I don't ever remember a time when we have had so many unbelievably great rare birds as we have had in the past week.  This included 3 super rare birds I saw within 1/2 mile of each other, and a first county record bird!!  

I will bounce back to where I left off last with 5/11.  Woodland Park started out the day with 70 species including FOY Philadelphia Vireo, Acadian Flycatcher (new bird for me there), and Black-billed Cuckoo flying around the woods.  After quite some time there, I headed over to B DR S over by Albion for some Least Sandpipers reported the previous day.  I found the peeps, and a Dunlin, and as I was sitting there I heard a odd noise.  I looked over the fluddle and a Black-necked Stilt was landing in the middle of the fluddle.  I couldn't believe it again finding this bird in the county was unreal.  This bird gave me much better looks than I could have asked for.  My new R5 was firing away, as I am still trying to get the hang of it.  The bird, unlike last year's, was in a position to have the sun at my back when I was snapping pics.  Super cooperative bird and much closer than last years.  A bird I definitely didn't expect to pick up again this year.  

May 12th back at Woodland got me FOY Wilson's, Bay-breasted, Canada and Prothonotary Warblers.  This got me all the expected warblers on eBird, except the frustrating Hooded.  American Pipit and Willow Flycatcher would round out that days FOY birds with the Pipit being a very shy bird that would only show its head.  

5/13 I took a quick trip to Whitehouse Nature Center in Albion and managed to find the White-eyed Vireo that was reported there.  It never showed itself and was singing from quite far back.  B DR S gave up a FOY Savannah Sparrow.  5/14 at Woodland again I managed both Alder and Yellow-bellied Flycatcher.  Both very hard to find birds, but they were very vocal.  I also managed my first time seeing a female Golden-winged Warbler.  I spent probably 15-20 minutes trying to get good shots of this bird.  I did this because I thought the bird was a hybrid.  I had no idea until I finally looked at my Warbler Guide app, that the female GWWA looks different from the male.  5/14 was also Global Big Day.  I feel like a put in a solid effort, but nothing too earth-shattering with 91 species.  5/15 Hercules got me up at 5 a.m., just in time to hear a Great Horned Owl calling from the woods.  Haven't heard it since.  

5/18 began the absolute craziness of rarities that popped up in the county.  Early that morning an alert came out on eBird of a Connecticut Warbler at Woodland Park.  I spent the rest of the day until a package finally arrived at 5 p.m. I had to sign for, hoping the bird would still be there.  When I got there a few other birders were also trying to locate the bird, with no luck.  I walked around to some other places in the park trying to see if maybe it had moved spots when my Discord app started to ping that the bird was singing.  Sure enough once I got over there this incredibly loud noise was coming from the tangles close to the entrance.  The bird was tantalizingly close, but never was able to see it.  I have to thank Jerald Britten for 1.) having his contact info on his eBird profile, and 2.) responding back to my e-mail asking where in the park he located the bird.  The next morning I was right back out there as soon as a conference call was finished.  The bird popped up a few times allowing me to at least get some decent looks and pics of it.  This was a lifer, and bird #248 for the county.  1 more closer to my goal of getting to #250 by the end of the year.  

I'll have to do yet another breaking up of this post.  This May has just been so overloaded with not just good birds, but lots of birds.  As of today, 5/26, I've seen 165 birds in May.  10 more than my previous best, and sit at 205 birds for the year.  Almost as much as my high for a full year, prior to last years excellent numbers.  I know the county is well ahead of last years pace also.  

I may have to break this update into two parts.  Since last post I have had 45 FOY birds, with a possible review species, and a repeat review species thrown in there for good measure.  It took a while for things to get going, but the week of 5/9 it really took off and took off quick.  

Hercules and I have been able to get in some good walks at Brooks Nature Area.  He loves to go swimming in a section that is open to Stuart Lake.  I did get a FOY Marsh Wren that was very vocal from the lookout on 5/4.  5/5-5/6 I had a Red-headed Woodpecker show up to the feeders in the yard, which is not a very common sight.  Also on the 6th I had a FOY trifecta of 3 birds I can't always count on every year.  Especially when all 3 are breeding plumage males.  Black-throated Blue Warbler, Purple Finch and Orchard Oriole (first time with fully-dressed Orchard Oriole).  

May 7th, as we finished our walk, I saw a hawk gliding north.  It struck me as somewhat Cooper's hawk-like, but I decided to snap some pics to confirm.  I looked at them closer, and sure enough it was a FOY Broad-winged Hawk.  I never really got a chance to get out and do any hawk-watching to see any big flights.  May 8th got FOY Blue-winged Warbler, and the D DR S Marsh area paid off with a Sedge Wren calling.  I also came across a juvenile Bald Eagle with what appeared to be a fox, or a cat.  Very orangish color of whatever it was that it caught.    

Monday May 9th started the first day that really flagged high for migration.  That night of 5/8-5/9 BirdCast estimated almost 3.5 Million birds crossed the county.  That morning also brought me a hefty 15 FOY birds.  The most I have had on a single day, outside of January.  This included 18 species of warbler including FOY Blackpoll, Chestnut-sided, Blackburnian, Magnolia, Northern Parula, Cape May, Redstart, Tennessee and the highlight a Golden-winged Warbler.  I also was able to catch a pic of an American Crow with some heavy-duty molting happening.  I think this explains the Crow I saw prior that I thought had some leucistic markings under the wings similar to a Golden Eagle.  I'm surprised the thing can even fly.  

May 10th was another stellar day with 20 warbler species including great looks at a FOY Cerulean Warbler, and managing to snag a new bird for Woodland Park with a White-eyed Vireo briefly calling.  Other FOY were a Mourning Warbler that gave me a brief view, and a male Ruby-throated Hummingbird.  Made sense it would be a good day with 4.1 Million birds passing through overnight.  

One other really great potential find during this time period was a very yellow Palm Warbler at Brooks on 5/4.  Every since my submission to the MBRC was shot down in 2014, I make sure to try to get shots of any heavier yellow Palm Warbler.  This bird stuck out for sure.  It seems to tick all the boxes, with only concern being maybe some small patch of white in the vent.  I looked at pics, and posted to Whatbird, and this doesn't seem to be an issue with Eastern (Yellow) Palm Warblers.  It has the bright yellow supercilium, and the yellow eye-arcs along with yellow wash all the way down the body.  I just need to take the time to do up the paperwork for it, and cross my fingers.

Will work on further updates for what was a great week for birding for me, and the county.  

I went back out in a snowstorm on 5/18 to check on the Whimbrel status.  The bird was much closer this time and I was able to get some better shots of it.  I think around 15 people showed up for it.  It being rare to have one in April helped and it stuck around till the 20th.  The evening of the 19th Hercules and I went to Brooks Nature Area.  I missed some stellar shots of a Bald Eagle as we weren't to the lookout yet when it was gliding around the lake.  Another cool birding experience was watching a Merlin maneuver to pick off a swallow right along the surface of the lake.  

After some significant rain the night of the 22nd I went back around N DR N/20.5 Mile and up 21 Mile to R DR N and over.  There were fluddles all over the place, just not many birds.  This would pay off in the following days though.  I did manage a FOY Sora in the small cattail marsh that is on R DR N.  I think I have had them in that spot a few other years.  It is such a small spot for them, but it has been pretty consistently calling when stopping by there.  
​
Hercules and I hit up Brooks the night of the 23rd and FOY were abounding with Yellow Warbler, Orange-crowned Warbler, House Wren and some very surprising Terns.  Orange-crowned was a new early record for me.  The light was not great on the Terns, but I could identify some really long tails on a few to make them Forster's Terns.  I had 1 that I was pretty sure was a Common Tern.  I went back on the 24th and got such better shots so put it in as a Common Tern.  The body was grey looking, and the tail looked dark.  Apparently the field guides don't reflect that the darkness on the tail is on either the outer web, or the inner web as a difference between the two.   

The night of the 23rd I was really hyped for the next day.  Between all the fluddles and the BirdCast forecast being high for that day I didn't sleep much.  We had winds coming from the south, so I was able to "sleep" with the windows open.  That combination lead to YardBird #158 as I heard a Greater Yellowlegs call out as it flew over.  The forecast paid off with over 1.6 Million bird estimated to have crossed the county, and a peak of 239K birds in flight.  I had 9 FOY birds on the 24th with Black-throated Green Warbler, Common Yellowthroat, Warbling Vireo, Blue-headed Vireo, early flagged Eastern Kingbird and Green Heron at Woodland Park.  The fluddles started to pay off with notification of 21 American Golden Plover on 21 Mile Road.  The count ended up being 23 with one bird in full breeding plumage.  That bird felt like a Lifer.  Crossing back and forth checking for birds brought notification of a Dunlin right back across from the Plovers, and a Semipalmated Plover back on N DR N and 20.5 Mile.  The fluddles continued to pay off with 2 different groups of 4 and 2 of Long-billed Dowitcher.  I had 2 of the 4 as Short-billed, but they are so far away it is just based on their shape and size.  I just received and e-mail tonight from Adam Byrne that they should probably go in as Dowitcher sp.  It makes sense.  Hard to give up those birds, but with rain all day today, maybe we still have a chance at some.  

Chaos started back up, although honestly not as chaotic as what used to be, so yard birding was the prerogative on the 27th with a FOY Black-and-white Warbler giving good looks.  Quick trips out to the fluddles showed them losing water quickly, and Brooks Nature Area was prioritized for walking Herc.  We did manage to check out a marsh on D DR S that Brendan Klick had posted about on Discord.  It paid off with 3 Sora and a Virginia Rail.  He thinks it might be a good spot for American Bittern.  I need to prioritize checking it out late at night, or early in the morning.  Several Wilson's Snipe put on very active flight displays.  28th brought FOY Rose-breasted Grosbeak and a partially leucistic female Red-winged Blackbird.  FOY Blue-gray Gnatcatcher showed up in the yard on the 29th.  One other neat observation around this time was a Yellow-rumped Warbler actively eating from the feeder and on the ground under the seeds.  Not too surprising considering how cold it got at the end of April.  

The 30th ended up bing another big FOY day with Swainson's Thrush, Gray Catbird, Yellow-throated Vireo, at Woodland Park and Spotted Sandpiper at Homer.  4 more FOY on 5/1 with Woodland again providing 3 of the 4 in a Northern Waterthrush that was really very Louisiana-like, Wood Thrush and Ovenbird all within first 20 minutes and 100 yards of the entrance.  Bobolinks were back at 23 Mile and 0 DR N.  Latest FOY was Baltimore Orioles showing up in the yard on 5/2.  One last very cool observation was a Blue Jay making a perfect Broad-winged Hawk call.  As you can see in the animation below the yellow is an overlay of a snapshot from a Broad-winged Hawk call on MacAuley library, and the grey is the Blue Jay making the same call.  The Merlin app can usually do a good job distinguishing the Blue Jay hawk imitation, but it even called this a Broad-winged.  

Trip with Hercules to Brooks on 5/1 showed off 3 more Terns with much better looks this time.  All 3 were Forster's Terns with on in non-breeding plumage, which I think at this point means it was a bird born last summer and hasn't reached maturity yet.  The tail was also very short compared to the adult breeding plumage birds.  Hercules also spooked up a Spotted Sandpiper which was a new bird for Brooks.  Looking at birds Brooks doesn't have I think Kiehl Smith's prediction it could be the #1 hotspot in the county could probably come true with some focus during migration as it is 14 behind Whitehouse.  I managed another Dunlin out on the large flooded area on 5/1 with a Pectoral.  It was really the only spot with any water on that day.  May have to run out tomorrow and see if today's rain filled them back up.  

Quite a few records this year have been new early records for me.  Weird migration weather has really caused some spurts and then long days of less than ideal conditions for the birds.