Today, May 1, on a lunch time walk my backyard stretch of the Scioto River in Columbus had one of the more interesting mixes of migrants in a while. Warblers here today included :

Blue-winged 
TN
Nashville (~10)
N Parula
Yellow (several)
Y-rumped (~30)
B-t Green (several)
Blackburnian
Sycamore (several)
Palm (several)
Blackpoll
Cerulean
A. Redstart
Prothonotary (3)
Ovenbird
N Waterthrush
KY

The 3 Prothonotaries were all males singing on territory apparently. I can hear the closest one often just sticking my head out the back door. Another one was singing practically underneath the 5th Ave bridge - a noisy place, but its song really resonates there. Perhaps they're all here because of the relatively high water level in the Scioto now and few House Wrens. I only noted one here House Wren today.

Last Tuesday after a shower had passed there were at least a half dozen TN Warblers here belting out their loud song full blast. It sure sounded like mid-May to me, but only one or two have been present since.

R-b Grosbeaks have completely taken over at my sunflower seed feeder. At one point yesterday I counted 5 males and 3 females at or on the tree above it. A Lincoln's Sparrow has been underneath for several days also getting the scraps.

Other birds here today included Gr. Crested Flycatchers, a Veery and several Swainson's Thrushes, Scarlet Tanagers, Indigo Bunting, Baltimore Orioles, etc.

On Wed. I had my first ever record for here of a Red-headed Woodpecker. It was a beautiful sight, but didn't hang around for long. At this point I don't get to add new species to my backyard list very often.

I had a couple of free hours between downpours to head over to the Deer Creek WA this afternoon. I didn't stay long because I mainly wanted to see if any Bell's Vireos had returned yet. Nope. I did check out a couple spots, though, finding the expected species for the date in the expected places. I was glad to see that a part of the grasslands in the southern wetlands had been burned. It's nice to see that ODNR is managing that spot as a grassland and not planting crops there. Numerous Grasshopper Sparrows and at least one Henslow's Sparrow were in the unburned portions and will probably soon occupy the burned areas once some grass gets going. Shorebird habitat there is still minimal, but 1 each of both yellowlegs and 5 Dunlins joined the resident Spotteds and Killdeers. Many of the resident birds have yet to arrive, but birds already present in good numbers included Yellow Warblers and C Yellowthroats, Orchard Orioles, E Kingbirds, and at least one Y-b Chat. Along the Deer Creek in Fayette County the resident N Parulas and Prothonotary Warblers were also back. There was certainly no shortage of House Wrens along the Deer Creek. The only migrant warblers I noted were Nashvilles, Palms, and lots of Y-rumps. Purple Martins were back at their houses by the State Park office, and on the SP beach were 1 Dunlin and 4 WILLETS.

Last Sun./Mon I had a rare for this spring multi-day free stretch with decent weather and decided to had south of the border to try to photograph Swainson's Warblers. I have seen the usual ones at the usual spots near the New River Gorge several times, but there aren't many there and the light is too dim for decent photos. I headed instead this time out into little birded territory to poke around along the WV/VA border not knowing what I would find. Swainson's are surprisingly common down there. I easily found them in both states in appropriate habitat. I found about 20 of them in my day and a half there and one small area alone in WV held 9. The going is slow on the narrow mountain roads down there, but most of the spots I found them in could be reached directly from Columbus in 5 to 5 1/2 hours. If anyone is planning on heading down there please email me privately if you want some new Swainson's spots. I was able to get some good-enough-for-now photos of them :
http://www.roysephotos.com/SwainsonsWarbler.html



Bob Royse

Robert Royse
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www.roysephotos.com

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