May 10: Bird Census Results  

Here we are, not even having reached mid May and it seemed like summer time. The day started off fairly calm but the winds increased as the morning progressed. We started the day by driving down behind the maintenance buildings to Raasch Trail. There we found a couple of Bobolinks in the nearby field. Bobolink numbers are nothing like they were last year. We are not sure why that is. Possibly all the high winds we have been having lately caused them to pass us by. We found some nice birds in the area including Common Yellowthroats, Painted Buntings, an Orchard Oriole, Lincoln Sparrows, Yellow Warblers, Eastern Bluebirds and an Alder/Willow Flycatcher. This is a pair of small flycatchers that can only be reliably identified by their call which you don't often hear in migration. We then walked a portion of Harris Creek Trail hoping to find some warblers there but we were not successful. We did see a Red-headed Woodpecker and several Yellow-billed Cuckoos and Painted and Indigo Buntings. We then proceeded to the Goode Area and Dead Woman Pond. There we found a Yellow-breasted Chat and Blue Grosbeak. Then we went on to Wildlife Drive. Finding shorebirds there is difficult because the lake is still high and there are still almost no sandbars. There was not much activity at Meadow Pond but we did see a Swainson's Thrush on our return. Of note were a few female Yellow-headed Blackbirds on Tern Pad. The male Yellow-headed Blackbird is another species that did not come thru in large numbers this year. We finished the day with 81 species. Today's photo, a female Yellow-headed Blackbird. The females usually come thru after most of the males have left. Thanks for looking.