the Estimated Total for the various species seen. Today I pulled rank and decided that I would do it. It’s a nice way to really see (and hear) what’s around. This morning….there still wasn’t much. Despite a lot of effort I could turn up only 3 warbler species and they were local breeders: Yellow Warblers, Common Yellowthroat, and Blue-winged Warbler. I saw only 1 Baltimore Oriole. No thrushes. No Vireos. No Tanagers.
Note the greatly reduced primary – “P10” – marking this definitively as a Warbling Vireo (vs Philadelphia Vireo).
The only “new” bird I came across was an Eastern Wood Pewee. As it should, it sallied out from a perch in the understory to hawk an insect and then returned to the perch. But it was all by itself and didn’t call. Finally, it flew off deeper along the Fox Den Trail.
I was hard put to see what kind of insects it could be hawking. My first thought was Mosquitoes….yikes! Ruthven was carved out of the Haldimand Slough Forest – woods growing on clay pocked with small ponds (“sloughs”) that slowly flow into each other. These sloughs are good habitat for a large number of plants and animals….and great for mosquitoes. Before too long, hiking the trails will be uncomfortable as these pesky insects will emerge in droves. Birding is much more difficult then. On the other hand, mosquitoes are a terrific food source for birds and large numbers of migrants tend to coincide with mosquitoe emergence. Like most things in life, there’s a trade-off.
This morning’s coffee clatch between net rounds….talking amongst themselves.
My “bird hike”/census only turned up 39 species but the joy of strolling in mosquito-free forest was worth it.
Rachael with a Baltimore Oriole – one of the (10) birds in her study.
Banded 30:
2 Ruby-crowned Kinglets
1 Eastern Bluebird
1 Warbling Vireo
3 Yellow Warblers
1 Common Yellowthroat
3 Rose-breasted Grosbeaks
2 Chipping Sparrows
1 White-throated Sparrow
1 Eastern White-crowned Sparrow
1 Brown-headed Cowbird
14 American Goldfinches
ET’s: 55 spp.
Rick