I had a feeling the first full day after the cold front moving through the
area would produce a good migration day. We'll probably hear alot of good
reports about this weekend. My good friend and long time birding friend Gene
Davis and I went on our quarterly Birding trip together this morning to Phelps
Wildlife Management Area by Summerduck as I haven't heard anyone mention it
lately. We arrived at the Curtis Parking area at 6:55 am and hit the trail.
First
bird out was a Black billed Cuckoo calling just by the parking lot. Some
highlights are: about 50 yards past the parking on the left we had a nice long
look
at a Mourning warbler male and an even longer look at a companion female or
juvenile from about 12 ft away. They were about 2ft off the ground and sitting
quietly in the brush and small trees. White eyed vireos(46) were everywhere.
We would go about 30-50 yards with very few birds and then hit large pockets of
mixed species. I would guess we ID'd about 40% of what passed us as the
flocks were large and active but fairly tame because of the activity. Gene
actually
had a Parula warbler flit from the brush on one side of the road onto his hat
and on to the other side of the road. We ended out with 13 warbler species
observed, including 3 beautiful Blackburnian warblers. Other highlights were 2
Philadelphia Vireos, and also a Veery hopping out on the road about 8 feet away
from us. Just past the 1st gate we observed a Coopers hawk on the road eating
a small squirrel which it carried off as we approached. Also in this area we
saw the blackpoll warbler in a large cherry tree. Red eyed vireos(26) were
also heavy. In the field off to the left at this intersection we saw 3 female
turkeys running into the brush. There were lots of Scarlet Tanagers with one
group of 7 birds. By the marsh and the two blinds we saw 2 pied billed grebes,
2
Blue Winged teal and on the far bank about 30 ft from the easternmost blind on
the shore were 2 green herons and an American Bittern. We put the blind
between us and the Bittern and got within 30 ft of it. After observing it for a
good
while we started walking towards it to see if it would fly. We got within
about 15ft before it put its head down and ran into a heavily reeded area. On
the
way back one of the Philadelphia Vireos and the Least flycatcher were
competing-including singing and calling- for a feeding spot by the new branch
road
just put in. We got back to the parking lot at 10:00 and the birds were as
active on the way out as on the way in. A total of 66 species were observed, as
listed:
Yellow-billed cuckoo-6
Black-billed cuckoo-2
Cedar Waxwing-5
White-eyed Vireo-46
Red-eyed Vireo-26
Robin-80
Blue-grey Gnatcatcher-6
Philadelphia Vireo-3
Black and White warbler-4
Parula warbler-25
Common Yellowthroat-11
Prairie Warbler-9
Magnolia warbler-8
Mourning warbler-2
Blackburnian warbler-3
Yellow warbler-6
Black-throated Green warbler-7
Black-throated Blue warbler-3
Pine warbler-6
American Redstart-18
Yellow Breasted Chat-5
Blackpoll warbler-1
Eastern Meadowlark-2
Scarlet Tanager-16
Baltimore Oriole-18
Eastern Bluebird-6
Wood Thrush-2
Veery-3
Cardinal-12
Rose Breasted Grosbeak-3
Goldfinch-16
Rufous Sided Towhee-6
Catbird-10
Mockingbird-2
Mallard-8
Wood Duck-3
Blue-winged Teal-2
Green Heron-2
Great blue Heron-1
American Bittern-1
Rough winged Swallow-6
Barn Swallow-2
Coopers Hawk-1
Barred Owl-3
Starling-18
Crow-12
Brown Thrasher-5
Carolina Wren-2
White Breasted Nuthatch-1
Red Bellied Woodpecker-6
Northern Flicker-4
Tufted Titmouse-6
Carolina Chickadee-9
Bluejay-7
Pied-billed Grebe-2
Turkey-3
Dave White
Zion Crossroads
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