Around home this morning, the Cape May Warblers were gone, but my missing Brown Thrasher has suddenly turned up. And, unusual for my yard, I've got a White-crowned Sparrow.
After Chris' remarks yesterday about the state of the hawthorn orchard, I couldn't stop dreaming about all those Bay-breasted Warblers that dropped into the hawthorns along the east side of the Michigan Hollow sedge marsh last year. So, there was nothing for it but to drive through the hollow and see how the hawthorn blossoms are coming along. I stopped briefly on Hillview Road to find 3 (!) VIRGINIA RAILS, all on the north side in the usual spot. I skipped stopping in my favorite part of the lower hollow because the road crew was working noisily in that area. But I made other stops, and in addition to the more common birds I found a MOURNING WARBLER about 1/3 mile north of Diane's Crossing. The hawthorn blossoms look like they'll start opening within the next two or three days. In the wooded swamps at the north end of the marsh (more-or-less opposite the beagle club) a NORTHERN WATERTHRUSH was singing. -Geo -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --