Been working a lot recently, so I took a few hours off this morning to see
if I could get into any migrants at Berea Woods and Owsley Fork. Still
tons of Yellow-rumps around, had a flock of 10 plus birds at Berea Forest.
Most of the breeding warblers are back with Yellow-throated being the most
numerous. Best warblers of the day were a single Tennessee and Palm at
Owsley. Best bird for the past few days was a flyover Upland Sandpiper at
White Hall (exit 95 off I-75) on Sunday.
Other birds of highlight were:
Lesser Yellowlegs- stock pond off Duncannon Road
Wilson's Snipe- same as Yellowlegs
Blue Grosbeak- at Owsley and White Hall
Indigo Bunting- several at Owsley
Eastern Wood-pewee- Berea Woods
Summer Tanager- giving Pitti-tuk-tuk call at Berea
Henslow's Sparrow- Duncannon Road
Also, I wanted to offer a more extensive trip for the May 12 walk than just
Berea woods. The woods only have limited habitat and if everyone would
like we could drive to a couple other spots to try for scrub, grassland,
and water species. I have a couple areas that are good for Savannah,
Grasshopper, and Henslow's sparrows plus Bobolink, Dickcissel, Willow
Flycatcher (and maybe Alder with luck) and who knows maybe an Upland
Sandpiper. Also by covering a little more ground in mid-May we would be
more likely to bump into some of the more rare migrants like Mourning,
Golden-winged, Black-throated Blue and Connecticut Warblers, Olive-sided
and Yellow-bellied Flycatcher, etc. The routes I normally run this time of
year often can produce 130ish species with a little luck (and starting
early to catch Owls, Nightjars, and Woodcock).
If this plan sounds good to people about driving around a little more let
me know. Also if there are certain species you may be missing from your
state or life list let me know, I can try and get us on those species.
Furthermore, while the Lexington people may be carpooling down at 7:30 I
will likely start my morning in Berea around 5 something (generally getting
to the area about 1st light for Chuck-will's-widow) anyone is welcome to
join me birding and then we will get to Berea woods at 8 to wait for the
majority of the group. During this time hopefully I can stumble across
some more rare migrants to come back to with the full group. Well, let me
know what ya'll think.
Andy
