Hi everyone! It has been a while since my last post, and I hope you are all doing well! I had to empty out my old house to have a HUGE tag sale so I could sell the place to my amazing son and his fiancé. So, I want to share my birds I saw as spring migration wound down and summer moved in and then said goodbye. As May ended, the last of the migrating birds that were just passing through stopped by my yard. My favorites were the Cape May Warblers and the male Scarlet Tanagers. At least 6 breeding males were in my trees and 1 hung out to serenade me for 20 minutes! My curious Gray Catbirds and BEAUTIFUL Baltimore Orioles arrived on time. My Ruby-throated Hummingbirds were late this year but when she arrived, Mama rediscovered her swing! Papa Hummer’s visits were rare.
June brought babies, right on schedule! Sights and sounds of fledglings were everywhere! My Eastern Bluebirds decided against nesting in my yard this year, but they did bring their babies here to eat! My Black-capped Chickadees used their bluebird house instead. I had 3 batches of Northern Cardinals this year. I saw 9 Cardinals at one time-a first for me! I also had Downy Woodpeckers, Red-bellied Woodpeckers, Gray Catbirds, Baltimore Orioles, Chipping Sparrows, American Robins, House Finches, Tufted Titmice, and Blue Jays, and American Goldfinches raising their families in my yard. I loved listening to my Wood Thrushes and Warbling Vireos close by. Interestingly, An American Redstart was chasing all my birds around and coming near my feeders too.
I did take a few short breaks to bird. The Monson cemetery area had some Common Yellowthroats and I heard a Wilson’s Warbler but I couldn’t find him. This would have been a lifer too…ugh! Birds were raising babies everywhere! The trees were full of the singing Carolina Wrens, Chipping Sparrows, Cedar Waxwings, and a family of Common Ravens. In Stonybrook Wetlands, I saw beautiful Yellow and Blue-winged Warblers and a friendly pair of Great Crested Flycatchers followed me around! Fannie Stebbins was full of shimmering Tree Swallows whizzing around, cute baby geese and Double-crested Cormorants. There were also SO many Indigo Buntings providing background melodies. I watched an immature Bald Eagle battling with an Osprey and saw a 2 coyotes. My favorite experience was my close encounter with a rare Least Bittern that I shared on my sites.
I also went to see Bestie and my go-to spot, Middlecreek Wildlife Management Area. The Tree Sparrows and Eastern Bluebirds were sparring over houses as usual. Some handsome and friendly Common Yellowthroats came close! August brought the early migrants to Western Mass. The Great Egrets have returned and my hummingbird left. My yard is clearly a migration path for lots of warblers, vireos and tanagers! I had so many Chestnut-sided Warblers! Well, that’s it for now! Unfortunately, my yard is also clearly on Big Ben’s route of travel as well. You can see him in action on my social media feeds! Check out my sites to see some neat videos of all my birds I talked about too! Stay tuned for my Fall Migration blog! You can also check out my previous blogs on fall migration to ID some of this fall’s migrants! Take care and as always, a huge thanks to my followers here and on my social media pages!
Robin's Birds 