This weekend I stayed at home and birded in the mornings, and looked for
butterflies in the afternoon. I had missed a week here while I was on
vacation, so it was nice to look around here. Like everywhere, this weekend
was dominated by the heat (On Sat. it reached 99 here in the shade of our
porch!), and the birds were subdued. Bluejays, cardinals, thrushes (wood,
robin and bluebird), vireos (red-eye and white), mimids (all 3), C. wrens and
waxwings were all calling frequently, with young that were noisy begging. But
other than that it was quiet except for the incessant cicadas, which were
very loud. I only got one warbler Saturday, my first OVENBIRD of the fall, and
today all I could find was a female yellowthroat. It seems like most the birds
around here were local breeders, with very few migrants around. The only
other fall migrants I saw were one Great Egret and 4 BLUE-WING TEAL (today).
I had a great weekend with butterflies, I found 24 species here plus two
others nearby. I guess they love this heat!
Cheers-
Jeff Shenot
Croom MD
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