Bell's Vireo

 

May 15th (posted May 16th)

          On Saturday May 14th we got up as usual, packed a lunch and went out birding.  We were out at the lakeshore not seeing too much and I was in a foul mood.  I really did not want to be there.  I was suffering from “birding burnout”.  Mike said, “Where do you want to go now?”  I said, “I just wanna go home”. 

          I spent the rest of the afternoon mulching the garden and applying Hollytone to the azaleas, hydrangeas and rhododendrons and finished just before the thunderstorm hit.  After a much-needed trip to the grocery store, I felt much better.

          Today was a better day.  We made a quick stop at Foundation Stone Church on Woodville Road that is next to a flooded field with shorebird habitat.  We found a few shorebirds including some Short-billed Dowitchers.  Next, we went to Magee Marsh and found a nice variety of migrants but nothing new for us.  Then it was on to Barnside Creamery where we got distant views of a Black-bellied Plover.  After lunch we looked for more shorebirds at Howards Marsh and got some closer views of Black-bellied Plovers. 

        It was about 2:30pm and we were debating about what to do next, when I saw a post about a Bell’s Vireo that had been seen the day before near North Baltimore.  This was about a 45-minute drive south, but a Bell’s Vireo is an unusual bird in our area.  We decided to go for it.  We had pretty specific directions.  The location was on the Slippery Elm Trail which is part of the Rails-to-Trails system and the bird had been seen about a ¼ of a mile north of Quarry Rd.  We arrived, started walking, and in no time heard the vireo singing.  It turns out there was a pair of Bell’s Vireos and we got good looks at them.

          A Bell’s Vireo generally nests further west than Ohio.  It has an olive-green back with two white wingbars and yellow flanks.  It has a vague spectacled pattern around the eye.   A song that is fast and scratchy with harsh scold notes is very noticeable.   A Bell's Vireo is very active and flits around nervously in low bushes and thickets.

(3 new species, total 258)

Black-bellied Plover

Short-billed Dowitcher

Bell’s Vireo (scarce)

                                       Bell's Vireo

                                       Another view

                                       Northern Parula
                                       Canada Warbler

                                       Short-billed Dowitchers

                                       Semipalmated Plover





  

Comments

  1. AnonymousMay 19, 2022 at 4:23 PM

    Interesting bird Went out with the Petosky Audabon this morning. Nothing spectacular, but warbling and redeye warblers were there

    ReplyDelete

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