A Couple More Birds From Last Weekend

   As all birders know, May in the midwest is truly the time when what you see can change from day to day. Last Sunday we held a banding program and had a few "good" birds like this White-throated Sparrow:

    There were a couple of nice ducks still hanging around Crex Meadows when I was there chasing the Garganey including:

a pair of Northern Shovelers out on a windy lake. These birds will probably move a bit farther north to breed but many of the Blue-winged Teal I saw will stay at Crex and nest. Here's a nice shot of a pair in a small roadside pond.

   While I enjoy the early migrants, it's the neotropical migrants that I really anticipate and yesterday was the day! It seemed like someone had opened a floodgate and everything showed up at once. I added 18 FOY (first of the year) species in one afternoon including 10 species of warblers.
   Storms today will probably hold birds here for a couple of days so the weekend looks promising. Time to put up with some "warbler neck" for a week or two.
   I hope your area is seeing good birds too.