Warblers on the Move, Part II

A few more of this week's warbler convention

Prothonotary Warbler

(Not to be confused with a Yellow Warbler -- unless you just see the head)

Wilson's Warbler

(Not to be confused with Mr. T -- though the hairstyle is similar)

Common Yellowthroat

(Not to be confused with The Hamburglar - though they both have that mask)

Warblers on the Move, Part I

Lots of migrating warblers coming through Chicago. These were posing for me. (A few others - such as the elusive Canada Warbler and the Black Throated Blue - refused to sit still enough in a well lit area for me to get a decent photo.)

Palm Warbler

Magnolia Warbler

(Singing to greet the sun on a beautiful May morning)

Black Throated Green Warbler

(who doesn't quite blend in with the green leaves)

A Rush of Thrushes

These three thrushes,

flushed from a rushed migration,

were in the brush,

crushing mushy bugs and making quite a hushed fuss,

not wanting to gush about their lush location.

OK. That's enough. I'll stop. ;)

Wood Thrush

Veery

Hermit Thrush

Ovenbird

(Although it LOOKS thrush-like, the ovenbird is actually in the Warbler family)

Rose Breasted Grosbeak

The Rose Breasted Grosbeak is a pretty cool looking bird. I first saw one last year, around this time, high up in a tree. This one was nice enough to perch on a lower limb and sit still for its portrait. Truth be told, the "sitting still" part doesn't seem too out-of-the-ordinary for the Grosbeak. They seem to be a rather "laid-back" bird - nibbling on leaves and seeds - compared to the crazed flitting and jumping of the warblers and flycatchers.

Male Rose Breasted Grosbeak

Female Rose Breasted Grosbeak*

* I REALLY wanted to believe this bird was a new "life list" sparrow or longspur that I hadn't seen before. The more I took pictures, though, the more the beak looked familiar - even though the rest of the bird looked very sparrow-like. Then I saw the male grosbeak with that very telltale beak and realized my "cool new sparrow" was a female Rose Breasted Grosbeak.

Nature plays a joke on me ;)

Tale of Two Cities

A visit to Seattle gave us the opportunity to see the western versions of some of our Chicago birds. Both versions are shown below.

Western Difference: Darker head, Back and Sides are brown

Western Difference: Wings have white spots instead of white bars

Western Difference: Yellow throat instead of White throat

Sparrows of the Week

These sparrows were having a convention in Chicago this week.

Clockwise from top left

Chipping Sparrow, White Crowned Sparrow,

Song Sparrow, Swamp Sparrow, Tree Sparrow

Blue Gray Gnatcatcher

Look! A Blue Gray Gnatcatcher! Well, wait look over there. No, over there. No, over there. This is one of the early "flitty" birds. It flits quicker than the little gnats it goes after.

I'll spare you ALL the photos of empty branches, leaves, and blue-gray blurs that I had to take in order to get these three. (I am surprised to have gotten two of this little bird sitting still!) But at least it gets us in practice for the flitty warblers soon to return.