On The Road – Albatrossity – Chasing Summer Into Fall in Flyover Country 6

Gray Catbirds (Dumetella carolinensis) linger here as long as the pokeberries and dogwood berries hold out. In recent years a few have overwintered in Flyover Country, but most of them will be in the backyards and thickets of the Gulf and Atlantic coasts. Click for larger image.

Scissor-tailed Flycatchers (Tyrannus forficatus) are also a species that lingers into the late fall here, despite the fact that they look like delicate tropical birds. I’ve seen them in early November a couple of times (once in a sleet storm) ; they are tougher than they look! Click for larger image.

For a few weeks in the fall Orange-crowned Warblers (Leiothlypis celata) are the most abundant migrant warbler in my patch of Flyover Country, and they come in several versions (4 recognized subspecies). This is one of the duller subspecies, L. c. celata, which breeds in the Canadian taiga and winters in the southeastern US. Like the catbird, this is becoming a more common wintering species here as well. If you live on the West Coast, you should see the most colorful subspecies, L. c. lutescens, which hangs out there year-round. Click for larger image.

The only warbler that expected here in winter is the Yellow-rumped Warbler (Setophaga coronata). The colorful alternate (aka breeding) plumage has been replaced by this dull basic plumage, but it’s still nice to have at least one warbler species here for the winter, eating the hackberries and the honeysuckle berries since they cannot find very many insects here in the coming months. Click for larger image.

Next up is a common migrant, the Savannah Sparrow (Passerculus sandwichensis), which has a whopping 21-28 recognized subspecies (depending on which taxonomic authority you consult). Some of these can be IDed based on plumage features, others by their restricted geographic range. We’ll just call this one a Savannah Sparrow and leave the quibbling to the experts. The type specimen was collected in Savannah GA and named by the pioneering American ornithologist Alexander Wilson. Click for larger image.

Unlike the Savannah Sparrow, White-crowned Sparrows (Zonotrichia leucophrys) only has four recognized subspecies. Maybe we need to find some bored taxonomist to tackle that deficiency… Also unlike the Savannah Sparrow, it is possible to visually ID all of the subspecies. This is an adult Eastern Taiga (aka Eastern) White-crowned Sparrow, Z. l. leucophrys, identified by the pale lores (the space between the eye and the bill). Click for larger image.

And this is a Western Taiga (Z. l. gambeli or Z. l. nigrilora, depending on which taxonomic guru you consult). Dark lores are the key feature. Birds like this are common here in winter, and pretty rare east of here, where the pale-lored leucophrys subspecies predominates. In my part of Flyover Country I’d say the mix was about 50-50 between the dark- and pale-lored versions. Here’s a video of one of these guys tearing into the seed head of a foxtail plant. Click for larger image.

In former years this bird, a sprightly Ruby-crowned Kinglet (Corthylio calendula), was merely a spring and fall migrant in these parts, and wintered south of here in Texas. Our expected winter kinglet was its sister species, the Golden-crowned Kinglet. That has changed. The first Ruby-crowned Kinglet seen on the Manhattan KS Christmas Count (which was initiated in 1949)was a single bird, in 1974. That year they also tallied 82 Golden-crowned Kinglets. In the last decade we averaged just about 8 Ruby-crowned and 16 Golden-crowned Kinglets on our Christmas Count. The times (and the climate) are a-changing. Click for larger image.

The flocks of kinglets and sparrows will often attract predators like this Sharp-shinned Hawk (Accipiter striatus). This is a young bird, hatched in 2022, figuring out how to make a living on its own. It is one of the birds featured in the Bird Butt calendar for 2023. This species does not breed in this part of Flyover Country, but is a regular winter visitor to our woodlots and bird feeders. Most North American birders do not know that there are at least 9 other subspecies of Sharp-shinned Hawk, our wintering birds (A. s. velox) are the most widely distributed. But some of the subspecies in Central and South America are quite handsome as well, like this one (A. striatus chionogaster) from Honduras. Click for larger image.

A somewhat larger predator, the Bald Eagle (Haliaetus leucocephalus) is now a year-round resident here in Flyover Country, thanks to pesky government regulations like the Endangered Species Act. They don’t bother the flocks of smaller birds, preferring fish and waterfowl for their dinner. They also feed on carrion; this one was in the middle of the road tearing apart a dead raccoon when I drove by and spooked it into a roadside tree where it could glare at me. Click for larger image.