Cuckoo Kind of Day

 

May 11th

          Back to the boardwalk early in the morning.  Fairly quickly we found one of the three remaining warblers that we were searching for.  The Wilson’s Warbler is a small warbler that is entirely yellow below with an olive back and a beady black eye.  Adult males have a black cap that looks like a yarmulke.

          As we walked along, Mike and I spotted an Orchard Oriole which is a good bird.  A kid wearing an Ohio State tee shirt came up next to us and said, “Well, right behind it is a Cuckoo.”  It turned out to be a Black-billed Cuckoo which is an even better bird.  A little further along, a guide yelled out, “Yellow-billed Cuckoo flying!”  It perched nearby and we got to see that too.  It was a Cuckoo kind of day.

          Further down the boardwalk, a group was gathered with binoculars pointed high.  They were looking at a roosting Common Nighthawk.  Nighthawks sleep during the day and actively forage for insects near dawn and dusk.  Their sharp, buzzy peent call is often the first clue that they’re overhead.  They fly in graceful loops, scooping up flying insects in their wide gaping mouth.  They often feed around bright lights at night, catching the bugs that are attracted there.

          As we were finishing the boardwalk, we noticed a tweet about a Connecticut Warbler being seen at Ottawa NWR.  The Connecticut Warbler is one of the most sought-after warblers, but it is very skulky.  It tends to be low to the ground, hides in thick brush or weeds and is often hard to find.  When we got there, the trail was cold.  The bird hadn’t been seen for awhile and nobody could relocate it.

(4 new species, total 251)

Yellow-billed Cuckoo

Black-billed Cuckoo

Common Nighthawk

Wilson’s Warbler 

                                       Black-billed Cuckoo

                                       Yellow-billed Cuckoo

                                       Common Nighthawk

                                       Swainson's Thrush

                                       Scarlet Tanager





                  

         

Comments

  1. AnnMay 12, 2022 at 2:10 PM

    Nonbirders may call many of our days the other kind of "cuckoo days".

    ReplyDelete

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