The fall migration season is starting to heat up

  • By Bruce Glick
  • August 20, 2014
  • 344
                        
The fall migration season is starting to heat up Columnist Bruce Glick summarizes happenings in the local birding world. This week Bruce reports on the start of the fall migration. Read more in the "Gone Birding" column. When I saw that Su Snyder found and photographed a Canada Warbler at her home in Wooster last week, I decided there must be at least a few migrant warblers coming through our neighborhood in Goshen, Indiana. So, this morning I spent several hours walking and biking around our part of town. It includes a lake that is almost overgrown with vegetation this time of year, as well as a small marsh and a woodlot along the Elkhart River. Starting out from our house, I heard the resident Eastern Wood-Pewee calling, as it has been doing all summer. By the time I returned home, I'd heard at least four more of these common nesting flycatchers. Black-capped Chickadees were around in good numbers, many of them vocalizing, although one bird was quietly preening after bathing in some calm water along the bike path. As is the case in Holmes and Wayne Counties, there were Tufted Titmice, White-breasted Nuthatches, American Goldfinches, Northern Cardinals, Blue Jays, and American Robins. A total of seven Gray Catbirds were still lurking in the vegetation along the trails. One Red-eyed Vireo was singing almost continually, while a second was quietly flitting high in an oak tree. I briefly saw a small bird near the top of a huge tree. The bird looked like a warbler, but never came into view. I really like the warblers that forage close to the ground! A lone Baltimore Oriole was singing fragments of song, just enough to let me know it was there. A few days earlier I had encountered five orioles while biking on the local rails-to-trails. A male Indigo Bunting seemed to still be defending its territory, coming quickly up to check me out after hearing my "pishing" sounds. As usual, Song Sparrows also responded. Our small lake is the result of the Goshen Dam, only a few blocks from our house. Two Spotted Sandpipers were bobbing on the rocks at the bottom of the dam, along with a Great Blue Heron, a dozen Mallards and a Belted Kingfisher. Cedar Waxwings seemed to be everywhere, mainly flying out over the water to catch insects. Also in the same business were a number of Purple Martins, Barn Swallows, and Northern Rough-winged Swallows. Chimney Swifts stayed higher in the air. Swifts are most common downtown where they roost each night until leaving for the winter. We are also fortunate to have a good population of Common Nighthawks that can be heard every evening and during the night-time hours. There are still some Rose-breasted Grosbeaks around the neighborhood, as well as an occasional Great Crested Flycatcher, and lots of Eastern Kingbirds. Both House Wrens and Carolina Wrens are still around, although Goshen is far enough north for Carolina Wrens to be much less common than in Holmes and Wayne Counties. I'm writing this column on August 20, and I just checked the Ohio Birds website, to discover that Ohio birders are enjoying nice views of a Swallow-tailed Kite in Highland County. A Red Knot was reported from Conneaut, and a migrant Olive-sided Flycatcher also made the news. It's time to be out birding, since you never really know what might show up as we get seriously into the fall migration. Good birding! Bruce Glick birderbruce@yahoo.com 330-317-7798


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