Colliers Mills | Emson Preserve 5/4--Warbling Vireo, Blue Grosbeak, Indigo Bunting

 On this ridiculously cold May morning (and to think that 2 days ago we had the air conditioning on), I went to Colliers Mills, determined to track down a few new birds there. Warbling Vireo I always associate with a big tree in the parking lot by the lake, but today, none were singing there. I had to walk about 200 feet to find one singing just at the corner where Success Road enters the fields. By walking a little path that goes off the road and leads to an abandoned pumphouse, I was able to get eyes on the bird, at the very top of a tree just coming into leaf, hard to see but not as hard as it will be in a week or so. Birds that like bare trees are so much easier to deal with. 

Then I walked the fields along Success. I just knew there would be a Blue Grosbeak there, and soon heard one. Then it became a matter of tracking it down which I finally did as it worked the trees that separate two fields. I found it about 100 yards past the gravel road that's perpendicular to Success, then followed it all the way back to the gravel road without ever getting an opportunity for a photo--again, leaves in the way. 

I crossed over to the fields around the police shooting range. In the stand of trees to the east I found, as I have been finding every time I go there this spring, a pair of Red-headed Woodpeckers. I've stopped going to the woods north of Success where I was finding them in the winter now that I know they're on my route, but I wonder if they've switched locations, or if there are more back in the other spot. 

Indigo Bunting, Emson Preserve

The woods below the berm are flooded and I found a Solitary Sandpiper working the edge of the water. I tried again to get around that big pond south of Turnmill, but the path is still under water and even with muck boots I didn't feel like making the slog. So, I walked up Hawkin and cut through the woods to Forty Acre Pond where I found a couple of Killdeer, another Solitary, and 3 Least Sandpipers, unusual for this spot. Standing there, scanning the mudflats, I heard behind me a Hooded Warbler, so I didn't feel like I had to go to my usual mountain laurel spot to hear if one was singing there. I'm not doing a breeding bird survey. 

In all I had 44 species for area, but there was still one bird I wanted. I was hoping I'd have found it in the fields where the Blue Grosbeak was, but instead, I drove to the Emson Preserve, about 5 minutes away. I don't know why, but finding Indigo Bunting there is pretty easy this time of year and I was hardly out of the car before I had one, then two, and eventually three singing birds. As you can see, getting a picture was another story entirely. I added 3 other species in the 20 minutes I stood there and then I figured four and half hours in the cold and damp was enough. 

Species              Location
Canada Goose   Colliers Mills WMA
Mallard   Colliers Mills WMA
Mourning Dove   Colliers Mills WMA
Killdeer   Colliers Mills WMA
Solitary Sandpiper   Colliers Mills WMA
Least Sandpiper   Colliers Mills WMA
Laughing Gull   Colliers Mills WMA
Turkey Vulture   Colliers Mills WMA
Red-headed Woodpecker   Colliers Mills WMA
Red-bellied Woodpecker   Colliers Mills WMA
Northern Flicker   Ephraim P. Emson Preserve
Eastern Phoebe   Colliers Mills WMA
Great Crested Flycatcher   Colliers Mills WMA
Eastern Kingbird   Colliers Mills WMA
White-eyed Vireo   Colliers Mills WMA
Warbling Vireo   Colliers Mills WMA
Blue Jay   Colliers Mills WMA
Fish Crow   Colliers Mills WMA
Common Raven   Colliers Mills WMA
Carolina Chickadee   Colliers Mills WMA
Tufted Titmouse   Colliers Mills WMA
Tree Swallow   Colliers Mills WMA
Barn Swallow   Colliers Mills WMA
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher   Colliers Mills WMA
Carolina Wren   Colliers Mills WMA
European Starling   Colliers Mills WMA
Gray Catbird   Colliers Mills WMA
Northern Mockingbird   Colliers Mills WMA
Eastern Bluebird   Ephraim P. Emson Preserve
American Robin   Colliers Mills WMA
Chipping Sparrow   Colliers Mills WMA
Field Sparrow   Colliers Mills WMA
Song Sparrow   Colliers Mills WMA
Eastern Towhee   Colliers Mills WMA
Baltimore Oriole   Colliers Mills WMA
Red-winged Blackbird   Colliers Mills WMA
Brown-headed Cowbird   Colliers Mills WMA
Ovenbird   Colliers Mills WMA
Black-and-white Warbler   Colliers Mills WMA
Common Yellowthroat   Colliers Mills WMA
Hooded Warbler   Colliers Mills WMA
Northern Parula   Ephraim P. Emson Preserve
Yellow Warbler   Colliers Mills WMA
Pine Warbler   Colliers Mills WMA
Prairie Warbler   Colliers Mills WMA
Northern Cardinal   Colliers Mills WMA
Blue Grosbeak   Colliers Mills WMA
Indigo Bunting   Ephraim P. Emson Preserve