Date: 8/2/26 7:23 am From: Carole Winslow <cjwinslow94...> Subject: Warren- Swainson's thrush, yellow-rumps at suet
Late summer greetings from the north woods,
After I posted earlier this summer about not finding Swainson's thrush in my normal areas near Hearts Content, I spent some more time searching the surrounding area. I did finally find one singing near the road at the start of the Tanbark down the road from Hearts Content at the end of June. In July, Don and I hiked in on the North Country trail from Mayburg Rd/FR 116 towards the Minister Valley. We made this trip three times and each time I found Swainson's, total for the month in five different places, all with some countersinging. Despite this I couldn't get a breeding code above territorial, but every time I walked the trail, it was still such a beautiful thing to hear that song spiraling up through the trees. On July 16, on the worst day of the wildfire smoke, we backpacked into the head of the Minister Creek watershed, and spent the night. I walked back up the trail during the day to where I had heard Swainson's and spent some time sitting beneath a singing male, trying to find other signs of breeding. Again, no luck but just the most magical thing to sit there quietly hearing the music above me in the little sunlit clearing where they sing. I listened for at least 20 minutes as it sang nonstop. There were no Swainson's unfortunately at our campsite but there were hermits galore down there, and at dusk they serenaded and popped out into view around us, along with veery up in the thicker hillside rhodo and a winter wren beside us along the creek. During the night and in the early morning a family of barred owls hooted and hollered right around us. Two days ago on the 31st I went in one last time, just about a mile and a half, and found two more spots with two singing birds each, which surprised me this late but they definitely seemed to be still on territory. All in all, I'd believe I had at least 10 total singing males in here for the season, so I was quite happy to be able to document this for the atlas.
Up until last week, there was still a good bit of warbler song in the forest, and even two days ago, I had magnolia, hooded, and black-throated greens and blues still singing, as well as many scarlet tanagers, and Acadian flycatchers, including one carrying food for young. At camp near Tidioute, yesterday I was thrilled to see a pair of yellow-rumped warblers at the suet feeder of all things, something I have never seen before. They had been singing earlier in the summer but not recently so I believe they did nest somewhere near and are probably still feeding young. I also had the male purple finch still present at the feeders, along with a fledgling. A good way to end the summer atlasing,
