Colliers Mills 5/10--Eastern Wood-Pewee

 I felt like I gave Colliers Mills short shrift yesterday, so I returned this morning for a more thorough session. It always seems to me that as soon as I get out of the car, I'm greeted with a cacophony of bird song, and I feel like I'm taking dictation from a very speaker as I try to note and remember what I'm hearing. I took a few steps away from the car to check out a mockingbird and make sure he wasn't the source of half the songs I was hearing when behind me I heard "Three Eight!" I was pretty certain that was Yellow-throated Vireo and when I looked up into the tree above my car, there it was, a nice sighting. Interestingly, to me, was that 3 years ago to the day I also had Yellow-throated Vireo sighting there, though it was little distance away near Turnmill Pond. 

Red-headed Woodpecker

I walked north at first intending to go to the head of the lake, but I kept getting distracted by birds along the way: a Spotted Sandpiper on the beach, a Blue Grosbeak calling, and, while I was walking in the fields, I heard the Red-headed Woodpecker calling. I loped into the woods and found it on a dead tree that was as straight as a telephone pole. I came out into the field behind the woods and immediately heard my first Eastern Wood-Pewee of the year. I was able to track it down but it was very active and led me a merry, photo-less chase. I did see, however, yet another Red-headed Woodpecker in the woods by the lake where the pewee disappeared. I don't recall ever seeing them in that neck of the woods (hah!) and makes me wonder if I didn't hear one there yesterday which I blew off as a distant Red-bellied. 

It was a fine walk for 3/4 of the way up Hawkin, around the ponds and onto the berm until the nuisance phone calls, texts, and emails started to bombard me. Walking along the berm I must have said, "I don't care," five times. I also told one caller, "If you hear gunfire, don't be alarmed, I'm next to a police firing range." Finally, I had to tell her, "You're making me miss birds," and ended the call. 

Despite that annoyance, it was a productive morning with 48 species. The most unusual sight of the day: A Red-tailed Hawk chasing an Osprey over the pond on Hawkin Road. 

Canada Goose  14
Mallard  6
Mourning Dove  4
Spotted Sandpiper  3
Laughing Gull  15
Great Blue Heron  1
Turkey Vulture  4
Osprey  1     
Bald Eagle  1     Immature
Red-tailed Hawk  2    
Red-headed Woodpecker  2
Red-bellied Woodpecker  4     Heard
Downy Woodpecker  1
Northern Flicker  1     Heard
Eastern Wood-Pewee  2
Great Crested Flycatcher  5
Eastern Kingbird  2
White-eyed Vireo  3
Yellow-throated Vireo  1     Parking lot
Warbling Vireo  2     Heard
Blue Jay  1     Heard
Carolina Chickadee  3     Heard
Tufted Titmouse  2     Heard
Tree Swallow  5
Barn Swallow  8
White-breasted Nuthatch  1     Heard
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher  5
House Wren  1     Heard
Carolina Wren  1     Heard
Gray Catbird  12
Brown Thrasher  2
Northern Mockingbird  3
Eastern Bluebird  1
American Robin  20
Chipping Sparrow  2
Eastern Towhee  10
Orchard Oriole  1     Heard
Red-winged Blackbird  30
Brown-headed Cowbird  12
Ovenbird  15     Heard
Black-and-white Warbler  5
Common Yellowthroat  6
Northern Parula  1
Pine Warbler  4
Yellow-rumped Warbler  6
Prairie Warbler  10
Northern Cardinal  1
Blue Grosbeak  1     Heard