There's Something in the Air

Autumn is only now truly settling in, but the birds have been on the move for months.  In the previous post, I talked about some of the migrating species I’d seen, and now I’m overdue to discuss even more of them!  Frustratingly, not all of these birds are easy to see.  Some of them—particularly the warblers—are notoriously uncooperative.  The photos I manage to snap of these feathered sprites have an unfortunate tendency to recall Where’s Waldo? illustrations.

Where’s the warbler?

In the case of this picture of an adult male American Redstart, you have to look far over to the right to see the bird, displaying his gorgeous orange-on-black plumage.

Immature male redstart

This photo of an immature male redstart (with yellow-and-gray feathers) is identifiable, but not much else.  These tiny birds repeatedly thwarted my attempts to capture them on camera!  Although redstarts are breeding birds in a few locations in my area, they are much more common in the fall, when they can be expected to be seen in almost any wooded habitat from about September through mid-October.

Tennessee Warbler -- with food!

Tennessee Warbler -- note the facial markings.

Tennessee Warblers are also quite abundant fall migrants.  Their foraging behavior of methodically probing clusters of leaves for insects makes them a little easier to photograph than restarts, which flit around in thickets, catching a lot of their food on the wing.  “Tennessee Warbler” is really a misnomer, since this species nests nowhere near Tennessee; Alexander Wilson, an early ornithologist, just happened to discover it in that state during migration, so the name stuck.  Tennessee Warblers are pretty drab, but they always show pale “eyebrow” markings and white undertail coverts.

Tennessee Warbler -- note the yellow breast and the white undertail coverts.

One of the warblers that arrives in this part of the world in October and stays through the winter, instead of continuing farther south, is the Yellow-rumped Warbler.  These tough little guys increase their consumption of berries—including those of wax myrtle and poison ivy—during the colder months, when insect prey are harder to find. 

Yellow-rumped Warbler

Yellow-rumped Warbler.  The yellow patches on the birds' sides are noticeable even when the yellow rump patches are hidden from view.

Of course, warblers are far from the only birds migrating right now.  Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers (the name that sounds almost too silly to be true) have arrived for the winter, joining the permanent-resident woodpeckers, such as the extremely common Red-bellied and Downy Woodpeckers.  Sapsuckers have bold white wing stripes and a mewling call, which make them fairly easy to identify.  

This Yellow-bellied Sapsucker is a juvenile, which is why it has brownish markings on its head instead of bolder black, white, and red ones.

For the sake of comparison, here’s a Red-bellied Woodpecker (another name that can cause some confusion, since the red on the crown and nape is far more prominent than the few reddish feathers on the belly):

Red-bellied Woodpecker clinging.

And preening.  The red forehead indicates that this bird is a male.

And here’s a Downy Woodpecker, with its spotted wings and white back:

Downy Woodpecker

The red spot on this Downy's head marks it as a male.

Another overwintering migrant is the Red-breasted Nuthatch, a tiny bird that moves south in larger numbers during years in which conifer seed production is low.  This is referred to as irruptive behavior, and is exhibited by many other species, including Purple Finch, Evening Grosbeak, and Pine Siskin.  I was lucky with the bird below; it had apparently just recently arrived, and seemed somewhat disoriented—darting under the roof of the patio and landing on the rocks beside the goldfish pond.  I haven’t seen it since, though, and I wonder if it continued farther south.

Red-breasted Nuthatch

Finally, what about that quintessential image of fall migration: a flock of geese?  The ones in this photo are Greater White-fronted Geese instead of the more familiar Canadas, but, because large numbers of them have been flying through northeast Mississippi since the last week or so of this month, their piping calls piercing the somewhat colder, mid-autumn air, I think they exemplify the mood of the season.

Greater White-fronted Geese at Sam D. Hamilton Noxubee NWR.

This is just a small sampling of the avian life moving through the Southeast.  Every day seems to bring something new and interesting!  There's a lot in the air...