Day 164: Yellow-breasted Chat

The Yellow-breasted Chat is the largest wood-warbler and can be found throughout much of North America, depending on the season. They have olive upperparts with white bellies and bright yellow throats and breasts. They also have long tails. We normally hear them before we see them; they have very loud calls with a mixture of cackles, clucks, whistles, and hoots. Due to their size and vibrant color, they are usually easy to spot.

Day 163: Upland Sandpiper

Upland Sandpipers are large birds. Even though they are sandpipers, they do not need to be by water and prefer open country with tall grasses. The true core range and habitat of the Upland Sandpiper is in the northern midwest U.S. They are very rare breeders in Maryland, so we were lucky to see one on a trip out west. During fall migration, they are a bit more common in Maryland and can occur in any part of the state.

Day 162: Black-throated Green Warbler

The Black-throated Green Warbler is another cute songbird that breeds in the eastern U.S. This little bird certainly made me work for a photo, though! We saw several during our trips out to western Maryland a few weeks ago. One bird, in particular, was close by on a trail, so I decided to stalk it for some photos. Instead of behaving nicely and "posing" for me on a branch, it kept flitting around, hopping from branch to branch and tree to tree. I tried to keep up, but swinging around a giant camera/lens that much really tires you out. I managed to get a few okay photos by the end of our "session," but I think the little guy got the best of me!

Black-throated Green Warblers have an olive-green crown, a yellow face with olive markings, a thin pointed bill, white wing bars, an olive-green back and pale underparts with black streaks. Adult males have a black throat and upper breast; females have a pale throat and black markings on their breast.

Day 161: Black-billed Cuckoo

Another bird we really wanted to see in western Maryland was a Black-billed Cuckoo. These are shy birds, so they can be hard to spot, even though they are fairly large. We heard several (they have loud calls), but were also lucky to get a decent look at one. It can be easy to confuse the Black-billed Cuckoo with the more common Yellow-billed Cuckoo, which I will blog about another time. The Black-billed Cuckoo has a more northerly range, and they prefer more densely wooded areas.
 

Adults have a long brown tail and a black bill. The head and upper parts are brown and the underparts are white. They also have a red ring around the eye.

I found some interesting facts about the Black-billed Cuckoo. Evidently, they are a huge consumer of caterpillars (particularly poisonous species), and have been observed to eat 10-15 caterpillars per minute. Stomach contents of individual cuckoos may contain more than 100 large caterpillars or several hundred of the smaller species. The bristly spines of hairy caterpillars pierce the cuckoo’s stomach lining giving it a furry coating. When the mass obstructs digestion, the entire stomach lining is sloughed off and is regurgitated as a pellet. Kind of gross, but also fascinating! It is speculated that the decline of Black-billed Cuckoo populations is due, in part, to the use of pesticides to kill caterpillars.

Day 160: Cerulean Warbler

The Cerulean Warbler is a bird that can be difficult to find, but we strive to see it each year. It breeds throughout parts of the eastern U.S., but numbers have been in decline since the 1900s. During the winter, Cerulean Warblers migrate to South America. Evidently, their winter habitat in the northern Andes is dwindling. They depend on shade coffee plantations (coffee plants grown under a canopy of trees), and this farming technique is at risk with pressure to switch to higher-yield sun coffee crops.

Cerulean Warblers tend to stay in the canopy, foraging high in trees for insects (which is one reason they can be difficult to spot). A few weeks ago, we got a decent look at a Cerulean Warbler on a trip out to western Maryland. They have pale blue upperparts and white underparts, with a black collar on the breast.

Day 159: Least Sandpiper

The Least Sandpiper is a tiny shorebird that spends the winter throughout the southern U.S., Central, and South America. In the summer, it migrates to northern North America.

Jared's photo of a one-legged Least Sandpiper

You can see how tiny the Least Sandpiper is next to a larger shorebird

The Least Sandpiper can be difficult to distinguish from other similar tiny shorebirds, which are collectively known as "peeps." They like to forage on mudflats, picking up food by sight.

Day 158: Yellow-crowned Night Heron

The Yellow-crowned Night Heron is a small heron that is has similar plumage to the Black-crowned Night Heron. They can be found throughout much of the Americas, especially in warmer coastal regions. In Maryland, Yellow-crowned Night Herons are seen during the breeding season. We were able to see several nesting pairs in a local park just down the road from us.

The Yellow-crowned Night-Heron specializes in hunting crustaceans, especially crabs.