Early October is usually good for migration here in Forsyth County, North Carolina, and this year was no exception. The third 3-week stretch of the fall Yard Squad Challenge went from October 5 to 25. I am happy that I found 14 new birds during that time. The first day started with one of my favorite migrants right on my deck – Rose-breasted Grosbeak.
A few days later, I found a bird that made me even happier. It was one of those days that I didn’t get out until after 2:00 PM, so I headed to the Walnut Bottoms trail which is short, flat, and easy. I wandered along the fence row and saw a pretty Cape May Warbler. Next, I headed to the back corner where I found both male and female Black-throated Blue Warblers, a new bird for my team, Yardbirds Remastered. Surprisingly, I did not see any of these lovely birds in my yard this fall as I usually do.
A Cape May Warbler in the late afternoon light at Walnut Bottoms
I intended a short walk, but something kept calling me to stay. After I had already been there for three hours, I started following a big flock of Common Grackles in hopes of getting a good photo of one. Yes, I know that sounds crazy, but I’m inspired by a local birder who was photographing American Robins in her yard a few years ago when she found a Henslow’s Sparrow. The grackles led me through the woods and back out into one of the fields where I spotted a flycatcher on a power pole guy-wire. I’m the opposite of those birders who turn common birds into rarities. When I see a small flycatcher, I usually figure it’s an Eastern Wood-Pewee or at best an Acadian Flycatcher. This day something told me to get a photo of the bird. So, in the last light of the day, I worked hard to get the photo below which was good enough to confirm this bird as a Least Flycatcher. They are not common birds here, yet every serious birder in the county except me had managed to see one. I was thrilled to finally add it to my Forsyth County list and especially proud of finding it myself.
Least Flycatcher at Walnut Bottoms – a new county bird for me!
The next day, October 9, was the best day of fall in my yard. I enjoyed sitting on my deck and watching the action in the Devil’s Walking Sticks which were loaded with berries. In less than an hour, I observed four Cardinals, a Parula, a Scarlet Tanager, and two Swainson’s Thrushes feasting on the berries.
A Swainson’s Thrush in the Aralia spinosa, Devil’s Walking Stick
This Scarlet Tanager was also eating Aralia spinosa berries, but it popped out in the open for a photo.
I continued to find nice birds for my Yard Squad circle, but nothing new for the Yardbirds. With two other team members in the East (Ohio and Florida), we had a lot of overlap in species. At Long Creek Park, I found my first Pine Siskins on October 16. It’s an irruption year that some are calling the invasion of the Siskins. A few days after I took this photo, birders around the state started reporting dozens of these birds at their feeders. A couple of people reported hundreds of Siskins. People are joking about second mortgages and 401K withdrawals to finance enough bird seed to keep these greedy little things happy. If you are not familiar with avian irruptions, you can read about the phenomenon here. See the Winter Finch Forecast for current predictions.
A Pine Siskin at Long Creek Park
Swamp Sparrow at Long Creek Park
I also found a really interesting thrush at Long Creek Park on October 17th. I am calling it a Hermit Thrush, but it was a difficult ID even for the expert birders who advised me. It alternately looked like a Gray-cheeked Thrush, a Swainson’s Thrush, and a Hermit Thrush depending upon the light. Adding to the difficulty of the ID was the timing; migrating Gray-cheeked and Swainson’s Thrushes were still around and Hermit Thrushes were just arriving for the winter.
A newly-arrived Hermit Thrush enjoying wild grapes at Long Creek Park
Here’s a bird that can’t be mistaken for anything else, an Eastern Bluebird.
Eastern Bluebird at Long Creek Park
My heart has a soft spot for Hairy Woodpeckers, so I was thrilled to see this female come to my yard for a visit. I was sitting at the kitchen table when I took this photo – across the kitchen, through two panes of glass, and on far side of the deck.
Hairy Woodpecker on my deck
As we headed into the last week of the competition, there were three birds that I needed to find for my team – Blue-headed Vireo, Winter Wren, and Purple Finch. Winter Wren was the only one of these that I was sure I could find. Several other birders had seen Blue-headed Vireos at Long Creek Park, but I tried three days before I could find one. But, what great luck I finally had! Blue-headed Vireos seem curious and sweet; they are my favorite vireo. None of the other vireos come close to check you out and then go about their business of foraging just over your head.
Blue-headed Vireo at Long Creek Park
The next morning, I headed to Walnut Bottoms where I was hoping to find a Winter Wren. I walked a short way down the trail to Muddy Creek and played the call. Like a shot, a wren flew up from the creek bed and landed ten feet in front of me. Success! I watched it for a few minutes and then continued on the trail to the first open field where I quickly found a Purple Finch feeding in the weeds.
Purple Finch at Walnut Bottoms. This is likely a female, but it’s nearly impossible to distinguish the females from first year males.
Now I could relax! I had successfully found my targets and could just enjoy birding for the last few days of the challenge. The Purple Finch was the 100th bird that I observed during the fall Yard Squad Challenge in my 1-mile circle. Forty-one of those birds added to the tally for my team, Yardbirds Remastered. We ended with an impressive 479 species, but the competition was fierce so that put us in position 5 of 7 teams.
Eastern Box Turtle at Walnut Bottoms
For the iNaturalist part of the competition we came in right in the middle of the pack at 4th place with 446 species of non-avian observations. With 151 species, I was the iNat leader for my team. The iNat competition renewed my interest in moths. I found about a dozen species that I’d never seen before. I also found that I enjoyed butterflies and found two “lifers”, Dun Skipper and Little Yellow. Some of the other insects were interesting, too. Did you know that there really is a living thing called a conehead? Yep, and I found two different species of them at my moth lights.
Here are a few of the “leps” (lepidoptera – butterflies and moths) from the last stretch that I especially liked.
Fiery Skipper
American Lady
Common Checkered-Skipper
Long-tailed Skipper
And, that’s a wrap for the fall Yard Squad Challenge. Credit goes to Matt Smith for creating, hosting, and managing the game. And, thanks to Joost Brandsma for leading the Yardbirds Remastered. It was great fun and my obsession with the game gave me an excuse to put off cleaning and decluttering my house for two more months. You can find more of my photos on eBird (contributor Shelley Rutkin) or iNaturalist (user shelleydee).
Birding for Life 