You are browsing the archives of 2005 May.

Now that the Core Team May warbler census (a colorful way to say that we did a lot of birding this month) has concluded, it’s time to review. Wood-warblers are fantastic little insectivores, brilliantly diverse in plumage, behavior, and habitat. North America is home to 54 species of warblers in 17 genera. All but one […]

Chestnut-sided Warbler Dendroica pensylvanica
Point Pelee and Rondeau, Ontario May 2005
 
The Chestnut-sided Warbler breeds from central Canada east to the Maritime Provinces, south through New England and the Great Lakes and through the Appalachian Mountains to northern Georgia. It nests in early to middle successional habitats where it prefers deciduous, brushy areas, and winters in […]

The Core Team May warbler blitz continued unabated this weekend. We were joined by Seth, who has, at long last, succumbed to the sweet siren song of birding. He’s even started his life list, so we tried to pad it as thoroughly as we could with the pulchritudinous passerines of spring migration.
Saturday found us yet […]

Blackburnian Warbler Dendroica fusca
Point Pelee, Ontario May 2005.
 
The Blackburnian Warbler breeds in the northeastern United States, parts of eastern Canada and throughout the Appalachian Mountains and winters mainly in northern South America and south in the Andes to Peru, but also in southern Central America. Generally it is thought to migrate mostly at night, with […]

Skylarks Alauda arvensis
Portland, Dorset May 2005

The Skylark has declined hugely throughout the UK (see below for details), but on Portland a combination of protected land and low-intensity farming has resulted in a relatively healthy population. Breeding birds - there are thought to be between 30 and 40 pairs - are augmented by migrants, particularly in […]

The sinuous, elegant image of a Great Egret echoed on the placid surface of the Spuyten Duyvil calls to mind the following quote by the irrepressible wag, Oscar Wilde:
Beauty is a form of genius — is higher, indeed, than genius, as it needs no explanation. It is of the great facts in the world like […]

Northern Wheatears Oenanthe oenantheUK, various dates
 

!st summer male, Portland: May 2005
 

!st summer male, Portland: May 2005
 

!st summer male, Portland: May 2005
 

!st summer male, Portland: May 2005
 

!st summer male, Portland: May 2005
 

Female, Portland: May 2005
 

Female, Portland: May 2005
 

 
All photographs © Charlie Moores.
 

Swainson’s Thrushes Catharus ustulatus
Point Pelee and Rondeau, Ontario. May 2005.

The Swainson’s Thrush is 16-18 cm in length, and has the white-dark-white underwing patterm characteristic of Catharus thrushes. Their breeding habitat is coniferous woods with dense undergrowth across Canada, Alaska and the northern United States, and also deciduous wooded areas on the Pacific coast of North […]

White-eyed Vireo Vireo griseus
Point Pelee, Ontario May 2005.
 
Warbler-sized, the White-eyed Vireo is just 5″/13 cm long. It breeds from Nebraska, Illinois, Ohio, southeastern New York, and central New England south to eastern Texas and southern Florida, and winters from the Gulf Coast and Florida southward to the Yucatan Peninsula, Belize Honduras, parts of the […]

Grackles are intimidating birds, there’s no denying it. With their dagger beaks, sinister strut, and evil yellow glare, they often seem as if they’d as soon kill a body as look at him. The grackles in Texas seem especially threatening. At the risk of anthropomorphizing avifauna, I’d say that the Lone Star birds bear malice […]