I’m lucky that my birthday coincides with one of the best times for birding in the Athens area, and I enjoyed spending much of it with two birders from my old stomping grounds in Davis, Sami and Cathryn. Among the many cool birds we saw were my first Northern Harrier for Lake Herrick (patch tick #178), and some wonderful looks at open country birds. This Grasshopper Sparrow at Braswell Church Road seemed equally unconcerned by us and by the Harlequin ladybird crawling up its leg!

Nearby, this Loggerhead Shrike was hunting grubs from the powerline.

A stunning male Blue Grosbeak at the S Milledge fields.

This Osprey at Lake Herrick soared so low overhead I could barely fit it in the frame.

Having only seen Bobolinks through the mist yesterday on Charlie Bolton Road, we returned this morning to try (unsuccessfully) for better views, but instead found another Northern Harrier, and better still, a fly-by Merlin. As you can tell, I was a little too late to photo-document it…

I was able to pick up Cliff Swallows (just) inside the Clarke Co. border by visiting the Tallassee Shoals river access just a short distance from the Bear Creek breeding colony.

And to complete the trifecta of horrible record shots, here is one of three Forster’s Terns at Lake Chapman (only the second county record). They, and 2 Greater Scaup, were the best birds following a long-overdue rainstorm. Hope we get some more rain over the coming week!

A few days ago, I recorded 5 different Swainson’s territories in the State Botanical Garden, a high number after several poor years. However, this was thrown into doubt when Clark Jones called me to say that Bob Cooper’s ornithology class had witnessed a Hooded singing a perfect Swainson’s song! I was able to get back and record a couple of videos of the Swainson’s-mimicking Hooded, and to record it counter-singing with a real Swainson’s.

HOWA singing SWWA – 1

HOWA singing SWWA – 2

Clark even managed to get a spectrogram of the two!

Here’s the Swainson’s showing about as well as they ever do…

… and his Hooded impersonator.

Among a trickle of new arrivals, I was pleased to get more good views of Blue-winged Warbler.

Yesterday I spotted a White-eyed Vireo at a nest built foolishly right alongside one of the trails.

On returning today I was surprised to see that the pair had already incubated and produced a clutch without any of us noticing – perhaps they knew what they were doing after all!

The stormwater pond at the landfill continues to be attractive to Tringas. Last week Simon and I were treated to wonderful, close-up views of a Lesser Yellowlegs consorting with a Solitary Sandpiper.

I was thrilled to hear my first Clarke Co. Northern Bobwhite out here, and even better, got to see it the next day (unfortunately it got photo-bombed by a Brown Thrasher).

The vulture show.

The stormwater pond in the ACC landfill is proving to be a fantastic birding spot, holding what looks to be the most promising shorebird habitat in Athens-Clarke County. Tuesday’s highlight was the first of the year Greater Yellowlegs.

The muddy edges have also been attracting small numbers of American Pipits, looking very smart in their breeding plumage.

White-crowned Sparrows have been singing from the roadside for the last couple of days.

We have spotted several first of season birds here, including Green Heron, Northern Waterthrush, Rose-breasted Grosbeak and this singing male Orchard Oriole.

Many of these species showed well on the ‘scavenger hunt’, a field trip focusing on getting up close and personal with the attendant Black and Turkey Vultures.

Shorebird migration is much in evidence at Lake Herrick too, with 6 Spotted and a Solitary Sandpiper present earlier in the week.

Other cool sightings from here included a Northern Watersnake hunting tadpoles…

… and an adult Beaver escorting its adorable youngster across the lake.

The botgarden has also been hopping with migrants, with 18-19 warbler days now possible.

I was pleased to get decent views of a singing Blue-winged Warbler in the powerline…

… where the male Indigo Buntings are strutting their stuff.

Sadly last year’s American Bitterns have not returned to the beaverpond, but we are occasionally getting close looks at a pair of Wood Ducks.

Perhaps the most siginificant sighting of the week was a dragonfly, not a bird: this Cocoa Clubtail was evidently a first county record.

I never tire of watching Carolina Saddlebags.

Rural Clarke County has been producing the goods too, with more singing Grasshopper Sparrows and Bobolinks to boot. Fingers crossed that the overnight rain will bring more good things our way!

The unseasonally warm weather came to an abrupt halt as temperatures plummeted into the 30s overnight. The cooler weather, along with a lack of any rain, has generally slowed the pace of migration to ‘normal’. Nonetheless, I’ve been adding a new year bird or two almost every day. Early last week, visiting Brit birder Simon and I were delighted to spot his lifer Grasshopper Sparrow along Charlie Bolton Road.

A small influx of waterfowl to Lake Chapman included a Bufflehead and a new county high count of 14 American Wigeon. The beach hosted this smart breeding-plumaged Little Blue Heron. This species has occurred annually in the spring in Clarke County for several years now, but it still hasn’t been confirmed as nesting in the Georgia Piedmont.

Lake Herrick held Blue-winged Teal for several consecutive days, which were joined by multiple Pied-billed Grebes, American Coot and the second site record of Lesser Scaup.

Hirundines have been loafing on the beach all week, including at least 7 Purple Martins.

Little Lake Herrick hosted two confiding Hooded Mergansers.

Georgia eBird supremo Joel came to visit, and in an astonishing turn of events, we both heard a screeching Barn Owl from my backyard, a new county bird for me and a rare ‘urban’ record for the county. Flyover Canada Geese and Barn Swallow brought my yard list total to a tantalizing 99 species. While their numbers have dwindled to a handful, the remaining American Goldfinches visiting my feeders are looking smart.

Last weekend 4 of us hiked the entirety of Cook’s Trail. While the lack of Swainson’s Warblers was surprising, we recorded new county high counts of White-eyed Vireo (23), Louisiana Waterthrush (13) and Hooded Warbler (17).

By contrast, Joel and I recorded a healthy count of 4 Swainson’s Warblers at the botgarden (all singing across the river). New arrivals there this week include American Redstart (a new early date), Cape May Warbler, both tanagers and Great Crested Flycatcher. While most of the warblers have been heard-only, Yellow-throated and Orange-crowned Warblers were photographically cooperative.

The highlight of the past week’s birding was today’s Greater White-fronted Goose, a new Clarke Co. bird and my 177th species at Lake Herrick. Sadly, it didn’t linger for the masses.

Two days prior, a flock of 12 Northern Shoveler here doubled the previous county high count.

The end of March brought a mixed flock of Lesser Scaup and Blue-winged Teal to Lake Chapman…

… and a Vesper Sparrow to the South Milledge fields.

The continued warm weather has brought more record early arrivals. On 30th March, a Prothonotary Warbler on Cook’s Trail, Prairie Warbler at the South Milledge fields and a Great Egret at Lake Chapman all constituted new county early dates.

Swainson’s and Kentucky Warblers singing at the State Botanical garden on 2nd April were new county early dates, as was a Worm-eating Warbler at the same spot, and a Solitary Sandpiper at Lake Herrick on 3rd April.  Up to 14 warbler species can currently be found at the botgarden, though most have been heard-only (this Louisiana Waterthrush and Prairie Warbler have been the exceptions).

An Eastern Bluebird checking out nesting sites in the botgarden.

Yard-birding has also been interesting, with singing White-eyed Vireo, Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher and House Wren all present for multiple days. A singing Field Sparrow was unusual, but not unprecedented, while this Broad-winged Hawk was only my second yard sighting.

While birding at the LA coast was outstanding, really good birds can be found in the heart of New Orleans, especially during migration. Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks are so common in Audubon Park that even the local Mockingbirds imitate them.

We also had good looks at (presumably wild) Blue-winged Teals, Mottled Duck, and a pair of Wood Duck nesting in the Tree of Life.

Just a handful of Snowy and Great Egrets had returned to the heron rookery, but both had acquired aigrettes and bold colours on their lores.

While a few Neotropic Cormorants flew over, I only saw Double-crested in the park.

A lone Anhinga upped periscope.

Purple Martins were seen and heard all over the city.

Early migrants included my FOTS Great-crested Flycatcher, Red-eyed Vireo and this smart-looking male Summer Tanager.

At City Park we added Eastern Kingbirds and saw our only Yellow-crowned Night-Heron of the trip. We drove to north to Lakeshore to view Lake Pontchartrain, and had stunning views of a Horned Grebe coming into breeding plumage….

and a flock of Greater Scaup containing one female Lesser, allowing for a great side-by-side comparison of size and head shape (last bird in lower photo).

My 133rd and final species of the trip was Eastern Meadowlark seen from my departing plane. Can’t wait to bird there again!

I spent the last few days in wonderful New Orleans visiting long-time friend, collaborator and bird aficionado Caz. On Sunday we were joined by Ryan, another birding buddy from my California years, and two other birders, Maggie and Glenn, for an extremely eco-friendly carpool to the coast in a Prius. We started out scanning gulls, terns and shorebirds at the Exxon fields. Even the ephemeral ponds between houses held shorebirds, including Marbled Godwit…

… and a mixed flock of Tringas including both yellowlegs, Solitary and Stilt Sandpipers.

This particular Stilt Sandpiper showed about as well as I have ever seen one.

Other notables included the small peep sweep, Wilson’s Snipe and Plovers, and several Willet perched on power lines and rooftops.

Once we had our fill of shorebirds, we decided to check out the Lafitte Woods preserve, a well-known migrant trap. Since the weather was sunny, our expectations for migrants were low, but soon after arriving it became clear that the woods were hopping with birds. The vast majority were White-eyed Vireos, but we had the 3 other common vireo species, Ruby-throated Hummingbird, Wood Thrush, and 15 warbler species, an exceptional haul for March.

Star of the show was a Swainson’s Warbler that we all got looks at, representing a new early date for the state!

Our last stop at Port Fourchon yielded fly-by Peregrine and two deep pink Roseate Spoonbills, Northern Harrier, Clapper Rail and a good selection of shorebirds, including our only Piping Plover of the day.

The Western Sandpipers were looking pretty dapper as they transitioned into breeding plumage.

Finding food places open on a Sunday proved challenging – Huddle House to the rescue!

A large flock of Black-bellied Whistling Ducks flying out to roost was our last species of the day.

Last week’s highlight was Clarke County’s first recent record of Anhinga, found by Mirko sitting in a treetop at Lake Herrick. I was extremely lucky to see this bird, as it flew off about 30 seconds after I arrived.

Our FOS Yellow-thoated Vireo and this Least Sandpiper were also present the same day.

The next day 4 Hooded Mergansers touched down briefly, but didn’t stick around.

Lake Chapman held a female Red-breasted Merganser, and better still, a female Greater Scaup (4th county record).

The FOS Spotted Sandpiper was sitting on the beach.

Again thanks to a timely phone call from Mirko, I was able to add Osprey as my 96th yard bird. My backyard American Goldfinches are starting to look dapper in their breeding plumage.

The first bird walk of the season at the state botanical garden yielded 8 warbler species, including newly-arrived Hooded Warblers and a few Common Yellowthroat.

A pair of Northern Rough-winged Swallows showed splendidly in the main garden.

A trip to Columbus, Ohio, last weekend was notable mostly for the unseasonally warm weather. Best bird was undoubtedly a Bald Eagle on its nest.

I stopped at the Braswell Church Road cattle pond on my way home from Atlanta airport and connected with the long-staying, but elusive, blue Snow Goose.

Mirko Basen and I just found a female-type Painted Bunting at the Athens landfill – first county record! The bird was pretty elusive over the 10 minutes we watched it – hope it stays around for others to enjoy.