Warblers At Last

On Saturday, I went to Kennedy Forest in Forest Park to see what migrants I could find. After seeing some yellow-rumps and a northern parula, we met with another birder who told us where he had seen most of his birds. Going down to a little creek, and there meeting another birder, we saw Indigo Buntings, a swainson's thrush, and tennessee warblers. Meeting the first two birders with yet another, we saw a nashville warbler, and, going off with the second one, saw a rose-breasted grosbeak and a cardinal, both eating from the same tree. I should mention at this point how amazing these birders were at identifying birds by sound. The one we were with heard a white-eyed vireo, and sure enough, after searching a while, there one was. We birded a little while longer, but it had gotten very hot by that point, so we went back to the car after quite a successful trip!

I apologise for the blurriness, but warblers are fast!(A tennessee)

A rose-breasted grosbeak

This is a tree growing in another tree. I believe it has something to do with the Osage.I hope your spring migration is going well!

More Spring

Yesterday I observed a slightly orange variant house finch in my yard. I believe this is due to malnutrition.

See the green? Spring is on it's way here at least.Also, some cowbird pictures, and a male and female red-winged blackbird. The Missouri Department of Conservation calender has the females returning on the 22nd, so not too far off. It's a great calendar, and predicted my junco arrival to within a couple days.

I think this is a cowbird. I saw it a couple weeks ago, and I assume it is a young male.

Male and female red-winged blackbirds.

The goldfinches are yellowing up!

I hope to soon have a post full of colorful migrants, or at least a description of some colorful migrants. Well, I guess it's a little to early to hope for that, but the weather sure has warmed up here. See you later!

Woodpecker

This is an unidentified (presumably immature) woodpecker that was in my backyard in Michigan this summer. At least I assume it's a woodpecker. My best guess would be a juvenile yellow-bellied sapsucker. While its wing was spread out in an awkward fashion, it did not seem to be injured, and later flew off quite easily.

Any thoughts?

(I posted on the Michigan listserv about this, and it was confirmed to be a juvenile yellow-bellied sapsucker)

Snowbirds

We have had a lot of snow in our area over the past few days, and the birds were really taking advantage of the feeders. At some points I could count fifteen or so each of white-throated sparrows and dark-eyed juncos, and there were flickers, downys (downies?), carolina wrens, and, surprisingly, grackles and starlings. I will post later with pictures of the snowy scenes, and I encourage you to participate in the Great Backyard Bird Count (Feb. 13-16). This will be my first year, and I am looking forward to it!

Did you notice that I changed my title picture?

Powder Valley

This weekend, I went to Powder Valley nature center, since I heard that siskins and purple finches could be seen there. No purple finches for me, but the pine siskins looked great in the morning light.


There were also cardinals, blue jays, juncos, titmice, chickadees, downy, possibly hairy, and red-bellied woodpeckers, along with white-throated sparrows, mourning doves, goldfinches, and an unidentified hawk.




However, the real treat came at the end, when I was walking one of the trails. There was a medium sized brown bird that I followed for a long time (mostly off the trail) until I finally got a good look at it(most of the time it had its back to me). The tail-flicking and rusty wing and tail edges (I'm sure there is a taxonomically correct word for those; possibly coverts?) identified is as a Hermit Thrush, a new bird for me. To end with, here is a picture of a carolina wren I took a week or so ago. They will sit on this chair right beside the kitchen window before going to the feeders.

Riverlands

These are some pictures from my trip to Riverlands Migratory bird sanctuary. They are trumpeter swans. The gray ones are juveniles. We also had an American White Pelican fly by, and ring-necked ducks, common goldeneyes, american black ducks, mallards, and the gadwall I mentioned in my last post.

A different kind of crossbill.

Doesn't this eagle look like its dirty?

A clean bald eagle.