Part One-Sunday Morning At Machimoudus

I started my Sunday by doing a little early morning birding at Machimoudus Park . It was cloudy, 50 degrees, and very windy. I was only able to spend an hour there, but still enjoyed the birds I was able to see. Tree Swallows were the dominant species this morning. It was quite a thrill to enter the park with a hundred swallows flying in every direction above my head.


When they weren't putting on an air show, they would rest in trees, like the one above .


Some of them didn't want to be bothered with a crowd, so they reserved a private table.


I had a chance to get a decent picture of this Black and White Warbler, but came up short.
In all, I saw eight species of Warbler: Blue-Winged, Black and White , Yellow Warbler, Prairie Warbler, Worm-eating Warbler, Yellow-rumped Warbler,
Northern Parula-(eye level view-very nice!), and Ovenbird.

Then it happened, I saw my first Scarlet Tanager of the year. The brilliant color of the breeding male Tanager seemed to momentarily make the clouds disappear. There was a time, when I thought that I would never get to see a Tanager. I was always looking up in the trees hoping to see one. Now that I know their song, they are much easier to find but no less striking.

I also caught a glimpse of some Common Ravens which were making some of their trademark Raven sounds. I saw lots of other species of birds but I prefer to just mention the highlights.

On the way out, I was hearing a bird song that sounded very familiar to me. I knew it wasn't a warbler but what was it? Just before exiting the park, my question was answered. It was the rather dull looking Warbling Vireo. The song was very familiar, but I hadn't heard it since last year. -That concludes the morning session-stay tuned for part two (The afternoon session)-on Tuesday.