A Road in Pemberton 5/1--Great Crested Flycatcher, Blue-headed Vireo, Black-and-white Warbler

The day dawned dreary, dank, and damp, a new month, but hard to see any difference from the last month. As I did in April, I started the month off at my semi-secret road in Pemberton. Since I haven't been birding there very long, it is always interesting to see what changes there as the seasons change, what stays the same.

I hit a hot patch very quickly with a mixed flock of warblers--none of them new--and my first Blue-headed Vireo of the year. I was hearing a lot of birds and now that the oaks are starting to leaf out, I didn't spend a lot of time looking for the more common ones that I heard (like woodpeckers, jays, and wrens). I did stop for a singing Common Yellowthroat (a Burlco year bird) and amazingly found it across the muck in a bush. Always like to see the warblers. Always like to see any bird because I apparently will never get past the notion that ear birding is somehow cheating.

Which is how I felt when, near the lake, I heard a harsh call which sounded like the alarm set off when you hit the crash bar on emergency door. I had to think for a moment (more than a moment) until I realized I was hearing a Great Crested Flycatcher. A beautiful bird. I would have preferred to see it.

I was on the way back, thinking my thoughts, when I realized that in the background I was hearing a squeaky wheel. Squeaky wheel=Black-and-white Warbler. Couldn't find that one, but later, while trying to figure out what one bird in tree was (and couldn't) I accidentally found another Black-and-white working the tree limb. Happy moment.

I was glad that I dragged my butt out of bed--the endorphins do kick in once you get walking and it was active enough to keep my mind occupied on birds and not on coronavirus and all other related bad news. I'll keep going back there--there is enough varied habitat to get you a good mix of birds and you don't have to wear a mask or worry very much about encountering anyone else. I was surprised that I totaled 40 species for the 2 miles out, 2 miles back:

Canada Goose  14    Lake

Mallard  2

Mourning Dove  1    Heard

Killdeer  1

Double-crested Cormorant  1

Great Blue Heron  1

Cooper's Hawk  1

Red-bellied Woodpecker  4    Heard

Northern Flicker  1    Heard

Eastern Phoebe  2    

Great Crested Flycatcher  1    Heard

White-eyed Vireo  5

Blue-headed Vireo  1

Blue Jay  2    Heard

American Crow  5

Fish Crow  1    Heard

Carolina Chickadee  2    Heard

Tufted Titmouse  7

Tree Swallow  1

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher  5

Carolina Wren  4    Heard

Gray Catbird  1

Brown Thrasher  1

Northern Mockingbird  1    Heard

Wood Thrush  3    Heard

House Finch  2    Heard

Chipping Sparrow  1    Heard

Field Sparrow  1    Heard

White-throated Sparrow  15

Eastern Towhee  5    Heard

Red-winged Blackbird   2

Brown-headed Cowbird  3

Common Grackle  5

Ovenbird  5    Heard

Black-and-white Warbler  2

Common Yellowthroat  1

Palm Warbler  2

Pine Warbler  2

Yellow-rumped Warbler  4

Northern Cardinal  3

Adorable