Colliers Mills 5/10--Yellow-throated Vireo, Warbling Vireo, Northern Parula

Yellow-throated Vireo in red box--best I could do. 

I went early to Colliers Mills this morning in order to beat the rush of dog trainers dog walkers, fishermen, and guys who like to get their vehicles dusty. I had in mind a couple of birds that I usually see there, but I didn't see them. However, a few birds that I had forgotten about or didn't expect to see there I did stumble across.

I should have remembered that Warbling Vireo is a gimme at Colliers Mills this time of year--they nest there, but it is such a nothing bird that I don't usually give them much thought. Most of the time I just hear one and say "Okay," but today, hearing what I thought was one a farther away from the parking lot than they usually are, I made an effort to see it and lucked out--there was the nondescript vireo, high in a tree. Too high for a picture.

Walking around down the road that leads to the Turnmill Pond parking area, I was looking and listening for Prairie Warblers, since that's the area they breed in and was surprised that I couldn't find one. But, I did see a warbler with a yellow breast that was tiny and it took me a minute or so to realize that I had a Northern Parula in my sights. That one looked like a female; later I saw a good-looking male.

I was walking down Hawkin Road and the traffic was starting to build. I saw a dog walker approaching me. But I also heard "Three eight!" I heard it again then repeatedly and when she passed me and asked what I was looking for, I said "Yellow-throated Vireo" which I'm sure meant absolutely nothing to her. Yellow-throated Vireo is a good one, not that common around these parts but I do track them down there sometimes. As usual, locating the source of the sound was a problem, but I saw a bird fly out over the road and decided that was the vireo and followed it into the woods where it continued to sing and I finally tracked it down. The only picture I got is above when I accidentally snapped the shutter before I zoomed in.

Colliers Mills leads the league in birds you can't count. The farm across the road has a flock of Helmeted Guineafowl that wander off the property and into WMA. It is always amusing to see these birds running around--I've always thought they should be called "Clown-faced Guineafowl."

The farm also has two ostriches. I'm glad they don't tend to wander



Then today, while walking in the fields along Success Road, I saw 3 white and one gray & white birds. Domestic pigeons that looked like they escaped from a wedding. I couldn't even count them as "Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon)."


The birds I could count today numbered 39:

Canada Goose  36

Mourning Dove  1    Heard

Killdeer  5

Great Blue Heron  6

Turkey Vulture  4

Red-bellied Woodpecker  3

Downy Woodpecker  2

Eastern Phoebe  1

Great Crested Flycatcher  4    Heard

Eastern Kingbird  8

White-eyed Vireo  2    saw one, heard one

Yellow-throated Vireo  1    Singing 3 8. Vireo w yellow throat

Warbling Vireo  1    Saw near Turnmill Pond, on shooting range side

American Crow  1

Carolina Chickadee  1    Heard

Tufted Titmouse  1    Heard

Purple Martin  1    Around shooting range with other swallows

Tree Swallow  1

Barn Swallow  25

White-breasted Nuthatch  2    Heard

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher  3

Carolina Wren  1    Heard

European Starling  5

Gray Catbird  25

Brown Thrasher  1    Heard

Northern Mockingbird  1

Eastern Bluebird  2    Off Success Road

Wood Thrush  1    Heard

American Robin  10

Chipping Sparrow  5

Eastern Towhee  15

Red-winged Blackbird  20

Brown-headed Cowbird  6

Ovenbird  5    Heard

Black-and-white Warbler  1

Common Yellowthroat  10

Northern Parula  2

Yellow-rumped Warbler  4

Northern Cardinal  1    Heard