I spent much of the day at Holyoke in Phillips County; wish I'd spent more time there. I would like to expand upon David Leatherman's excellent comments, but much of that will have to wait. I am totally wiped from lack of sleep and a head cold.
I'll actually get into MORE detail after the highlights.
Firstly, I had this odd idea that it might be interesting to start at the Holyoke Cemetery and watch birds come in. Often, the best early morning passerine activity is in relatively open spots, with birds landing in brush and working their way to trees, or just watching them plop out of the sky. Well, I was there from sunrise (6:33) to 8:30, and nothing plopped. The place was dead, so to speak. A Brown Thrasher came waggling in over the fields looking exhausted, and a couple Audubon's dropped from the heavens, but that was about it. The only "goody" was a CACKLING GOOSE in with a large flock of Moffitt Canada's. Since Moffitt's breed here in only small numbers, and the numbers about aren't small, I suspect Moffitt (Big Ugly) Canada Geese are on the move southwards.
So, maybe no birds around? Eh? That's what I was thinking.
But merely 5 minutes later, I was at "central" park in Holyoke, and before I could get to the 4th pish, in "pish-pish-pish-pish" birds were zooming in on me. The most notable of these was a CASSIN'S VIREO, likely the one seen there yesterday by Bill Kaempfer. The flock was impressive, though not huge. Good diversity and very aggressive, until a young BROAD-WINGED HAWK joined the party, scattered all the wee-birds, but posed for photos before debunking to the nearby neighborhoods. And apparently so did everything else, for the park was now near empty.
So, off into the neighborhoods I went. I found good groups of passerines (excepting robins, starlings, and the like) at 2 other places, plus some good birds at one other place. The two other spots with good numbers of warblers and the like were similar in character to central park: The Holyoke Courthouse grounds and the grounds of the Holyoke High School/Junior High. Very green, very moist landscape with a scattering of medium to large trees (some elms, some cottonwoods, and ?? - I needed Dave L along). The few backyards with small flocks all had some standing water nearby, and in this exceptionally dry year, in The Northeast of Colorado, I think that is the most important factor. The spot with good birds but only smallish numbers was near the edge of the golf course -- green moist lawn --- water.
Walking between "Central Park" and the Courthouse, I found an adult BW HAWK and 2 WHITE-THROATED SPARROWS.
At the courthouse, there was a NORTHERN PARULA
At the High School, there was a BLACKPOLL WARBLER, NASHVILLE WARBLER (most likely Eastern by structure and behavior), AMERICAN REDSTART and a Least Fly
Just s. of the e. end Akron Street (at n. end of town), near the golf course, there was a PINE WARBLER and a PHILADELPHIA VIREO as well as Dusky Fly, 2 OS Flys.
Birds were pishing in splendidly well, and the Pine Warbler was giving me some nice views. I lifted my camera to find this very yellow bird in the frame that looked odd, so I just started shooting, then I looked at the bird (in life, not the viewfinder), and it was a Philly Vireo. There were no other passerine migrants about.
I headed off to Haxtun, birded some neighborhoods that have been good in the past: nada.
Went to the Town Park, and had a nice flock of birds that included a TENNESEE WARBLER. Some of the houses on the east side of the park had fruiting trees and/or water features in their backyards (which faces a street, so easy to access), and there were a number of birds in their yards, though nothing of note.
So, water, water, water.
I imagine that where there's water, there's probably more bugs, not just fluid for a thirsty migrant.
By the way, there are crazy numbers of RB Nuthatches on The Plains. I know that they breed, or probably breed, in many towns on The Plains where there are goodly numbers of conifers, especially pines (something that is also true of Washington's Columbia Basin, and something that is not mapped in any guide -- at least as far as I am aware). But I had TWENTY-THREE in Holyoke. Okay, they might breed in Holyoke, but they have been in many places far from any conifers of note, including one at Tamarack SWA area today. I've also had several montane WB Nuthatches well onto the plains already.
So, here are the combined totals of flycatchers, warblers, and vireos from Holyoke and Haxtun today (excuse the abbreviations -- I wouldn't have the energy to do this otherwise:
2 OS Flycatchers
2 Western Wood-Pewees
1 "Western" Flycatcher
1 Dusky Flycatcher
1 Least Flycatcher
1 Cassin's Vireo
1 Philadlelphia Vireo
28 OC Warblers
1 Nashville Warbler
1 Tennessee Warbler
2 MacGillivray's Warblers
1 Common Yellowthroat
1 American Redstart
1 N Parula
1 Blackpoll Warbler
1 Pine Warbler
1 Myrtle Warbler
9 Audubon's Warblers
1 Myrtle x Audubon's Warbler
12 Townsend's Warblers
42 Wilson's Warbler
The numbers at Holyoke are also very similar (excluding rarities), excepting proportionately fewer (yes, fewer) Townsend's this week and many more Orange-crowned Warblers.
Here are the totals from Jackson yesterday:
1 WW Pewee
1 "Traill's" Flycatcher
1 Least Flycatcher
1 Dusky Flycatcher
3 Empid Spp
4 Warbling Vireos
6 OC Warblers
1 MacG Warbler
1 Common Yellowthroat
1 American Redstart
2 Yellow Warblers
2 Chestnut-sided Warblers
1 Myrtle Warbler
89 Audubon's Warblers
3 Myrtle x Audubon's Warblers
44 Townsend's Warblers
56 Wilson's Warblers
The numbers from Jackson are strikingly similar to the week before excepting the surge in YR Warblers and Townsend's Warblers (up from 10 and 12). All else was pretty similar, with no dissipation of Wilson's (52 last week).
I expected, after this past week's cold front, to see a real push in YR Warblers and a diminution in numbers of Wilson's. Guess not, or at least not on the plains. I also expected a further drop in flycatcher numbers (which had plummeted after the cold front a week prior), but the same low-level numbers persisted. Yellow Warbler and House Wren numbers continue to dwindle, having largely debunked after the same coldfront that pushed out the flycatchers.
So, high numbers of insectivorous migrant passerines continue out on The Eastern Plains. The big difference between this week and last, it seems to me, is that they were more localized this weekend. Prewitt was nearly birdless this weekend, the Holyoke Cemetery was nearly sans migrants. Last weekend, every little nook on the plains seemed to have birds. Not this week
Before I forget.... one more goody: on the Logan Co side of Jumbo there was an AMERICAN GOLDEN-PLOVER today. Otherwise, Jumbo is pretty much shorebird free. Not much there, really, besides a few hundred pelicans, cormorants, and usual gulls.
Good Night and Good Birding
Steven Mlodinow
Longmont CO
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