Highlights:
Warblers – Chimney Swift – Ruby-throated Hummingbird – Blue Jay
A Yellow-rumped Warbler hawking (catching flying insects on the wing). Photo by Charlotte R. Catalano
Warbler migration has finally begun in earnest! Northern Parula, Common Yellowthroat, Ovenbird, Northern Waterthrush, Blackburnian, Chestnut-sided, Yellow, Wilson’s, and Canada Warbler have all shown in the past week. Yellow-rumped, Black-throated Green, Black-throated Blue, Nashville, Tennessee, Palm, Pine, Magnolia, Cape May, and Black-and-white Warbler, as well as American Redstart, continue to be found calling, singing, and flitting about in increasing numbers. Finally, one doesn’t have to look far and wide for warblers with the songbirds almost seeming to come to to the birder than vice versa.
A Chimney Swift caught flying over the Point in migration. Photo by Charlotte R. Catalano
Rose-breasted Grosbeak’s melodious song can be heard throughout the woods alongside Least Flycatcher’s whit call. The twittering call of the Chimney Swift continues to be heard here and there as the swift’s migration continues.
The first Ruby-throated Hummingbird arrived on May 18. In the past few days, the tiny birds have been documented at both the hawk platform and waterbird shack, a great sign that there are more to come.
Blue Jay continue to migrate by the hundreds with over 7,500 counted at the waterbird shack alone so far this season, the majority flying by in the past couple weeks. I truly enjoy these intrepid corvids when they flock–they fill part of the sky, and when a threat like a Sharp-shinned Hawk or Peregrine Falcon is detected, all the jays dive into the trees, each individual sounding like a miniature missile that forms one wave-like sound that can be mistaken for Lake Superior lapping up against the shore.
– Charlotte R. Catalano, WPBO Field Ornithologist
Featured Photo: A Black-throated Green Warbler hawking (catching insects on the wing). Photo by Charlotte R. Catalano
