There was a fair amount of activity at Montrose this morning, May 30. I didn’t stay long but I did see or hear Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Alder, Least, and Great Crested Flycatchers, Swainson’s Thrush, Veery, multiple Mourning, Canada, and Wilson’s Warblers, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, and a late male Rose-breasted Grosbeak.
Author Archives: rhughes
May 26, 2014
Montrose was very good this morning. I ended up with 16 species of warblers and there were good numbers of flycatchers too. I also had a few bonus birds. Here are my highlights:
Yellow-billed Cuckoo – ~5 and very vocal
Red-bellied Woodpecker – 1
Eastern Wood-Pewee – ~12
Alder Flycatcher – ~10
Willow Flycatcher – 3
Yellow-bellied Flycatcher – 1
Least Flycatcher – 1
Great Crested Flycatcher – 1
Eastern Bluebird – 1
Gray-cheeked Thrush – 1
Veery – 1
Swainson’s Thrush – ~5
Northern Mockingbird – 1 in the dunes
Tennessee Warbler – 3
Northern Parula – 1
Chestnut-sided Warbler – 3
Magnolia Warbler – ~6
Black-throated Blue Warbler – 1 female
Blackburnian Warbler – 1 female
Palm Warbler – 1
Bay-breasted Warbler – 1 female
Blackpoll Warbler – 3
American Redstart – ~25
Mourning Warbler – ~5
Connecticut Warbler – 1 female
Canada Warbler – ~8
Wilson’s Warbler – ~6
Savannah Sparrow – ~15
Nelson’s Sparrow – 1 in the dunes
Lincoln’s Sparrow – 1
Swamp Sparrow – 1
White-throated Sparrow – 1
Meadowlark sp. – 1
Bobolink – 2, male and female
Connecticut Warbler, May 21, 2014
Connecticut Warbler (click to see the larger version)
Montrose is one of the best places to see Connecticut Warblers anywhere. I was fortunate enough to see and photograph the bird at right on my May 21 Big Day.
Least Bittern, May 21, 2014
Least Bittern (click to see the larger version)
One of the better birds I had on my May 21 Big Day was a Least Bittern. Least Bitterns are rare but regular, mostly spring migrants at Montrose. This bird, a female as evidenced by the brown back, had been hanging around the dunes for a couple days. When I photographed her she was in the pool of water next to the fishhook pier, at times right out in the open, behavior uncharacteristic of this species.
Montrose Big Day Part II – 103 Species, May 21, 2014
I ran another Big Day at Montrose today, May 21. My first Big Day on May 8 yielded 103 species in 5.5 hours, split between 4.5 hours in the morning and an hour in the afternoon. Today I started at 5:30 a.m. and ended at 10 for the morning shift, and again from 4 to 5 p.m. for the afternoon shift, so I started and ended at the same time and did the same number of hours as my May 8 attempt. I ended up with 103 species, the same as last time. I couldn’t have picked a better day to do a Big Day as Montrose was loaded with birds. I haven’t seen passerine numbers like this in some years. Every tree and shrub seemed to be dripping with warblers. Here’s my complete list:
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Canada Goose Mallard Blue-winged Teal Red-breasted Merganser Double-crested Cormorant Great Blue Heron Green Heron Least Bittern Black-crowned Night-Heron Cooper’s Hawk American Coot Black-bellied Plover Semipalmated Plover Killdeer Spotted Sandpiper Least Sandpiper White-rumped Sandpiper Semipalmated Sandpiper Dunlin Short-billed Dowitcher Sanderling Herring Gull Ring-billed Gull Forster’s Tern Caspian Tern Mourning Dove Chimney Swift Downy Woodpecker Black-billed Cuckoo Olive-sided Flycatcher Eastern Wood-Pewee Least Flycatcher Alder Flycatcher Willow Flycatcher Yellow-bellied Flycatcher Great Crested Flycatcher Eastern Kingbird Red-eyed Vireo Philadelphia Vireo Warbling Vireo Purple Martin Bank Swallow Barn Swallow Northern Rough-winged Swallow Tree Swallow Cliff Swallow Black-capped Chickadee Marsh Wren Ruby-crowned Kinglet Blue-gray Gnatcatcher Gray-cheeked Thrush Veery |
Swainson’s Thrush Wood Thrush American Robin Gray Catbird European Starling Cedar Waxwing Orange-crowned Warbler Nashville Warbler Tennessee Warbler Northern Parula Yellow Warbler Chestnut-sided Warbler Magnolia Warbler Yellow-rumped Warbler Black-throated Blue Warbler Blackburnian Warbler Bay-breasted Warbler Blackpoll Warbler Cape May Warbler Palm Warbler Black-and-white Warbler American Redstart Northern Waterthrush Ovenbird Canada Warbler Wilson’s Warbler Common Yellowthroat Yellow-breasted Chat Mourning Warbler Connecticut Warbler Chipping Sparrow Clay-colored Sparrow Savannah Sparrow Lincoln’s Sparrow Swamp Sparrow Song Sparrow White-crowned Sparrow White-throated Sparrow Grasshopper Sparrow Northern Cardinal Indigo Bunting Bobolink Dickcissel Scarlet Tanager Red-winged Blackbird Common Grackle Brown-headed Cowbird Baltimore Oriole Orchard Oriole American Goldfinch |
I had 98 species in the morning and 5 more when I went back in the afternoon. The 5 additional birds I had in the afternoon were Cliff Swallow, Black-crowned Night-Heron, American Coot, Northern Parula, and White-throated Sparrow. Unlike last time I checked the Golf Course Pond, which added the Night-Heron. I also had 24 species of warblers, which is the best I’ve done at Montrose in a long time.
Willets and Olive-sided Flycatcher, May, 12, 2014
Willets (click to see the larger version)
I went over to Montrose this evening to check the beach for shorebirds and found 8 Willets inside the protected area. They were very close to the fishhook pier. I also had an Olive-sided Flycatcher near the Magic Hedge, among many more common passerines.