Migration seems to be delayed by 5-10 days in our area but has been steady and extremely enjoyable. This past week we have had more new year birds for the Callaway Nature Preserve.
One of the highlights was a group of Wilson’s Warblers, a little yellow warbler with a neat black cap that looks like slicked back hair.
Wilson’s Warbler - taken at a forest preserve, not our backyard
Note: Updated photo because originally posted the same one as the other day 
The other major highlight was a Black-throated Blue Warbler that hung around all day Wednesday.
Other notable birds included: Chestnut-sided and Magnolia Warblers, Ovenbird, Swainson’s and Gray-cheeked Thrushes, and a lot of activity with the local nesters: Downy Woodpecker, Gray Catbird, House Wren, and Northern Cardinal.
Water-logged Ovenbird
Making our third survey of the week, we did Deer Run Bird Survey #13 on Sunday, May 18th. It was by far our best survey yet in number of species as well as warbler diversity.
Wilson’s Warbler
We spent over six hours hiking and covered more than 7 miles. We were delighted to find four Henslow’s Sparrows and pleasantly surprised to find a Bobolink. Other interesting finds included Yellow-breasted Chat, Black-billed Cuckoo, and many Empidonax Flycatchers. We had 18 warblers total and four vireos.
Bobolink
We found a Red-breasted Nuthatch (a little late for them to still be here). Another cool find was a Gray-cheeked Thrush singing and hopping around in the brush. We found 674 birds of 85 species. That brings our overall total species count to 121 and 4925 individuals.
New Birds for the Count:
- Black-billed Cuckoo
- Black-throated Green Warbler
- Blackburnian Warbler
- Blue-headed Vireo
- Bobolink
- Chimney Swift
- Gray-cheeked Thrush
- Louisiana Waterthrush
- Red-breasted Nuthatch
- Sharp-shinned Hawk
- Willow Flycatcher
- Wilson’s Warbler
- Yellow-breasted Chat
Barred Owl
