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.
No comments:
Post a Comment