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This fall bird is likely a first fall female since she has relatively little yellow in front of the wing and hardly any noticeable on the wing itself. Females of this species also have olive overtail coverts which can sometimes help separate some first fall males which may have yellow in front of the wing rather than orange. Those first fall males have black overtail coverts.
Georgia. 09//23/2020.
I was hoping to get the opportunity to photograph the White Pelicans along the west coast of Florida this fall once they showed up during southbound migration. I was fortunate to hit it right one afternoon and get to observe over 500 of them at close range until near sunset. At one point they all took off at once and it was somewhat reminiscent of Sno0w Ge3se taking flight in masses. Quite a show it was!
Georgia. This species is year-round here but during fall migration there is also an influx of those who breed further north.
Fall adult males would still have quite a bit of black in the central upper chest and throat area and it normally runs right up to below the beak. Fall adult females and first fall males look very similar but generally have some black in the central chest area. First fall females are generally devoid of any black in the central chest and throat and tend to have fainter black flank striping and thinner wing bars. My guess is this is likely a first fall male or a fall adult female all things considered.
North Carolina. Blue Ridge Parkway. This bright fall bird is an adult male and is actually quite dull compared to his Spring breeding attire. The slightly askew bill shows how the upper part is slightly decurved which aids this warbler in piercing and grabbing fruit which becomes a big part of its diet on its winter grounds.
I was hoping to get the opportunity to photograph the White Pelicans along the west coast of Florida this fall once they showed up during southbound migration. I was fortunate to hit it right one afternoon and get to observe over 500 of them at close range until near sunset. At one point they all took off at once and it was somewhat reminiscent of Sno0w Ge3se taking flight in masses. Quite a show it was!
Thanks for your visits and I'm looking forward to catching up on Flickr this week.
A few Magnolias hung around for quite a while during a warmer, buggier fall migration, and they were easy to spot early in the day. They are one of the early risers, and, following the insects, they begin their day low to the ground, rising up as warmth and light animate the insects.
The Fall plumage of the Chestnut-sided warbler is markedly different than in the Spring. In the Fall many individuals also do not show noticeable chestnut on the sides. If there is prominent chestnut it will generally be an adult male but the adult females and the first fall birds may show little or no chestnut in the field. This individual does show some scant chestnut so it would not be a first fall female as they show no chestnut. It could be a fall adult female or a first fall male. With many fall warblers the first fall males look a lot like the fall adult females.
In late October, the Egrets would congregate early in the morning with up to 2 dozen Great Egrets at the Valley Inn Pond, Royal Botanical Gardens.
Georgia Mountains. This is a first fall male. Notice the yellow in the face and throat areas without evidence of any orange. Notice the blacker eyeline and top edge to the otherwise lighter face patch. Compare to the fall female in the previous post.
I had seen this species hunting for insects in Mullein flowers last fall, and found a Mullein with a decent view of some early fall foliage. I parked there a couple of evenings, and had a lot of fun with fairly regular visits from a small lingering flock of Cape Mays.
They tended to work the Mullein like a Creeper, spiralling up the stem and feeding along the way. As a result, lots of the images are either of birds in motion or birds partially obscured. I have a couple more I might post, but this image, with the bird parked and satisfied at the top, contemplating its next move, stood out.
The last few spring fall migrations seem to have included more of these birds than I recall seeing in the past, but that may be an accident of my time in the field. Either way it is fun to watch them, and they seem more focused on their food than wary of seated photographers.
It was a foggy morning and this was one of three migrating female Hooded warblers that were bouncing around me along with a W0rm-eat1ng Warbler.
Kennesaw Mountain Georgia. This bird does not breed at this location and was an early season southbound migrant. This adult male was singing intermittently. In my experience of all the eastern warblers this species is the most likely to occasionally sing during southbound migration. I would be interested in the experience of others in this regard.
In his fall plumage note how yellow feathering partially obscures the bluish and chestnut on the chest. Note how olive feathering does the same in some of the blue areas. The lores are not as dark as in the Spring. The white wing bars remain full and white without any olive. The olive mantle continues to contrast well with the rest of the top of the bird. The primaries are edged blue not olive.
This is a fall female and you can see the differences from the previous post. She is a rather dull female so she could be a first fall bird as sometimes it is hard to age this species. Notice the uniform brownish appearance of the face patch without any black along the upper and/posterior edge as you would be expected in a first fall male. First fall males also tend to have more black in the plumage dorsally. I did a more distant crop to bring in some of the early fall yellows in the leaves. My settings were a bit much here but in early morning with different lighting around and rapidly changing lighting with different birds in a flock moving around sometimes you just have to grab the shot with what you have.
We have seen many more Cape May warblers this fall migration than usual as they mostly migrate south further east of the Atlanta area. Perhaps the breeding season was good for them (lots of Spruce budworms!) and/or for weather reasons they shifted southward migration a bit further west this year.
This fall adult male was foraging in a chokeberry tree apparently not on the fruit but on the many white mites thriving on the tree. He was accompanied by a male even brighter than he but I wasn't able to get the images I wanted of his brighter comrade who was very close to a breeding plumage.
Georgia mountains. I like this inquisitive pose also for the field marks it displays. This is likely subspecies albilora which breeds to the north of us. Notice the lack of yellow in the lores (the white stripe above the eye is solid white all the way up to the beak) Notice the white stripe on the upper chin near the beak which extends to the upper sides the throat. Both of these features would be not so likely in subspecies dominica.
Also this is likely a first fall female as although a bright bird she is rather dull for this species. Notice the cap virtually is solid gray without any black even on its edges. The black side striping is not sharp at all and there is buff on the sides along with a brownish wash on the back (seen best on other views).
A migrating Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher in the buttonwood tree. They seem to like this tree and will visit several times in the day.
Kennesaw Mountain, GA. 8/20/21.
This species is moving south in our area as early as August. They don't breed at this location. This bird is probably a first fall male or an adult female as adult males would be brighter especially on the cap. First fall females would be much duller with a mostly olive cap that is similar to the color of the back of the bird and a small thin area of yellow along the forecrown. Again just as with the previous post of the GWWA Fall adult birds look much like Spring birds but again the beak in a Spring adult male is black and look how much lighter the beak is here.
Last fall I posted a composite of the different fall plumages of this species along with explanation. If interested it can be found in my BWWA species album with a link on this page.
If you get the light reflecting right the iris will look red, sometimes very red. I got one of those this fall but this image is more special to me so I will post it instead this time. Why is this one special? It was taken in my backyard along our water feature. He/she stayed around about 3 days. This past week including today has been good for warblers in my yard foraging in the trees above and making an occasional visit to the water feature. That is beauty berry you see in the upper left. Near that but out of this view is pokeweed with its dark purple berries. Above that is a dogwood tree with red berries. Tonight a cold wave is coming so the yard migrants probably will be pushing off. Perhaps a few more stragglers will show up this fall but our fall migration is soon coming to an end here in north Georgia. It is satisfying to know that you can add a water feature to your yard and some native plants and help some of the migrants along their journey. It is a small way to give back to some of those species.
This fall female has no discernable black along the fringes of her crown so she is in all likelihood a first fall female. Female Hooded warblers can range in plumage extremes like this one to those who have nearly as an extensive hood as males. Most have a bit more or similar black than the female in my previous post. I'll post one of those 'almost looks like a male" in my next post. Other than those that look like this first fall female the degree of a hood present doesn't indicate age of the bird.
It is the first fall female Hooded warbler that can be confused with female Wi!s0n's and female Ye11ow warblers. Seeing the undertail well is one way to make it easy to separate them from one another.
This may be my favorite plumage of all the fall warblers and it is not often photographed let alone seen. I had a brief few amazing seconds with this southbound migrating bird in the Georgia Mountains. Not all first fall male Ceruleans show the plumage characteristics so well as this one. Note the dark lateral crown streak, the dark dorsal streaking, and the prominent eye line which help separate this plumage from the adult fall female. Note also the slight lemon yellow wash below seen best on the lateral throat in this image. The only fall Cerulean plumage with no lemon yellow wash below is the fall adult male. The first fall female has the most generous lemon yellow wash below and above she is nearly uniformly olive. The fall adult female coloration can look a lot like this fella but ALWAYS without the streaking mentioned above.
A female in the fall southbound migration hunts for insects at sunset along the Ottawa River. I have always loved the fall migration, despite the less lurid colours of the male Warblers. The behaviour has changed, and the frantic procreative push north is replaced by the weary drift south - or so it has always seemed to me: males are not competing, for one thing, and food is the primary focus, as they fuel up for the journey.
Here in north Georgia we usually get quite a few southbound migrating Hooded Warblers throughout the season. In fall migration it is often somewhat territorial and may stay in an area for days before moving on again. Both sexes act that way and will often respond to its chink call. Yes you can often tell a fall male Hooded from a spring one. The beak wil be more black in Spring and in the fall it is lighter.
Western North Carolina mountains. Even at this late date in mid September this individual was singing in breeding type habitat as if he wanted to make another go at it even with colder temperatures nipping at his heels.
Kennesaw Mountain, Georgia. 10/11/2021.
The prominent eyering and the short primary extension is well seen in this view- with the wing stretched out- both of which helping with this non-vocalizing migrating empid ID.
Thanks for your visits, comments, favs. With this post I will close out my 2021 fall migrant series.