[birdky] RPT: Breeding Bird Survey route in Lee Co, 5/30/2008

I ran my Lee County BBS route this morning in hopes that it would be
cool enough to mute the periodic cicadas for a long enough time that I
could get the route done before they were "warmed up." As it turned out,
they started becoming a problem about 1/2 way through and by the end I'm
certain that their din was diminishing my ability to hear birds
significantly at most stops.
 
It was a decent run, however, with 16 species of warblers again this
year (although I traded a missed American Redstart for a Yellow Warbler,
and I only heard two Ceruleans). This route has also been yielding at
least one Blue-headed Vireo each of the 3 years I've now run it. This
year I also had more Black-throated Greens (despite the general lack of
hemlocks ... I had 4). Other nice tallies included 7 Blue-wingeds
(although I might caution those running bird point counts and routes
this year that a certain call of a cicada "tuning up" can sound an
aweful lot like a distant Blue-winged!) and 3 Blue Grosbeaks. I had two
species ... Wild Turkey and American Redstart ... in between stops.
 
On the way back I ran into the Rock Bridge area to see if I could hear
any Red-breasted Nuthatches or Swainson's Warblers. The nuthatches were
a no show, but I did hear two Swainson's and got a nice look at one.
 
bpb, Frankfort

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