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Scarlet Tanager invasion!
- To: carolinabirds@duke.edu
- Subject: Scarlet Tanager invasion!
- From: Joshua Stuart Rose <jsr6@duke.edu>
- Date: Sun, 17 Sep 2000 23:14:35 -0400 (EDT)
- Sender: carolinabirds-owner@acpub.duke.edu
Hi again,
After nearly 14 hours' worth of NAMC, followed by the Junior Brown
concert Saturday night, I couldn't get up early enough for serious
birding this morning (I'm not sure if Frank has woken up yet!). I did
visit a friend in the late morning and early afternoon; he just moved
into a house on Pickett Road with 40 acres of land behind it. Birds were
surprisingly scarce, so we spent most of the day observing caterpillars,
butterflies, odonates, plants, and ridiculously large mosquitoes.
However, we did turn up a Magnolia Warbler and a Scarlet Tanager. The
tanager was especially impressive; after seeing only one in my first
three years in Durham, I had seen five on the NAMC on Saturday, and now
this one. And I had another to go...
I returned home around 4 PM and started unloading empty bottles,
newspapers and such from my car. Suddenly I realized that I was hearing
lots of little call notes from the adjacent Duke Forest, which borders
our yard on one side. One of the first species I spotted was, of course,
*another* Scarlet Tanager! Close behind was an immature Chesnut-sided
Warbler, followed by a couple of Red-eyed Vireos. I spotted several
Black-and-white Warblers, they suddenly seemed to outnumber even the
chickadees and titmice! Then a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, followed by more
warblers: Tennessee, Common Yellowthroat, Black-throated Green, Northern
Parula. I haven't checked yet, but I think the tanager, Tennessee, and
Chesnut-sided are all new yard birds, which should push us to 70 species;
not bad for a shack with no real water and no open sky...
Good birding!
Josh
Joshua S. Rose
Duke University
Department of Biology (Zoology, R.I.P.)
jsr6@acpub.duke.edu
http://www.duke.edu/~jsr6/