Another slow week although there looks like a break in the cold temperatures and North winds is coming later this week. This means you can expect a major push of our summer resident birds returning and many of the migrants will be coming through by this weekend. As for last week we added 5 new species which brings our total to 74 for the season so far. The new species this last week were: Blue-headed Vireo, Common Yellowthroat, Merlin, Nashville Warbler, and Swainson’s Thrush. The most exciting of these was the Merlin which marks the first time I have personally seen this bird in Kleinstuck and only the 3rd time one has been documented there. It was getting harassed by Blue Jays and was not happy about it one bit. Merlins breed mostly in the UP of Michigan however their range has been expanding and breeding pairs are showing up in areas outside of the UP. The other 4 species we had this week are to be expected, however I had only single individuals not bunches of them. This year the birds seem to be at least a week behind in their arrival times and the vegetation is at least a week ahead. So this combination might it extra challenging to see some of the colorful birds coming our way.
Photo: Blue-headed vireo Vireo solitarius