chipperatl

We are still lagging on migrants I think. I was tearing up my previous best pace, but the past 5 days have only been 1 FOY each day. Now have fallen behind with lots of easy ones still not seen. Not for lack of effort.

American Redstart? I had one this week that looked less Orange, and could possibly be considered yellowish in certain light. Doesn’t fit exactly, but that is as close as i can think of.

He got his head into a bag of Cheetos at the dump.

Size wasn’t good as this chunky-monkey adult male COHA has been hanging out at this spot. He’ll pull wings forward every once in a while making me think SSHA for a sec. Winds were strong yesterday so I was worried it was this same bird just adjusting his wing shape due to it. Once I blew out the exposure I could see the juvie markings.

Most of ours at any given time are just early/late birds. https://ebird.org/alert/rba/US-MI-025 We have had 3 county firsts this year - Black-legged Kittiwake, Barrow's Goldeneye and Black-necked Stilt.

Female Brown-headed Cowbird = very early Indigo Bunting💩 Northern Shrike = Northern Mockingbird for 2 seconds. 👎 White-crowned Sparrows singing only 4 notes of their song = Blue-winged Warbler 🤫 Black-legged Kittiwake = Bonaparte's Gull for about 8 hours☠️

Unfortunately the crows found him shortly after this.

I thought this was the chunky adult male Cooper's Hawk I have seen at this hotspot multiple times this year. I thought he was just holding his wings a bit ahead due to the wind. Now thinking maybe it is a juvie Sharpie as when it finally closed up tail feathers they seemed more squared off, and that doesn't look like adult marking on the chest. Looks more like juvenile streaking and it goes quite far down the body of the bird. It is accipiter sp. on my checklist already.

@MerMaeve is just north of me I believe. @zdgesb84 I think birds around the East side of Michigan.

This would be my second dark-eyed female Rusty Blackbird this year.

Brewer’s x Rusty Blackbird might cause me to quit looking at all blackbirds.

I never realized the red on the Sandhill Crane's head is in the shape of a "heart".

I thought for sure in the scope I had some dark-eyed female Brewer's and some birds holding themselves a little more upright. The farm field was at eye level, so it was tough getting a good focus. I have them listed as "/" on my checklist. I'm thinking this first one the eye isn't really as dark as it appears. Bill seems thin like a RUBL. Thinking tail may be too short for BRBL I I have no pics of this guy outside of the gully. Thought the bill seemed kind of straight though.

Crows are not only a good sign of a bird predator, but also other predators. I followed them to a fox moving through the woods.

Lesser Black-backed Gull Smew domestic Graylag Willow Flycatcher Palm Warbler (Yellow) - MBRC didn’t accept it, and I just haven’t changed it Blackburnian Warbler Tundra Swan https://ebird.org/media/catalog?mediaType=p&includeUnconfirmed=T,O&userId=USER231264

Been a while since I picked up my airbrush Big into Baseball Cards (especially throwback jerseys), but have stopped pouring money into that now. Birding is the main hobby now. Reading has taken a hit. 2019 I read over 60 books, but last year plus have been significantly less.

Lesser Yellowlegs can, in flight, give a WRSA impression.

White “V” on back is a good field mark from that angle pointing to Red-tailed

5000th checklist in my County submitted today.

Probably the best bird I have ever found. Bucket List bird - Self-found, Michigan Review Species, and in my home county. This potentially great shorebird spot had normal SOSA, WISN and KILL there, and that was disappointingly it. I drove down further to see the west side of the pond and freaked out when I saw this bird in my binoculars. https://ebird.org/checklist/S85623052

The picture is so noisy it is hard for me to tell where it is an end of tail feather, or not. Also first time I’ve ever noticed that grey cheek points to Cooper’s Hawk. Goes back to reading Field Guides is the best education not done.

I thought SSHA initially. When flying it moved more erratic than the dive bombers the COHA at my feeder seem to do. I'm wondering though if this round looking head is just an angle, and the mostly even tail feathers (except that far right one seems shorter) really aren't. Also I've never had any accipiter with that much grey down its cheeks which I think also points to male COHA (Sibley).