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Arrived at 9 AM. I wanted to see if my Yellow Oriole was still there. He may have been. I found at least 4 individuals in the deciduous trees near the start of the trail – one each of breeding male, adult female, and first summer male straight out of Sibley’s. Then one more that was a breeding male whose burnt orange showed some yellow. I don’t know how quickly they make the transition yellow to dark orange but maybe this was my bird from Friday or at least one in the same boat. What was really interesting was the song being sung. I don’t know how to describe a song in text very well but the song on Friday was made of two parts – the prelude and the end. The prelude is made of four notes that last about 2 seconds – base, up one, back to base, then down one. The ending starts back at the base and sounded rather familiar. I realize I’m inserting more music into than is really warranted but you may remember a household cleaner whose sales jingle many years ago was “stronger than dirt!”. The song on Friday ended in “stronger than dirt, than dirt.” This is the call I recorded and mentioned in a previous post. Today, the call started with the same prelude but ended with an undulating trill that ran at the base tone. I saw the first year male sing it. So, my analysis is that I did see a first year Orchard Oriole in transitional plumage on Friday and perhaps he is almost done two days later and the song changes as they mature. Left at 10:37 AM.

Species seen or heard:
• Dickcissel
• Northern Cardinal
• Mourning Dove
• Red-winged Blackbird
• Turkey Vulture
• Eastern Meadowlark
• Blue Jay
• Eastern Bluebird
• American Crow
• Purple Martin
• Killdeer
• Orchard Oriole
• Scissor-tailed Flycatcher
• Eastern Kingbird
• Red-bellied Woodpecker
• Carolina Wren
• White-eyed Vireo
• Eastern Wood-Pewee
• Downy Woodpecker
• Northern Mockingbird
• Fish Crow
• Ruby-crowned Kinglet
• Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
• Common Yellowthroat
• Indigo Bunting
• Eastern Towhee
• Carolina Chickadee
• American Robin
• Great Crested Flycatcher
• Wood Duck
• Pileated Woodpecker
• Cliff Swallow

Joined Dottie & Doris, Karen, and Dale & Craig for a trip to Craighead Forest Park. Left at 5:05, was birding at 7:25 AM. Trip time was about 2:10 and was about 130 miles. First we birded a softball field south of the lake then took a paved trail to the nature center. There are some good looking trails from there but we did only one. The Bay-breasted Warbler, Mourning Warbler, and Yellow-bellied Flycatcher were life birds for me.

Species seen or heard:
• Bay-breasted Warbler **
• Black-throated Green Warbler
• Magnolia Warbler
• Tennessee Warbler
• Yellow-bellied Flycatcher **
• Great Crested Flycatcher
• Mourning Warbler **
• American Redstart
• Philadelphia Vireo
• American Robin
• Eastern Wood-Pewee
• Pine Warbler
• Blue Jay
• American Crow
• Carolina Chickadee
• Brown-headed Cowbird
• Red-bellied Woodpecker
• Tufted Titmouse
• Northern Mockingbird
• Northern Cardinal
• Eastern Bluebird
• European Starling
• Mourning Dove
• Red-winged Blackbird
• Turkey Vulture
• White-eyed Vireo
• Common Grackle
• Chimney Swift
• Indigo Bunting
• Carolina Wren
• Eastern Kingbird
• Mississippi Kite
• Swainson’s Thrush
• Summer Tanager
• Mallard
• Great Blue Heron
• Canada Goose
• Chipping Sparrow

Arrived at 6:51 AM. I saw an unusual bird, that could only be an Orchard Oriole but had yellow where there should have been burnt yellow. He had the black head and back with yellow underneath and above the rump where the burnt orange would be. Left the area at 7:25.

Species seen or heard:
• Canada Goose
• Dickcissel
• Mourning Dove
• Northern Mockingbird
• Eastern Meadowlark
• Red-winged Blackbird
• American Crow
• Barn Swallow
• Orchard Oriole
• Red-bellied Woodpecker
• Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
• Cedar Waxwing
• Ruby-throated Hummingbird
• Wood Duck
• Eastern Phoebe
• Northern Cardinal
• Fish Crow
• Carolina Wren
• Eastern Bluebird
• Brown Thrasher
• Blue Jay