Holiday Beach Hawkwatch on Sept 11th 2011

Birding in the Neighborhood

 

 A quick walk to the end of my street this morning (there is a small 2-acre forest there) netted a Warbling Vireo, Philadelphia Vireo (I think), Swainsons Thrush, Black Capped Chickadees and Tufted Titmouse.  I typically don't see Tufted Titmice too much over the summer as they seem to avoid bird feeders and are more secluded in the woods (IMHO). Also, I have not really seen Tufted Titmouse in Windsor outside of Ojibway Park, so to see them residing in the small forest near my house is pretty exciting. The feather molt on Tufted Titmice seems to really clean up nicely for the winter, so these birds will probably look a little nicer in November. They're probably juvi's as they don't have too much rust colour in their flanks.

Buffy spectacles and olive coloured flanks hint that this is a Swainson's Thrush. He's on his way to Central or South America for the Winter.

 

Tufted Titmouse... one of my favorite birds, and a Windsor specialty

Holiday Beach Hawkwatch
A mid-afternoon family trip to Holiday Beach had some nice looks at some raptors that are in-season in early September such as Sharp-shinned Hawks, American Kestrel and Osprey. Resident Bald Eagles were there as well.

Even though the forested beach  area was pretty well birdless, some of the trees next to the observation tower were pretty active with passerines. The trees had singles of Warbling and Philly Vireos along with Yellow, Magnolia, Nashville and Cape May Warblers.

I'm quite confident this is a Philadelphia Vireo, a lifer incredibly... at 281. I thought I had seen a Philly last fall, but many keen blog readers quickly pointed out the lack of yellow on the throat and chest (it was really a warbling vireo). One must ID a Philadelphia Vireo carefully as they are very similar in appearance to Warbling Vireos and (to a lesser extent) Red eyed Vireos. Philadelphia's are much more rare than Warbling Vireos as well... indeed, its taken me three years to finally see this bird!

Good birding,
Dwaynejava

Lifer summary:  Philadelphia Vireo #281

PS: Common Nighthawks flying over the house tonight along with Swallows.