Tuesday, October 9, 2012

FALL BIRDING

I had the opportunity this morning to do some Fall birding. The first place that came to mind was the Five- Rivers Environmental Center. So I headed down in the pre-dawn hours to kill some time before work.


  A couple of Cooper's Hawks were hanging out in the visitor center parking lot when I arrived. A couple of crows were scavenging some bread that was left for them and the hawks seemed to be enjoying the opportunity to harass them.




Once the sun started to warm things up, it became apparent that there was a good movement of migrants last night. There were quite a few Palm Warblers feeding on the vegetation that had gone to seed.


  Palm Warblers are one of my favorite Fall visitors.


The low sun angle was providing some great lighting for these birds. 

 A couple of Nashville Warblers were also found this morning.



Lincoln's Sparrows countinue to move through the area.



The small flock of Purple Finches countinues to hang out at 5-Rivers. The usually do during the Fall until they move on to a winter location.




There were a few White-crowned Sparrows mixed in with the gathering of White-throated Sparrows.

White-crowned Sparrow



And here is the bird of the day. As I was working my way through a group of Yellow-rumped Warblers and Palm Warblers, I heard a chip note that was noticably different. It was about the same volume as the Palm Warblers, but it was much "sharper".



Bright yellow undertail coverts... a busted eyering ....


it even was displaying the diagnostic small white patch at the bend of the wing. What could this drab, active little Warbler be? It's an Orange-crowned Warbler! A nice find for this area during Fall migration.