Monday, September 21, 2020

BillBow's Bird Journal - Single Tear Edition

It was a great weekend for birding here in mid-Michigan. For a change, I ditched Walnut Hills CC and decided to check out the Towar Nature Preserve—200 dense, protected woodland acres hiding in plain sight just two minutes from our home. I had seen in the Audubon app a black-billed cuckoo was sighted there recently. That would be a life bird for me, and I thought it could also be a promising spot to find some migrating warblers.

I've never really attempted to ID fall warblers before, and I was fixed on that mission...until these two bald eagles wheeling high overhead had other ideas. Luckily, my sometimes-popular wife was ready with her camera.


After wiping a single tear and turning my lenses away from the majestic duo, I did manage to tally some of the warblers flitting along the preserve's margins. For the weekend, I ID-ed six, though there were two others that stumped me. Best of all, two immature black-throated green warblers represented a new LIFE BIRD, and my career list inches ever closer to 200. 

Two thrushes, a Swainson's and a gray-cheeked, were also highlights. If there was a cuckoo in the vicinity, it succeeded in eluding me.

Bird log, 09/18-20/2020

Warblers
Common yellowthroat
Wilson's warbler
Black-throated green warbler
American redstart
Magnolia warbler
Nashville warbler

Non-warblers
Pileated woodpecker
Blue jay
American crow
Black-capped chickadee
White-breasted nuthatch
European starling
Gray catbird
American goldfinch
White-throated sparrow
Rose-breasted grosbeak
Turkey vulture
Bald eagle
Red-tailed hawk
Downy woodpecker
Red-bellied woodpecker
Tufted titmouse
Gray-cheeked thrush
Carolina wren
Swainson's thrush
American robin
Song sparrow
Northern cardinal
Canada goose

nwb


Soaring eagles courtesy of Alexandra Hidalgo

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