White-winged Scoters
There seemed to be more warblers at Montrose today than on previous days. I didn’t count what I heard or saw but that was my general impression. Best was a singing male Hooded Warbler in the grove just east of the meadow. I also had a couple Cape May Warblers, my first of the year.
The Bell’s Vireo was in the peripheral plantings near the water feature. Unfortunately the bird wasn’t singing so it may be difficult to relocate.
I spent a few hours at Montrose this morning. It wasn’t as active as May 8 but I still ended up with 86 species, and I had almost 20(!) birds today that I didn’t see on Thursday. Here are my highlights:
Mute Swan – 3 flew in from the south and landed in the lake just off the beach
Northern Shoveler – 3 flying north over the lake
White-winged Scoter – 1 in the lake off the fishhook pier
Red-breasted Merganser – 11
Great Egret – 11, including a group of 8, all flying south
Northern Harrier – 1 immature flying south high over the point
Ruddy Turnstone – 2 on the beach
Laughing Gull – 1 adult flying south over the fishhook pier
Common Tern – 3
Red-headed Woodpecker – 1
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker – 1 female
Yellow-throated Vireo – 1
Philadelphia Vireo – 1
All 5 swallows, with most of the Cliffs and Banks moving south
Marsh Wren – 1
Northern Mockingbird – 1
Blue-winged Warbler – 1
Black-throated Blue Warbler – 1 male
Blackburnian Warbler – 1
Mourning Warbler – 1
Scarlet Tanager – 1 male, flew in off the lake and landed in the dunes
Lark Sparrow – 1, flew in off the lake and landed in the dunes
Dickcissel – 1 singing male
There seemed to be a fair amount of turnover between today and Thursday, with fewer White-crowned Sparrows, Catharus thrushes, Gray Catbirds, Brown Thrashers, Eastern Kingbirds, and Least Flycatchers today. Warblers are still scant.
White-rumped Sandpiper (click to see the larger version)
In addition to a Willet, there were a couple White-rumped Sandpipers on Montrose Beach on my May 8 Big Day. The shorebirds I saw in the afternoon pushed my total to 103. White-rumped Sandpipers are uncommon but regular, mostly spring visitors to Montrose Beach. This bird posed obligingly while I took its photo.
Willet at Montrose Beach (click to see the larger version)
I had 13 species of shorebirds on my May 8 Big Day, which helped bump my total to over 100. My 100th bird was this Willet, which I saw when I went back out in the afternoon. Willets are uncommon but regular spring and summer visitors to Montrose Beach.
I did a Big Day at Montrose on Thursday, May 8. This is the first Big Day I’ve ever done there. I’ve wanted to do a Montrose Big Day for a while but I either didn’t have the time or the weather wasn’t right. Today was different. I had the time and the weather cooperated. Last night’s south winds brought in a lot of birds, which is critical because doing a Big Day at Montrose depends almost entirely on migrants. I had no stake outs waiting for me, but there were a ton of migrants to work with. The only difference between today and any other day I bird Montrose is that today I 1) stayed longer and 2) paid close attention to every single bird I saw. I started at 5:30 a.m. and had to leave at 10 a.m. I went back out in the afternoon between 4 and 5 to check the beach for gulls and shorebirds. So I put in 5.5 hours, which is meager by Big Day standards. The area I covered included the beach, dunes, meadow, Magic Hedge, peripheral plantings, and east end of the harbor, and I walked between these areas. I ended up with 99 species in the morning and added 4 more in the afternoon for a total of 103. Here’s my list:
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Canada Goose Wood Duck Mallard Blue-winged Teal Red-breasted Merganser Horned Grebe Double-crested Cormorant Great Blue Heron Green Heron Cooper’s Hawk Peregrine Falcon American Coot Black-bellied Plover Semipalmated Plover Killdeer Greater Yellowlegs Lesser Yellowlegs Willet Solitary Sandpiper Spotted Sandpiper Least Sandpiper Pectoral Sandpiper Dunlin White-rumped Sandpiper Semipalmated Sandpiper Herring Gull Ring-billed Gull Great Black-backed Gull Common Tern Caspian Tern Mourning Dove Chimney Swift Red-headed Woodpecker Yellow-bellied Sapsucker Downy Woodpecker Northern Flicker Eastern Wood-Pewee Least Flycatcher Eastern Phoebe Great Crested Flycatcher Eastern Kingbird White-eyed Vireo Warbling Vireo Blue Jay American Crow Purple Martin Bank Swallow Barn Swallow Northern Rough-winged Swallow Black-capped Chickadee House Wren |
Sedge Wren Ruby-crowned Kinglet Blue-gray Gnatcatcher Gray-cheeked Thrush Veery Swainson’s Thrush Wood Thrush American Robin Gray Catbird Brown Thrasher European Starling American Pipit Cedar Waxwing Blue-winged Warbler Orange-crowned Warbler Nashville Warbler Northern Parula Yellow Warbler Chestnut-sided Warbler Magnolia Warbler Yellow-rumped Warbler Black-throated Green Warbler Palm Warbler Black-and-white Warbler American Redstart Northern Waterthrush Ovenbird Canada Warbler Wilson’s Warbler Common Yellowthroat Eastern Towhee Field Sparrow Chipping Sparrow Clay-colored Sparrow Savannah Sparrow Lincoln’s Sparrow Swamp Sparrow Song Sparrow White-crowned Sparrow White-throated Sparrow Northern Cardinal Rose-breasted Grosbeak Indigo Bunting Bobolink Red-winged Blackbird Common Grackle Brown-headed Cowbird Baltimore Oriole House Finch Americn Goldfinch House Sparrow |
I had decent shorebirds for the day. Going back out in the afternoon actually pushed my total to 100, the Willet being #100. Passerines were fairly strong in general, especially sparrows, and especially White-crowned Sparrows. Catharus thrushes were well represented too. I ended up with 17 species of warblers and I had to work hard for most of them. None were abundant. Vireos were poorly represented and wrens weren’t much better. You always miss things on Big Days though. Still, I think 120 is possible at Montrose on an exceptionally good day in May.
Red-throated Loon (click to see the larger version)
A basic type Red-throated Loon was in the lake just off the end of the fishhook pier this morning, April 9. The bird was swimming and diving between the many fishing lines that fishermen have put out, and I was worried that it would get tangled or worse take the bait. What a mess that would be, both for the loon and the fishermen. When I last saw the bird it was moving away from the lines, which made me feel a little better. I saw nothing else of note this morning.