The first three days of October have produced some good birds, even without being able to get out much yesterday due to work. After work today I made a fairly brief stop at Arcadia where I had some notable birds despite getting a later start then I typically would. Highlights included my first American Coot of the year in the county, a close up look at a Cooper's Hawk, multiple Red eyed Vireos, multiple House Wrens still sticking around, half a dozen species of sparrows with large numbers of White throated Sparrows and Lincoln's Sparrows, seven species of warbler with high numbers of Tennessee Warblers, Nashville Warblers and Common Yellowthroats and a late Cape May Warbler as well as at least five Scarlet Tanagers.
On my way to work yesterday I stopped off at Silvio Conte NWR-Fort River where I had at least three American Woodcocks flying around at dawn, a calling Eastern Screech Owl and a couple Wood Thrushes. I only had a limited amount of time so could not wait until the sun started warming things up to find new species.
I spent the first day of the month exploring Arcadia and despite the very thick early morning fog which made viewing tough I still had some great birds with the activity really picking up once the fog eventually burned off. Before dawn I was listening for flight calls and heard a few with Swainson's Thrush the most obvious. I was also rewarded with another good show of American Woodcocks leaving their cornfield roosting location before dawn. Then thrushes were certainly the main highlight early on with multiple Swainson's Thrushes on the ground flight calling and a couple singing. As I was trying to get looks at the Swainson's Thrushes I got a quick look at a Gray cheeked Thrush in the same area. I heard a flight call and recognized it as a Gray cheeked (or possibly a Bicknell's) and then got a look at the bird which showed the field marks of Gray cheeked Thrush. I also had at least one Wood Thrush giving its 'pip' volley call. The fog made it tough to get a good count of Wood Ducks moving at first light unless they flew almost directly overhead. I then spent the next few hours checking the various fields and hedgerows and had the following additional highlights: a late Chimney Swift flying south (only saw it as I was watching a Red tailed Hawk cruise by), a count of at least eight Red eyed Vireos, 7 House Wrens, a good showing of sparrows with over a hundred White throated Sparrows and at least 15 Lincoln's Sparrows and nine species of warbler with at least eleven Tennessee Warblers, half a dozen Nashville Warblers, a dozen Common Yellowthroats and 105+ Yellow rumped Warblers plus a flyover Dickcissel. A short stop in the nearby East Meadows produced a late Yellow Warbler plus other expected species (no sign of some of the other rarities I had in a small weedy potion of the meadows the day before). The first three dats of the month have already produced 102 species for me in the county...a good start to the month.
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