This Migration Still Has Wings

This morning Ray was sitting in his Lazy Boy with the back door open.  Outside  a Baltimore oriole sang.  Then later Ray espied this in the dying yet old hackberry on the east fenceline, an olive-sided flycatcher (Contopus cooperi).  This s the second new Contopus at the CB this spring.  Goodness!

Twins Afflict CB

Nature has taken a turn for the worse in these parts.  The Class Aves migrants have departed,  it's getting hot and the baby deer or fawn has turned out to be twinks.  What's worse than one?  Two!

Here's one of the twain twinks amid the Injun blankets this morning.

Warblers Trickle Through

The CB as of yesterday still had meager numbers of migrants including this Wilson's, an addition to the list for this migration.  Makes 7 warbler spp.

Meantime dopey doe has taken over.  Note the laid back ears.

New (to Crumby) Blue Jay Behavior

The eaves of the CB feature a great many paper wasp nests.  Mostly they are nests of Polistes furcatus, sometimes attaining a fairly large size.  Lately a blue jay flies under the eaves, tears off chunk of  wasp nest, alights on a nearby tree branch, and dissects the chunk.  I have not seen any wasps, so the nest we are now discussing may be abandoned, but still could have some larval wasps maybe.

And we have a new baby deer in residence.  How annoying is that?  The doe acts like she owns the place, even appropriating the bird feeder as her own.  Most likely she descends from that buck who learned to empty the bird feeders by banging it with his head and sending the feeder flying horizontal, thus emptying the sunflower seeds.  Mercy!

New CB Bird Record

Back on the 26th of April, Ray took this picture.  We didn't look at it closely, figuring it was another mute Empid.  However, it appears to be an eastern wood pewee (Contopus virens) which has not been seen hereabouts previously.

Progress

The great, annual, spring migration of Class Aves (neotropical section) has about washed over these parts.  Crumby was lucky at the CB to espy six species of warbler, apart from the wintering sort.  Also, the CB featured Baltimore oriole, great crested flycatcher, Bell's vireo, solitary vireo, plus assorted mute Empids.  Much better, overall, than the expectation forecast as the migration got underway. Alas though, Crumby missed the Chuck Will, settling for a mockingbird doing a Chuck Will.  Yet the most unforgettable image from this particular migration is of a road killed coot decomposing in the bike lane on Brodie across from the Lowe's.  Was it run down by a great vehicle or a mere bicycle?  Probably, we shall never know.  In any case, that deceased coot reminds Crumby of the general peril travel totes in these parts.  You never know!
Nevertheless, many hope that the paucity of sightings during this migration reflects on the progress Class Aves made toward arriving safely at summer homes.