April 23, 2005
North Davis migrant bonanza
I decided to shake off last night's birthday-induced hangover with a birding jaunt in NE Davis. The migration season so far had been frankly uninspiring for me, but all that was about to change...
On arriving I was greeted with a lingering Red-breasted Nuthatch and these Pine Siskins.
The Western Kingbirds were making a lot of noise...
as was (unfortunately) this singing male Brown-headed Cowbird.
At about 8am the migrant activity started to pick up - a few Pacific-slope Flycatchers, a flyover Lazuli Bunting, numerous Wilson's Warblers and a hybrid male Hermit x Townsend's Warbler all put in an appearance. Steve Hampton arrived at the peak of activity and we found the morning's star bird - a Hammond's Flycatcher. The bird was mobile and tricky to photograph, but lingered in the area for at least an hour.
Over the next hour we almost cleaned up on spring migrants: Black-throated Gray, Townsend's, Wilson's, Orange-crowned, Nashville, Yellow-rumped and an early Yellow Warbler were all on show, plus Warbling Vireo, Black-headed Grosbeak, Bullock's Oriole and Chipping Sparrow. Most colourful bird of the morning had to be this male Western Tanager - after months of not seeing one - you forget how stunning they are!
