Day 182: Bobolink

The Bobolink is a small blackbird that breeds in North America and winters in South America. One of my online sources offered a great visual description; males look like they are wearing a tuxedo backward, leading some observers to refer to this species as the “skunk blackbird.”

Bobolinks often migrate in flocks, feeding on cultivated grains and rice. They are sometimes considered pests by farmers in certain areas. From what I've seen, Bobolinks tend to quickly pop up from fields, fly around, then drop back down in the vegetation where they can be hard to spot. We saw several Bobolinks in western Maryland a few weeks ago, and I managed to get some photos, even though they were pretty far away.

Day 181: Chipping Sparrow

The Chipping Sparrow is one of North America’s most common and widely distributed migrant songbirds. Unlike many sparrows, which are commonly associated with grassland communities, the Chipping Sparrow prefers open woodlands, the borders of natural forest openings, edges of rivers and lakes, and brushy, weedy fields. We see many Chipping Sparrows this time of year in Maryland. Adults have a gray chest and belly and a rusty orange colored cap.

Day 180: Pine Warbler

The Pine Warbler is a small songbird that breeds in pine woods in eastern North America. Adult male birds have olive upperparts and bright yellow throats and breasts. They forage slowly on tree trunks and branches by poking their bill into pine cones. Pine Warblers eat mostly insects, seeds, and berries.

Day 179: American Kestrel

The American Kestrel is the smallest, most numerous, and most widespread North American falcon. They are sexually dimorphic in size and plumage; the male American Kestrel has blue-gray wings and a rufous tail with a single black band, while the wings and tail of the female are reddish with black bars across their lengths. Females are also larger than males. The photos below are of a male bird.

The American Kestrel hunts by hovering in the air with quick wing beats or perching and scanning the ground for grasshoppers and small mammals/birds.

Day 178: Yellow-throated Vireo

Yellow-throated Vireos breed throughout much of the eastern U.S. Adults are mainly olive on the head and upperparts with a yellow throat and white belly. Yellow-throated Vireos forage for insects high in trees.

Day 177: Henslow's Sparrow

A month or so ago, we went searching for a Henslow's Sparrow in western Maryland. Though we heard several birds, we were not able to see any of them. Luckily, Jared took another trip more recently and got this great photo of a Henslow's Sparrow singing.

Jared's awesome photo

The Henslow’s Sparrow is often difficult to detect because it sings from inconspicuous perches on low shrubs, or grasses. Henslow’s Sparrow populations have declined over the last half-century, and this species has recently been identified as the highest priority for grassland bird conservation in eastern and midwestern North America.

Day 176: Forster's Tern

Several months ago, we saw some Forster's Terns during a trip to Maryland's eastern shore. Forster’s Tern is the only tern restricted almost entirely to North America throughout the year. They breed inland in parts of the U.S. and winter in the southern U.S., Mexico, the Caribbean, and Central America. 

Day 175: Yellow Warbler

The Yellow Warbler is like a beautiful ray of sunshine, with its striking golden yellow plumage. Even its song is adorable; to some birders, it sounds like the Yellow Warbler is singing "sweet sweet sweet, I'm so sweet." Yellow Warblers breed throughout much of North America and are a welcome, cheerful addition this time of year.

Jared's great photo

Day 174: Red-eyed Vireo

We see quite a few species of vireos in Maryland this time of year. The Red-eyed Vireo is another common songbird that breeds throughout much of eastern North America. Adults are mainly olive-green with white underparts, and as their name suggests, they have a red iris. These birds seem to be constantly singing and have a huge variety of complex melodies.

Day 173: Lesser Yellowlegs

The Lesser Yellowlegs is a medium-sized shorebird that looks very similar to the Greater Yellowlegs, except that it is smaller. It it a brownish bird with long, bright-yellow legs, a long neck, and a distinctive call.

In summer, Lesser Yellowlegs can be found in open woodlands and meadows from northwestern Alaska to central Quebec. In winter, they frequent a wide variety of wetland types throughout Central and South America, the Caribbean, and the southern United States. They forage for insects, fish, and crustaceans in shallow water.

Day 172: Chestnut-sided Warbler

The Chestnut-sided Warbler is another cute little warbler that breeds in parts of eastern North America. As its name suggests, it has distinct chestnut colored flanks. Chestnut-sided Warblers also have dark gray backs, white faces, black eyestripes, and green/yellow crowns.

We see many Chesnut-sided Warblers throughout Maryland this time of year. Their cheerful, high whistling songs are also unmistakable and help us identify them.

Day 171: Louisiana Waterthrush

Even though it's not very colorful, the Louisiana Waterthrush is considered to be a type of warbler. It has a plain brown back and white underparts streaked with black. It looks similar to the Northern Waterthrush, which I wrote about earlier, but is larger in size. The Louisiana Waterthrush also prefers dense vegetation along the water's edge for nesting, while the Northern Waterthrush likes stagnant, swampy waters.

The Louisiana Waterthrush breeds in eastern North America and migrates to the Caribbean and Central America during the winter.

Day 170: Golden-crowned Kinglet

The Golden-crowned Kinglet is an adorable, tiny songbird that can be found throughout much of the U.S. and Canada, depending on the time of year. As their name suggests, they have a yellow crown surrounded by black. Adults are olive-gray on top with white underparts.

Day 169: Black-and-white Warbler

The Black-and-white Warbler is a common, distinctive wood warbler that breeds in northern and eastern North America. During the winter, it migrates south to Florida, Central America, and Peru.

The Black-and-white Warbler has unique, sharply defined black-and-white striped plumage that is evident in all seasons. It has the unusual habit of foraging on tree trunks and limbs, using its slightly curved bill to probe for insects and spiders. It also has a very distinct call, which is often how we first know that a bird is in the area.

Day 168: Eastern Meadowlark

The Eastern Meadowlark is a common bird in farmland and open country throughout eastern North America. We often see them flying around fields in Maryland, but they usually only pop up for a few seconds before disappearing again into the grass. Eastern Meadowlarks have bright yellow underparts with a black V on the chest. They have a brown back with black streaks.

Day 167: White-eyed Vireo

Another type of vireo that we see or hear this time of year in Maryland is the White-eyed Vireo. This migratory songbird is known for its explosive and complex singing. Individual birds rotate through a dozen or more distinct songs, each comprising six to ten highly variable elements.

White-eyed Vireos have white irises that are surrounded by a yellow mask. During the breeding season, they eat insects almost exclusively. 

Day 166: Alder Flycatcher

The Alder Flycatcher is a small, insect-eating bird (and another in the flycatcher family). They breed in areas with deciduous trees near water across Canada, Alaska, and the northeastern U.S. In Maryland, they can be found in the western parts of the state, so this is another bird that we looked for during our recent weekend trips. We did see and hear several Alder Flycatchers, but most of them were too far away for a photo. This is the closest one we saw, and you can barely make out its face and white wing bars.

Facing us

Back to us

Day 165: Blackburnian Warbler

Blackburnian Warblers are beautiful birds. Males have a neon orange throat that stands out in stark contrast to the greens and browns of tree canopies. We saw so many Blackburnian Warblers during our recent visits to western Maryland, particularly at the New Germany State Park (a beautiful spot if you ever have a chance to visit). Like many other warblers we try to photograph, the Blackburnian Warblers would NOT sit still. They enjoy flitting around branch to branch looking for bugs, making it very difficult for us to snap a well composed photo. These photos aren't wonderful, but they're the best that we could do after much sweating, huffing, puffing, and whining on my part - so I'm still proud of them!