Today was nowhere near the balmy warm experienced on the Mainland. The Sou'west wind made it tolerable in a tee shirt but certainly not hot.
Nonetheless ,the insect hunters managed to find a bite to eat. The tide was down for much of the day so a lot of birds took advantage of the opportunity to feed on flies and other buggy critters found in the intertidal zone.
There are a few flycatchers around including several LEAST FLYCATCHERS. There are also a few RED BREASTED NUTHATCHES that split their time between cracking sunflower seeds and snagging insects around the buildings.
There was a strong movement of HUMMINGBIRDS over a couple days. We peaked yesterday with as many as 5 around the house at one point. Virtually all seem to have moved on.
Sparrows, notably WHITE THROATED & WHITE CROWNED SPARROWS continue strong, with numerous SONG, SWAMP & CHIPPING SPARROWS also present. SAVANNAH SPARROWS, of course, dominate as the only resident species.
A couple species are represented by one of each gender: ROSE BREASTED GROSBEAK & RED WINGED BLACKBIRD.
CATBIRDS are taking over the island. I counted 9 at one small location and saw others all over the island.
Mature male and female ORCHARD ORIOLES and a young male BALTIMORE ORIOLE were around until yesterday. None of them would come to citrus although the Baltimore sampled the grape jelly a few times.
There has been a pretty good mix of warblers today including OVENBIRD; COMMON YELLOWTHROAT; REDSTART; MAGNOLIA WARBLER; YELLOW WARBLER; YELLOW RUMPED WARBLER; BLACK & WHITE WARBLER; BLACKPOLL WARBLER; CHESTNUT SIDED WARBLER; BAY BREASTED WARBLER; BLACK THROATED BLUE WARBLER; PALM WARBLER & NORTHERN WATERTHRUSH.
There are still some Thrushes around. Today I noticed a couple VEERYS as well as SWAINSON'S, HERMIT & WOOD THRUSHES.
BARN & TREE SWALLOWS have been moving through over the last few days, mostly in 2s and 3s. Also saw a SWIFT Tuesday, the 2nd this spring.
Today was the first day for some time without several PEREGRINES & MERLINS making their presence known. The only raptor that I saw today was a lone HARRIER that was actually moving Southwest, counter to migration.
The TERNS were in this morning for their longest stay to date and with lots of homemaking activity. Their numbers seemed to be somewhat higher, too.
Our trio of GANNETS continue to spend a lot of time on the island but I haven't seen any actual nesting activity yet.
I found the first EIDER nest today, containing 3 eggs.
Two HARLEQUIN DUCKS put in an appearance yesterday. It's a bit late for them but not unprecedented.
Nonetheless ,the insect hunters managed to find a bite to eat. The tide was down for much of the day so a lot of birds took advantage of the opportunity to feed on flies and other buggy critters found in the intertidal zone.
There are a few flycatchers around including several LEAST FLYCATCHERS. There are also a few RED BREASTED NUTHATCHES that split their time between cracking sunflower seeds and snagging insects around the buildings.
There was a strong movement of HUMMINGBIRDS over a couple days. We peaked yesterday with as many as 5 around the house at one point. Virtually all seem to have moved on.
Sparrows, notably WHITE THROATED & WHITE CROWNED SPARROWS continue strong, with numerous SONG, SWAMP & CHIPPING SPARROWS also present. SAVANNAH SPARROWS, of course, dominate as the only resident species.
A couple species are represented by one of each gender: ROSE BREASTED GROSBEAK & RED WINGED BLACKBIRD.
CATBIRDS are taking over the island. I counted 9 at one small location and saw others all over the island.
Mature male and female ORCHARD ORIOLES and a young male BALTIMORE ORIOLE were around until yesterday. None of them would come to citrus although the Baltimore sampled the grape jelly a few times.
There has been a pretty good mix of warblers today including OVENBIRD; COMMON YELLOWTHROAT; REDSTART; MAGNOLIA WARBLER; YELLOW WARBLER; YELLOW RUMPED WARBLER; BLACK & WHITE WARBLER; BLACKPOLL WARBLER; CHESTNUT SIDED WARBLER; BAY BREASTED WARBLER; BLACK THROATED BLUE WARBLER; PALM WARBLER & NORTHERN WATERTHRUSH.
There are still some Thrushes around. Today I noticed a couple VEERYS as well as SWAINSON'S, HERMIT & WOOD THRUSHES.
BARN & TREE SWALLOWS have been moving through over the last few days, mostly in 2s and 3s. Also saw a SWIFT Tuesday, the 2nd this spring.
Today was the first day for some time without several PEREGRINES & MERLINS making their presence known. The only raptor that I saw today was a lone HARRIER that was actually moving Southwest, counter to migration.
The TERNS were in this morning for their longest stay to date and with lots of homemaking activity. Their numbers seemed to be somewhat higher, too.
Our trio of GANNETS continue to spend a lot of time on the island but I haven't seen any actual nesting activity yet.
I found the first EIDER nest today, containing 3 eggs.
Two HARLEQUIN DUCKS put in an appearance yesterday. It's a bit late for them but not unprecedented.
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