Migratory Bird Day at Bell's Bend Park

With the cicada emergence in full swing, you may have noticed a reduction in activity at your bird feeders.  Despite this slowdown, we are staying busy here at the Wood Thrush Shop with weekly specials on items ranging from birdhouses to wind chimes, with many things in between!

This weekend, specials include 25% off ATZ Classic Bluebird boxes, 20% off ALL Heartwood boxes, and 20% off Corinthian Bells wind chimes! Other items are on sale as well, and with Father’s Day around the corner, now is the time to get that gift for Dad!

In other news, Bell’s Bend Park will be celebrating Migratory Bird Day this Saturday with activities ranging from a sunrise hike to talks from guest speakers. The fun will begin at 5:30 in the morning with the sunrise hike hosted by Lise Brown, and go till 4 PM with guest speakers including Chris Sloan, Cyndi Rutledge and Debbie Sykes. Admission is free for all events!

Return of the Grosbeak

The first sightings of Rose-breasted grosbeaks are less than a week away! Adult male RBG’s are very easily identified with their black and white plumage and big red V on the chest which really stands out against the stark white underside. The head is hooded with black and the wings are black with two white patches, one at the shoulder and one closer to the wing tip. Female RBG’s are primarily brown and white, with a pale yellowish breast and belly and a prominent white eyebrow. They have been described as looking like a House finch on steroids. The beak is large enabling this bird to crack open all kinds of seeds and capture insects which are a significant part of their diet during the breeding season.

Male Rose-breasted Grosbeak

Female Rose-breasted Grosbeak

Fortunately for us, RBGs are extremely easy to attract to feeders during their migration and don’t require anything special. Offerings of sunflower, safflower, peanuts, and even suet are likely to yield good results. The song of the male Grosbeaks has been described as sounding like “a robin with operatic training.” While it is possible to hear it here, most likely it will be more common to hear further to the north, east, or west in their breeding range.

Another possible feeder visitor is the Indigo bunting. These beautiful goldfinch sized birds are a summer resident in middle Tennessee and can often be found perched in trees on the edges of meadows or fields, singing to establish their territory. Gossett Tract in Pegram and the greenway trail in Edwin Warner are good places to spot Indigo buntings in the spring and early summer. We have seen these on feeders before, however they are more likely to be spotted feeding on the ground below the feeders.

Indigo Bunting

Last but certainly not least, we will begin hearing the first reported sightings of hummingbirds as they begin to pass through in early April. By mid-April, sightings of hummingbirds will be more common. Don’t be discouraged if you don’t see any hummingbirds early on, as activity at feeders doesn’t really pick up until mid-July. As we tell folks, they didn’t travel all this way for sugar water! The reason these tiny travelers leave their winter homes in Central America is to reach their breeding grounds in eastern North America. After their breeding season concludes and they begin to fatten up for their migration back south, that’s when activity at the feeders will begin to pick up. That is why we see such a sharp uptick in feeder activity in late July, August, and into September.

Male Ruby-throated Hummingbird

Wood Thrush Notes: Yellow-throated Vireo

This morning while having coffee on my back porch waiting and watching for the first Rose-breasted Grosbeak to appear at my feeders, I heard a bird call that I quickly identified as a Red-eyed Vireo. Much to my wife’s delight I was wrong. She had opened up the Merlin app to use the Sound ID feature and it identified the bird as a Yellow-throated Vireo. The songs of the two vireos are similar but different enough, too, that I should not have gotten it wrong. Identifying calls and songs is the most challenging part of birding.

Upon locating where the sound was coming from and using my binoculars it was indeed a Yellow-throated Vireo. I blamed my incorrect song ID on the nearly 50 male American Goldfinches that were in full chatter mode descending on all my feeders.

The Yellow-throated Vireo (Y-TV) is a spring migrant arriving from Central and South America. Practically the entire eastern half of the U.S. is in their breeding range. One could easily miss this bird if there is a strong presence of Goldfinches around, although you won’t see them at a feeder. Y-TV’s are insect eaters and will be seen in deciduous forest areas where they tend to nest, hopping slowly from branch to branch looking for prey. 

Yellow-throated Vireo

Males will find potential nesting areas and even begin placing some nest material in a few locations waiting on the arrival of a female. She will choose one of the locations and give approval. The male will begin the actual nest building only to hand over the duties to the female after one day. The nest material is comprised of bark strips, dry grasses, rootlets, pine needles, and perhaps hair, held together with spider web or some other insect silk.

Y-TV’s are mostly solitary and shortly after chicks leave the nest the pair will separate.

Just a reminder! If you are interested in placing a special order with us for our Campania cast stone concrete pre-order sale you have through the 18th to place an order. For more information read our Campania pre-order sale blog post from last week. Thank you!

Wood Thrush Notes: Birds to look for.

Coming Soon! Look for these birds at your feeders.

Within the next two weeks you should look for Rose breasted Grosbeaks (RBG) and Indigo Buntings to visit your seed feeders. At feeders RBG’s are the more common of the two migrants and show up in greater numbers, eat more, and maintain a longer presence, usually lasting until mid-May before moving northward to their summer breeding areas. RBG’s winter as far as northern Peru.

Adult male RBG’s are very easily identified with their black and white plumage and big red V on the chest which really stands out against the stark white underside. The head is hooded with black and the wings are black with two white patches, one at the shoulder and one closer to the wing tip. The beak is large enabling this bird to crack open all kinds of seeds and capture insects which are a significant part of their diet during the breeding season.

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Male Rose-breasted Grosbeak

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Female Rose-breasted Grosbeak

Female RBG’s are primarily brown and white with a pale yellowish breast and belly, heavily streaked above and below, and have a prominent white eyebrow.

During their migration through TN, they will stop at feeding stations with sunflower, safflower, peanuts, and even suet.

RBG’s have a beautiful song but you may not get to hear them perform as they likely wait until they reach their summer destination.

Indigo Buntings may appear at feeders briefly in small numbers. Middle TN is part of their breeding range so it is possible to see a presence throughout the summer. They like a variety of seeds and seem to be most comfortable feeding on the ground. I have seen them on finch feeders.

Indigo Bunting

Indigo Bunting

We are hiring

We are looking for someone to fill a part-time position. Job requirements include customer service and sales, restocking seed which requires lifting up to 50 lbs., and general shop duties, 3 to 5 days a week with a maximum of 30 hrs. per week which includes 2 Saturdays per month. Starting wage is $15 per hour. Reliability, effort, and good work will be rewarded. It is a pleasant atmosphere to work in and customers are very nice. If you are interested, please email John with a resume if you have one, or thoughts as to why you would like to work here. woodthrushshopth@bellsouth.net

Wood Thrush Notes

By all accounts, the Rose-breasted Grosbeaks have been plentiful and hungry this year.  As of this morning, I was still seeing over a dozen at a time at my feeders.  We will only see them for another week or so as the majority of them will move northward by mid-May. 

If you’ve been having difficulty seeing a bird but hear it singing you should try using the Merlin app by The Cornell Lab of Ornithology. It’s a very useful and easy to use app for bird identification including the songs and calls ID feature. I really put it to the test at Montgomery Bell State Park recently and it was fast and accurate. Just hit the “sound ID” button then touch the microphone icon. Your device will listen and, if it is hearing the bird song, will identify it in seconds. What a nice use for technology.

Nashville-Tennessee Warblers

It seems appropriate to share information with you about two warblers that I’ve seen recently and are seen regularly in TN during spring migration, the Nashville Warbler, and the Tennessee Warbler. 

The Nashville Warbler is described as a “boisterous yellow songster”.  Smaller than a Goldfinch, males have mostly yellow underparts including the throat, with an olive green back, and a gray hood.  The white eye rings are prominent. If it stops moving long enough you may detect the chestnut patch on the crown of the head.  The bird got its name from Alexander Wilson in 1811 as he saw this bird while in Nashville and promptly named it after the city.  This bird only passes through Nashville, however, and will end up in its breeding grounds well north of us and into Canada. 

Nashville Warbler

Tennessee Warbler

The Tennessee Warbler can be described as plain. They are still quite handsome but lacking the flash of other warblers. In the males look for the white eyebrow stripe against the grayish head which contrasts with the green back. Male underparts are a dull white. Females are similar but the head is less gray and its underparts are more yellow. This warbler will also just pass through Nashville on its way to the uppermost parts of the U.S. and into primarily Canada to its breeding grounds. The TN warbler is also known to appreciate nectar in its wintering grounds in tropical forests. Rather than get nectar from flowers from the front, like hummingbirds, they will pierce the flower at the base and lap up the nectar as it comes out. This bird was also named by Mr. Wilson.