A thrill for Saturday afternoon was a singing male Yellow-rumped Warbler among the first warbler fallout.
A stunning Yellow Warbler tends to light up the woods when observed among a variety of songbirds and flycatchers.
Although they are common migrants east of the Great Plains, the first Broad-winged Hawks observed in the Dakota borderland area by our editor roosted overnight during a migration stopover.
Photographing an extended fight between two Ring-necked Pheasants was a highlight of the week, and a series of these photos illustrates this week’s Bird Photography article at the end of this issue.
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Warblers! The first warblers arrived! Hooray! What a treat! Sunday was filled with Yellow-rumped Warblers, plus a few Yellow Warblers including one apparent pair, Orange-crowned Warblers, and a male Common Yellowthroat. The Yellowthroat and Yellow Warblers were a big surprise so early, but I was especially impressed by the numbers of Yellow-rumps. What fun I had watching, and photographing them. In addition, there were three first of spring species – Western Kingbirds, Harris’s Sparrows, and Clay-colored Sparrows. Add to that variety Lincoln’s Sparrows, Song Sparrows, a White-throated Sparrow, 2 Say’s Phoebes, and a Hermit Thrush to top off the exciting momentary community of recent migrant birds before me. It’s the kind of day I wish for and wait for all year long – a true burst of spring!
Leading up to Sunday’s memorable migration fallout, my Saturday birding drive obviously benefitted from a big migration flight Friday night. That is, there were many new birds at some prime prairie locations, including a pair of Upland Sandpipers, displaying flocks of Brewer’s Blackbirds, and displaying threesomes of male Brown-headed Cowbirds. At one of my migrant traps I spied a few Barn Swallows, a White-throated Sparrow, and a loose flock of Yellow-rumped Warblers that gave me quite a rush of adrenaline!
The warblers were foraging on a new hatch of small insects along the brushy edge of a shallow stream where Song Sparrows were foraging too. I photographed them, hoping for some close encounters, which happened, but the 8 or so warblers that started the episode soon narrowed down to one or two at a time. Even so, a male, then a female, provided some photo ops, and the male did quite a bit of singing, which I felt especially lucky to witness and absorb. An added surprise was a pair of Say’s Phoebes that literally dropped in for a few moments. All the above named Saturday birds were first of spring sightings, except the Song Sparrows. Later, when I checked my records for my first sighting of Yellow-rumped Warblers last year to found that Yellow-rumps appeared one day later last year – amazing timing!
At the beginning of my Saturday drive I passed by two Purple Martin housing units, and although the first one showed no action, the second one had a few martins in attendance; mostly singing males with at least one pair attending one of the artificial gourd “apartments.” When I returned home, another first of spring sighting was a three-some of Chimney Swifts flying 75 feet from my house, two gliding in tandem in what might have been a flight display between potential mates.
New Yard Sightings
With Monday morning’s rain, a colorful surprise graced my feeding station – several full-color male American Goldfinches, along with a number of new Pine Siskins, House Finches, two male Downy Woodpeckers at the same time, which caused a chase, while White-throated Sparrows fed below. Later that day I observed a male and female interacting on the elm tree trunk next to my feeding station. Then Tuesday morn, the goldfinches and others from the day before continued, and were joined by an exciting sprite – a Harris’s Sparrow. And soon thereafter, a Red-breasted Nuthatch stopped by.
A Big First
The previous Tuesday, just after sending off last week’s issue of The Birding Wire, something different caught my eye when I saw a hawk gliding low just 150 yards northeast of home. I had a good idea of what it was, but I could only see it from behind in poor light each time I caught up to it. I followed the hawk from a distance, hoping to close the space between us to get a front or side view, but I lost it on the south side of an east-west grove of trees as the sun was setting. I searched along the edge of the bare trees until I saw the outline of a medium-sized hawk, then another, and another.
I checked the birds for telltale markings; ah yes, definitely Broad-winged Hawks making a migration stopover. Big deal? You bet; I’ve never seen a Broad-wing anywhere within 100 miles of here, and really can only recall seeing Broad-wings once before in Bismarck more than 15 years ago. Broad-winged Hawks are usually limited to eastern and northern forestlands, and very few venture this far west, or are forced off-course onto the open plains. What a nice surprise!
Spring Photo Safari
Wednesday, after seeing a new spring bird below my feeding station – a fine Lincoln’s Sparrow – I turned a 2-hour drive to Bismarck into a 6-hour drive! Along the way, I enjoyed a great time searching for photo ops at Long Lake National Wildlife Refuge, McKenzie Slough, and a couple waterfowl production areas (WPAs) east of Bismarck. Along the way I found a somewhat late big female dark morph Harlan’s Red-tailed Hawk that stood out among what has become “the usual” variety of waterfowl, raptors, and songbirds I observed along the way.
At Long Lake there was an abundance and variety of ducks, including a late male Common Merganser; also many Western Grebes and a few Horned Grebes, plus many Double-crested Cormorants. A newbie for this spring was a Spotted Sandpiper at Long Lake, and while visiting McKenzie Slough, about halfway between Long Lake Refuge and Bismarck, I spied my ‘first of spring’ White-faced Ibis among the abundance of ducks, coots, Giant Canada Geese, Western Grebes, Yellow-headed and Red-winged Blackbirds, and Tree Swallows.
Pheasant Phight
Arriving at McKenzie during the best lighting of the day, with the sun low in the west, I spent some time photographing territorial Yellow-headed and Red-winged Blackbirds on the east side of the road that bisects the large marsh. I almost left a couple times, but I continued to stay a little bit longer, kind of waiting for something more to happen among the variety of birds during this time of prime lighting. Just then I heard a fight break out in a little growth of saplings just beyond the very southern extent of marsh – a cock fight!
I tried to slip closer using my mobile blind (vehicle), but the pheasants walked east, into the open sunlight, and began facing off again, displaying by spreading their tails, and tipping their bodies toward one another; then they erupted into a long series of fights, mostly jumping over one another, but also clashing by kicking and pecking too. They were a little farther away than I would have preferred, but I made the most of it and enjoyed the action attentively. I’ve seen such fights several times, but this was my first opportunity to photograph the considerable action between two very territorial males. It became the longest fight too, continuing about 7 minutes!
When I returned home that night I edited 10 photos out of the series of images I took during the battle, and I feature several of these photos in this week’s Bird Photography article at the end of this issue of The Birding Wire. Even so, I’m sharing one image here to help illustrate this week’s highlights. It was surely a week I’ll long remember, and I’m glad to share it with you. I’m hoping you had great luck during this exciting migration period too, and for weeks to come as May progresses.
Article and photos by Paul Konrad
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