Last of the Fall Warblers III

Winter Wren Troglodytes hiemalis

Eastern Bluebird Sialia sialis

Swainson’s Thrush Catharus ustulatus

Tennessee Warbler Leiothlypis peregrina

Eastern Chipmunk Tamias striatus

Current mood

Surveyor's stake

Eastern edge of staked out field

Lovely reedy scrub patch at field's edge, where warblers, sparrows, Indigo Buntings, and more breed

Proposed cemetery expansion, as seen on a discarded document

  A lovely four-hour bimble in the sun, from west to east. Warbler variety and numbers were down - the only real wave came in the NDN Cemetery, along the wooded trail that skirts the north edge. 

  I saw a surveyor's stake in the corner of a field where the edges are quite productive, bird-wise. My suspicions that there was development planned for this quiet corner were quickly confirmed, in the most 80s-movie manner possible. Some moron left a bunch of sensitive documents (names, dollar figures, real estate details, etc...) blowing in the wind, and they all related to the proposed expansion of cemetery plots. Ah well, it's their cemetery, eh. I only hope 'they' leave the weedy fringes untouched, as even these 10-foot wide overgrown corridors provide important habitat for an impressive array of breeding and migrating species.

Mount-Royal Cemetery, (Notre-Dame-des-Neiges Cemetery), September 23, 2017
Turkey Vulture-1
Cooper’s Hawk-2 battling with crows
Ring-billed Gull-1 (1)
Downy Woodpecker-1 (2)
Hairy Woodpecker-2
Northern Flicker-2 (1)
Eastern Wood Pewee-(1 possibly heard from far off)
Red-eyed Vireo-2 or 3 on Mountain View
Blue-headed Vireo-(1 with the warbler wave on the north edge)
Blue Jay-2
American Crow-12
Black-capped Chickadee-15+ (12)
White-breasted Nuthatch-3 (1)
Winter Wren-4
Golden-crowned Kinglet-10 (3)
Ruby-crowned Kinglet-5 (3)
Eastern Bluebird-2 (8-10...many still being harried by Chipping Sparrows)
Swainson’s Thrush-1 (1)
Grey Catbird-2
Cedar Waxwing-1 or 2
Tennessee Warbler-4 (2)
Nashville Warbler-3 (3)
Magnolia Warbler-8 (10)
Black-throated Green Warbler-(1)
Yellow-rumped Warbler-3 (3)
Blackpoll Warbler-(1)
Bay-breasted Warbler-(1)
American Redstart-(1)
Northern Cardinal-3
Chipping Sparrow-35+ (50-60)
Song Sparrow-4 (2)
White-throated Sparrow-35+ (25+)
Dark-eyed Junco-45+ (12+)
American Goldfinch-3 (5+)