May 8th - 14th Birds Oh My

As Spring marches on there are so many birds to be seen on my morning walks. Some days I don't know which way to turn as I can hear them singing out loud or flitting by as they are looking for bugs to eat. Sometimes, I just stand still in the woods or in the field and just watch. Birds can be a little cautious, but, if you stand still, they will sometimes forget you are there and go about their business. 

I'll start off with a few of my favourites that I saw this week. 

Tree Swallows. A nice sign of spring warming up are seeing the tree swallows flying over the field, perhaps scoping out where they can build their nests. 

There is one branch, right by a birdhouse, that they like to sit. 

Sometimes they are quite funny to watch. The couples look as if they are having arguments or heated discussions, at least!

Another of my favourites is the Catbird. 

At first glance they look like rather a dull bird, but if you look closely they are quite beautiful. They have a darker grey headcap and rusty red feathers beneath their tails. 

More bird seen this week - lots of warblers passing through. For some of these I've used an online identifier. I'm not really up on my warblers. They are wonderful to see, but sometimes difficult to photograph as they flit around. They are small and fast!

It really is a treat to see one of these! They usually stay up quite high in the trees and move about really quickly! Apparently, vireos aren't actually warblers and are more closely related to shrikes and crows!

This one is a warbler. It's a Magnolia Warbler 

Such pretty birds! 

A Yellow Warbler. How distinctive the males are with the rusty-coloured streaks on their breasts. They have such a sweet song. 

Common Yellowthroat warbler. 

A Tennessee warbler.  This one was hiding in the blossom filled trees. 

There were quite a few woodpeckers this week too. There are lots of trees at Asylum Lake, so it isn't surprising there are many woodpeckers here. 

Downy woodpecker. They are quite small. this one has a red spot on its head so it's a male!

Northern Flicker. This one is another male. He has markers by his beak. They can be black or red. 

Red-bellied Woodpecker. Their bellies aren't bright red, more a blush colour so I'm not quite sure how they got their name. This one is a male. He has red/orange on the top of his head and down his neck. A female does not have the red/orange on the top of the head, only down the neck.

Walking through the woods this week there were lots of birds to be seen too. The rather elusive - to see at least - the Eastern Wood-Peewee. They usually perch high in the trees, so usually I can hear them calling, even see them, but taking their photos, well that's a different story! Their call is so distinctive - Audobon describes it as a slurred pee-a-wee sound. 

They really are quite pretty birds too in their own. Delicate looking. 

Nearby in the woods, the Grosbeaks are making their presence known. As with a lot of other birds, it's their call that I hear first. I stop and take a look around and catch sight of a flash of the red of a male grosbeak and not far away, the duller looking female. 

Again this week I saw quite a few Swainson's Thrushes. Most seemed to be in the woods on the other side of the lake. There must have been something over that way that appealed to them!

 

One day this week as I walked out of the woods I was really surprised to see a Turkey. It's not that they aren't common to be seen birds in Michigan. I see them quite regularly, but for some reason I don't often see them at Asylum Lake. I had a run in with one once there so they aren't my favourite birds. I give them a wide berth and happily took a photo from far away!

I left him to go on his way and quite happily watched a Blue Jay instead. I really like Blue Jays. I see a lot of them in my garden. They come for the peanuts. They have so many different calls. They sometimes imitate hawk sounds to scare other birds away. 

This one was gathering branches perhaps to make a nest. 

A kingbird sitting at the edge of the woods. 

This next one I had to look up. I knew it was a sparrow, but not what kind. I find some of them very similar to look at so I'm not good at identifying them. 

A Lincoln's Sparrow! Such pretty face markings. 

Last, but not least, for this post is a springtime favourite - Baltimore Orioles! How delightful it is to see these bright orange birds in the spring time. I can't wait to see if I can spot a nest this year. Their nests are sock like hanging nests. I hope to be able to share later! 

So distinctive and easily recognisable. A delight to see all season long. 

The most interesting birds I saw this week will have their own post - a family of owls!