May-June, 2023

I've already posted about the Eastern Bluebirds who raised their families in our yard this spring and summer, but we had a lot of other cool sightings during that time, too! Here are some highlights from our property during May and June of this year.

May is peak migration time, and it's always fun to get glimpses of the birds that pass through our yard on the way to their summer breeding grounds, near or far. Here's a White-crowned Sparrow on May 7, pausing briefly here during its journey to somewhere in northern Canada:

Migration also meant that we added three new bird species to our yard list in May this year, bringing our total list of bird species seen and/or heard on our property to 116! (Wow!) Bird #114 was a Least Flycatcher who was hunting and calling from a big apple tree in our meadow on May 7 (thanks to Merlin's sound ID feature for helping me to confirm this little bird's identity). Bird #115 was, incredibly, an Eastern Whip-poor-will who called for a few minutes after 9:00 PM on May 11; the bird was singing from somewhere beyond our property, but it was loud enough that I heard it from inside the house. (Eastern Whip-poor-wills are rare around here, and I expect that this was a once-in-a-very-long-while event.) Bird #116 was a Prairie Warbler who moved quickly through our yard, singing a few times, on May 28.

Of course it's also wonderful to come across birds that I see more regularly, especially birds who are only around during the warmer months. This Broad-winged Hawk circled overhead for a bit on May 7; I'm fairly sure that these hawks nest somewhere in the woods bordering our property, but I don't know whether this individual was here to stay for the summer, or whether it was planning to move on:

This male Common Yellowthroat was singing insistently at the edge of the meadow on May 14, perhaps establishing his territory for the season (this is another species that breeds here):

Also on May 14, this male Scarlet Tanager made a nice contrast with newly emerging Shagbark Hickory leaves and flowers:

Just a few days after I took that picture, we had a late hard freeze that destroyed most of this Shagbark Hickory's leaves (and many emerging leaves on other plants, too). This tree and pretty much everything else recovered fine, but it was tough to see so much blackened and bare plant life in the second half of May.

On May 16, I got to admire this Black Swallowtail butterfly up close after it emerged from a chrysalis that overwintered in our unheated mudroom:

Downy Woodpeckers had a nest in a partially-dead tree at the edge of our property this year. I didn't get to see the babies, but I certainly heard them, and the parents made frequent visits. Here's the male at the nest hole on May 27:

On May 30, this Eastern Chipmunk was stuffing its cheeks full of Silver Maple seeds that had fallen from the tree in our front yard:

Those are some big cheeks! And I love this view from behind:

On May 31, a swarm of Honey Bees settled briefly high up in the branches of an oak tree in our front yard:

I'd never seen a Honey Bee swarm in person before! Here's a closer view -- wow, that's a lot of bees:

I didn't take a whole lot of pictures of wildflowers during this time, but here's an especially floriferous Starflower plant along our woods path on June 2; I don't usually see three of these lovely blossoms on a single plant:

And I was pretty well blown away by the Wild Lupine display in our meadow this year. I wonder if these plants were helped along by the extremely dry May we had, or maybe they've just been really successful at increasing their population each year (despite the ever spreading goldenrod). Whatever the reason, there were more lupine flowers in the meadow this year than I've ever seen before, and it was glorious. I'm so glad these plants took off when we scattered their seeds after excavation work in the meadow in 2017! Here's a view of a small portion of the lupine show on May 31:

And a wider view on June 2:

I loved seeing some variations in colors among different plants, like these bicolor white-and-purple flowers on June 4:

 

These flowers were a big hit with the pollinators, too. Here's a Honey Bee enjoying the lupines on June 5:

This male Brown-headed Cowbird was looking fancy in newly emerging Redbud shoots on June 6 (after the tree's first attempt at new growth was entirely destroyed in the May 18 freeze):

In the woods on June 15, I happened to spot a Small-eyed Sphinx (Paonias myops). This moth was doing a very good dead leaf impression, dangling by its front legs from a Multiflora Rose stem:

Up close, this moth's wings look to me like they're decorated with gold leaf; ah, so pretty, and the shapes of these wings are so interesting:

(Incidentally, Multiflora Rose is one of those nasty invasives that I'm trying to gradually remove from the property; there's quite a lot of it out there, but it hasn't totally taken over any areas yet, and I've been making slow but steady progress each year. My strategy this year was to cut some plants to the ground and place a wide flat rock over each stump, and that actually seemed to work pretty well, as long as the rock was wide enough. Last year, I tried cutting down plants and treating the stumps with triclopyr, which mostly worked, but some of the plants still regrew. We have an abundance of wide flat rocks on the property, so I'll likely keep going with that strategy for now.)

On June 21, I saw one of our Eastern Phoebes hunting in the meadow, using young trees as convenient perches:

Here's another picture of this lovely bird perched on a small hawthorn sapling:

(I wonder how long it will be before this area is no longer quite a meadow, with small trees and shrubs moving in. I don't feel the need to maintain this strictly as a meadow, and I'm very curious to see how this landscape will change over the years.)

Also on June 21, a couple of Ovenbirds in the woods came near me and made sharp sounds and generally made it clear that I wasn't welcome -- I think they may have had a nest somewhere near the path. Yes, you are bold little birds, and also adorable:

Speaking of adorable, here's a young Tufted Titmouse at the edge of the meadow (also on June 21):

On June 29, I was surprised to see a juvenile Dark-eyed Junco grooming itself right in the middle of a small table on our back deck:

This little bird then sat on the table for several minutes, apparently resting -- it didn't seem to be hurt, and it flew away after a little while, but it was definitely strange to see this young bird lounging on our deck furniture:

Finally, our trail camera in the woods picked up several cool sightings in June, so here's a small selection of clips, featuring: 

1. Our first sighting of an American Mink on our property. This was a surprise, because I've only seen mink around water before! But this mustelid-type creature was too big to be a weasel and too small to be a Fisher (both of which have appeared on the camera in this spot in the past), and there are wetlands just a little further downhill from here; and it sure looks like a mink.
2. An Ovenbird doing its chicken-like walk across the log.
3. A mother White-tailed Deer and her twin fawns.
4. A Raccoon with two babies (and sounds!).
   

And that's it for May and June! As I'm writing this, the fall season is arriving (yay, fall!), but the next posts on this blog will feature summer sights. Next up: July!

Mid-May Birds, Bugs, and Flowers

Happy May! I've been doing a lot of wandering outside recently, and there's been so much to see. It certainly is a lively time of year! Here are some assorted sights from the past couple of weeks.

On May 10, during a visit to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's Sapsucker Woods, I was happy to see a Brown Creeper alternately foraging along tree trunks and singing his sweet song:

And an Ovenbird was singing (loudly!) from his perch close to the path:

The following day (May 11), I spent some time exploring the paths along fields near our house. This is quickly becoming one of my favorite places to wander, because it's so close and it seems to always have interesting creatures around. (Bobolinks! Orioles! Warblers singing in the woods!) Plus, the scenery is amazing; I love all the spring colors on the surrounding hillsides:

This male Baltimore Oriole spent several minutes busily feeding among apple blossoms:

I'm still super impressed by the deep orange breast on this fellow:

And the view from underneath was brilliant indeed!

I also love the orange-glowing-through-black effect on the back of this guy's neck when he stretched:

Several Cabbage White butterflies were flying after each other in a nearby field, making a weird swirling swarm that looked more like the result of a computer algorithm than anything I'm used to seeing in nature:



A brilliant Six-spotted Tiger Beetle was hanging out on a bare patch in the path:

When I looked at this beetle from the front, I thought at first that it was munching on something; but no, the bulging white and brown things on the front if its face are just its huge mandibles. I definitely wouldn't want to be a smaller bug with this fast and powerful hunter around:

A few days later (May 14), I was in Maryland visiting my family for a few days, and the wonderfully colorful wildlife sightings continued with a male Scarlet Tanager (a female was nearby as well, but she was even less willing to pose for pictures than the male was):

Back home in Central New York, I went for a walk at the Roy H. Park Preserve late yesterday afternoon, where the fields are filling out with new-spring-green leaves:
 

And the dark coniferous woods are now speckled with pale green as well:

I wandered down into a small gorge to find the loveliest little stream:

All sorts of wildflowers were blooming in these woods, including dainty Starflower (Lysimachia borealis):
 

Tufts of floating Foamflower (Tiarella cordifolia):
 

And several Painted Trillium (Trillium undulatum), which I don't think I've ever seen in person before; this flower was such a wonderful surprise:
 

Lady slipper leaves were sprouting up nearby. I didn't see any flower buds, but I'll be sure to come back and visit these plants in a few weeks in case any blossoms do make an appearance:

It's been quite an eventful spring so far. And it's not over yet!

Yellow Butts and Blue Berries (Technically Cones)

We still have flocks of Cedar Waxwings munching on the berry-like Red Cedar cones outside our windows, and now the Yellow-rumped Warblers are visiting more frequently as well. I absolutely love these little birds, and I'm glad they seem to like the food in our trees so much!
 

This subtly-colored individual stopped by on Wednesday. I keep thinking of this bird as female, but it could very well be an immature male (as far as I can tell). Either way, this is one pretty bird:
 

Yellow-rumped Warblers have yellow on their butts, of course, but they also have those yellow patches on their sides, and yellow on top of their heads as well. This bird had such soft side patches, and an even subtler wash of yellow on its head:
 

I watched this bird pluck individual cones and then toss them up into the air and catch them again before swallowing. I'm not sure why it was doing this, but it was a bit like watching a juggling act. Very impressive stuff! (And much too quick for my camera.)
 

Speaking of motions too quick for my camera (in this day's low light), I actually quite like this picture of the bird taking off, streaky yellow patches and all:
 

There was another Yellow-butt foraging in these trees at the same time, and this bird was distinctly darker, with sharper yellow in all four spots:
 

I'm assuming this is an adult male in his non-breeding plumage (they're much darker in the spring), but I could be wrong!
 

I absolutely love the blue-gray patches on this guy's wings. The combination of gray and russet and black here actually reminds me -- strangely enough -- of the colors on an American Kestrel. But I'm sure that's not what this little creature is going for:
 

During all this time that these two Yellow-rumped Warblers were posing for me, I actually saw very little of the spot that gives them their name. Ah, there it is!
 

Fall is such a fantastic time, with new yard visitors practically every day. A couple days before these Yellow-rumped warblers showed up, we got a surprise fly-through from a Scarlet Tanager (any scarlet that this bird might have is hidden away for the season):
 

And a fancy Blue-headed Vireo stopped by as well, showing off its cool white spectacles:
 

These last two birds weren't eating any cones -- nor any sunflower seeds from the feeder we have set up nearby -- so they didn't stay around very long. Even these brief visits, though, are an awesome addition to this season's variety of wildlife. Hooray for diversity!