A very cold and rainy April comes to an end. Highlights include early Northern Parula and Prothonotary Warbler, but I won't forget the impressive number of Yellow-rumped Warblers that were stalled at Pheasant Branch Conservancy for several days. One day I estimated 15 to 20 individual birds every 100 feet for nearly 2 trail miles. Conservatively, that's nearly 1,500 yellow-rumps just along the creek corridor trail, but no doubt there were thousands more spread throughout the 500 acre conservancy. I observed male yellow-rumps displaying super aggressive behavior, which included a harsh rapid series of chip-notes I don't recall ever hearing before. My counts for Pine Warbler were above average as well and I was finally able to get nice photographs of this species.
All images © 2011 Mike McDowell