Warblers, Butterflies, and a Few Other McLean County Birds on 08-26-11

Friday morning, I returned to Ewing Park in search of more migrants, but before I got into my car and left the house, I saw one of them in my own yard on Glenn Street in Normal. This Great Crested Flycatcher was flying high up in the trees behind my feeders. I



I arrived at Ewing and walked through Hedge Apple Woods. As I got to the end of the woods along the stream, I again heard the call of the Cooper's Hawks. I began walking through the grassy area and ran into Matthew Winks, who was only able to stay for a few more minutes. I got a quick glimpse of a Magnolia Warbler and headed toward the hedge row of tall trees between the swale and the softball fields. There I heard and saw a Belted Kingfisher fly overhead as well as several American Redstarts in the hedge, but no adult males.



Later at this same spot I saw a Magnolia Warbler preening in a bush. I watched it for a couple of minutes before it flew into the hedge row and sat fairly still for a nice photo session.

















This Magnolia Warbler seemed to be curious about me. The way it extended its neck seemingly to look at me reminded me of the Magnolia Warbler I saw on the McLean County Spring Bird Count this year at Centennial Park shown below. This shot will allow a comparison of Fall and Spring plumage on this bird.



A Nashville and a Chestnut-sided Warbler, shown below, were also present in this hedge row at Ewing on Friday.





Finally, I saw this bird, which resembles a Vireo, but I am not sure what it is. I would appreciate any identification help if anyone who reads this post knows what it is.



I left Ewing Park mid-morning and drove to Centennial Park in Heyworth. There was a Great Blue Heron, Canada Geese, a couple of Green Herons, and a couple of Belted Kingfishers present, but it was otherwise quiet. On the North side of the lake, I saw several Butterflies and Skippers drawn to a patch of flowers. The most noticeable was this Viceroy, which was the first of its species I had seen.







Also present in this same patch were two Silver-spotted Skippers and two Fiery Skippers.











Last but not least, I saw these beautiful Common Buckeyes.







This Great Blue Heron was standing on the island in the middle of the lake.



After checking out the butterflies and herons, I left Centennial and headed to Schroeder Nature Sanctuary hoping to find Shorebirds, but I only found more Herons (Great Blue and Green), Kingfishers, and a lot of Killdeer.







From the blind I was able to get great looks at this female Belted Kingfisher, who sat in this same spot for a long time.











From Schroeder, I went to Angler's Pond where I saw more Great Blue and Green Herons. It was kind of a hot day and the Warbler/ migrant activity seemed to end at about 9:00 or 9:30 a.m. before I left Ewing Park, but I enjoyed the other creatures I saw.

Sunday when I returned to Ewing it seemed pretty thin. I briefly saw a pair of Warblers I could not identify and a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher.

More Warblers at Ewing Park in McLean County

I had a nice morning at Ewing Park today. There were pockets of Warblers, mostly American Redstarts (all female or first year males), but I did see five other Warbler species and a few other migrants. As I began walking in Hedge Apple Woods, I noticed a female Redstart and a Rose-breasted Grosbeak. As I walked down the trail in the grassy area, which is getting overgrown, I saw several Warblers flying around. I was able to get some good looks at this pair of first winter Bay-breasted Warblers. When I first made this post I did not realize that young Bay-breasted Warblers look so much like Pine Warblers, so I thought they were Pine Warblers, but now realize I was mistaken. When I looked in my Sibley guide after writing the initial report, I realized that Pine, Bay-breasted, and Blackpoll Warblers can all be easily confused in the Fall. Then I got an e-mail from Wes Kolb, who thought they might be Bay-breasted because of the buff or bay under the wing. The next day, I ran into Matthew Winks, who also suggested Bay-breasted and reminded me that Pine Warblers move slower than other Warblers. These warblers were moving much faster than the Pine Warblers I saw this Spring. Matt Fraker had e-mailed me by the time I got back from Ewing also to suggest that these birds were Bay-breasted. He further mentioned the green on the neck that gave a collared look. The following day, I had messages from Michael Retter and Ethan Gyllenhaal confirming that these birds were Bay-breasted. I am so glad they were Bay-breasted because not only is Bay-breasted a lifer, but also Illinois bird #200 for me.





I also saw a Magnolia Warbler, a Chestnut-sided Warbler, and a Philadelphia Vireo in this same area. After I got out of the overgrown grassy area, I was astonished to see a Blue-winged Warbler with a Black-and-White Warbler, in the brush close to the ground. I continued to watch these birds for several minutes in the thick brush. Both of them flew down and foraged on the ground at different times. For some reason I gave a little more attention to the Blue-winged. I had never seen one so low before. The second photo is blurry because the lighting was bad, but it more clearly shows the blue wings and the stripe across the eye.





I saw more Warblers after this, but for the most part, they would fly away before, I could get a good look. Later in the morning, I was joined by Les Allen, who identified two species that I did not see or hear--a Tennessee Warbler and a Red-eyed Vireo. Both Les and I observed both Black and Tiger Swallowtails as well. Here are a couple of shots of one of the Black Swallowtails.





It was an exciting morning, but I was somewhat disappointed that the growth is getting so thick at the park, which made it both difficult to walk on some of the trails and difficult to view the birds.



On my way to work I stopped briefly at Ewing Park and photographed this Spotted Sandpiper.



Later this evening, Carrie and I observed seven Common Nighthawks flying over our neighborhood, catching insects. It was the first time Carrie had observed this species.

I have included a complete list of the birds I saw at Ewing this morning.

Ewing Park (Bloomington), McLean, US-IL
Aug 25, 2011 7:10 AM - 10:30 AM
Protocol: Area
4.0 ac
23 species (+1 other taxa)

Turkey Vulture 2
Cooper's Hawk 1
Chimney Swift 8
Ruby-throated Hummingbird 12
Empidonax sp. 2
Eastern Phoebe 1
Philadelphia Vireo 1
American Crow 7
Black-capped Chickadee 6
Carolina Wren 1
House Wren 10
Swainson's Thrush 1
American Robin 1
Gray Catbird 8
Blue-winged Warbler 1
Black-and-white Warbler 3
American Redstart 6
Magnolia Warbler 1
Bay-breasted Warbler 2
Chestnut-sided Warbler 1
Northern Cardinal 15
Rose-breasted Grosbeak 1
Indigo Bunting 6
American Goldfinch 8

This report was generated automatically by eBird v2 (http://ebird.org)

Good Migrations at Ewing Park in McLean County

This morning I went to Ewing Park before work to check for early migrants. Hedge Apple Woods was pretty empty, but I did hear the young Cooper's Hawk's calling in the trees along the stream. I followed the call to the football field and got a pretty good look at this bird.



I continued to walk along the stream until I spotted an adult male American Redstart, but that was all I saw until I headed back to the swale. In the wall of trees close to the softball fields, I observed a few minutes of good activity. The first bird I was able to identify was a Great Crested Flycatcher.



There were also six or seven Warblers including Chestnut-sided, Blackburnian, American Redstart, and Northern Parula, and Black-throated Green. They were feeding and moving so quickly, I was not able to identify all of them. The excitement ended to quickly. Before 9:00 a.m. it was getting hot. These birds disappeared and I did not see any more Warblers though I searched diligently.





However, I did enjoy this Black Swallowtail in the over grown swale.







A Gray Catbird and an abundance of House Wrens offered great looks.





I could not believe how many Hummingbirds there were in the park. Most of them were female, but I did get a couple of shots of this male.





I've included a complete list below.

Ewing Park (Bloomington), McLean, US-IL
Aug 22, 2011 8:05 AM - 10:00 AM
Protocol: Area
4.0 ac
14 species

Cooper's Hawk 2
Ruby-throated Hummingbird 7
Great Crested Flycatcher 1
American Crow 5
Black-capped Chickadee 9
House Wren 9
American Robin 1
Gray Catbird 6
American Redstart 2
Northern Parula 1
Blackburnian Warbler 1
Chestnut-sided Warbler 1
Black-throated Green 1
Northern Cardinal 8
American Goldfinch 6

This report was generated automatically by eBird v2 (http://ebird.org)