Red Bridge photo courtesy of David Backlin. Taken in June 2005
Clouds gave way to sun as a large group of GOAS birders ventured out to the Mark Twain National Forest in southeastern Christian County. The Red Bridge Road loop over to Busiek State Forest is my favorite neotropical migrant birding field trip. Last spring the area was phenomenal because a very late hard freeze left the canopy leafless. This combined with weather that created fall-out conditions brought large flocks of warblers down to the understory to feed. On a memorable early May morning last year, we logged over a dozen Blackburnian Warblers and over a dozen Philadelphia Vireos along with the flocks of many others, giving us over 20 warbler species for the day.
But this is early warbler season 2008, not peak warbler season 2007. Compared to last spring's blistering birding, the numbers and variety are down, but we are still two weeks away from the May Madness that grips our local birders. A lot can happen in that time.
On my way to the meeting point, a beautiful male
Red-headed Woodpecker flew across the road just in front of me. This is perhaps the least common of the 7 woodpeckers that inhabit our area. It's always a thrill to see one, but this sighting follows a fairly lengthy dry spell of about 7 months.
At the meeting point for the GOAS field trip, we were greeted by sparse warbler song. I fine-tuned my ears to differentiate the distant warbler songs for another season. Our first was the handsome
Ovenbird, following quickly by the ubiquitous
Northern Parula. The squeaky song of the
Black-and-white Warbler echoed in the valley. Soon we caught glimpses of all three. A
Worm-eating Warbler called out from the steep, rocky hillside. Despite a concentrated effort, I was unable to local the secretive bird.
We had the pleasure of birding with David Ringer today. David is one of two young birders that fledged from the active group of GOAS birders during the mid to late '90s.
David Ringer, left, Lisa Berger, and Jane Simpson, enjoy the view from the bridge at Busiek State Forest.
Both have become excellent birders and writers, and both have carved their niches out in the blogosphere. David hosts
Search and Serendipity and is the co-founder of the
Birdstack listing website. The other GOAS fledging is my son Nathan, who keeps things hopping over at
The Drinking Bird. So, many of you already know both of them, or at least have read their birding stories and spin on the culture of birding.
We headed down to Red Bridge, an old bridge crossing the clear Bull Creek. We quickly added
Louisiana Waterthrush and
Kentucky Warbler to our growing list. While climbing up to the pine covered ridge, we heard the burry
Yellow-throated Vireo and watched as a small kettle of
Broad-winged Hawks circled above.
At the top of the ridge, I spotted a
Hermit Thrush with his rufous rump and tail. I watched as it bobbed its tail and adjusted its wings with each call note. Immediately thereafter, an amorous pair of
Black and White Warblers danced closely in the branches directly above us.
Pine warblers, Ovenbirds, and
Ruby Crowned Kinglets added their voices to the growing cacophony.
With time restraints arising, we headed over to Busiek State Forest to conclude our trip. We immediately picked up a
Yellow-throated Warbler and a
White-eyed Vireo. I then
climbed up to the glade to scout it
out for the group. It was there that
I photographed a cooperative
Eastern Towhee and an
Eastern Fence Swift and saw/heard three
Prairie Warblers.
So, I think that makes a nine warbler and two vireo day. It's a start, and it forced me to hone my ears for the coming three weeks of birder madness. There is gold and precious jewels in them thar trees and bushes. I can't wait to find my share!
Bobolinks also arrived on the same road today. I'm hoping that everything holds for one more day so I can get out there.
On Farm Road 166, I spotted the returning Dickcissel on the barbed wire, diving in and out of the grasses. I was also fortunate to see some good shorebirds along the road there, including this
Included in the birds on the mudflat were American Pipits, Semipalmated Sandpipers, Pectoral Sandpipers, and both species of Yellowlegs.
Early on Sunday, I led a neotropical migrant field trip with nine GOASers and interested birders. Our destination was Busiek State Forest in southern Christian County, but we diverged a bit to take in some potentially good locations. Our first stop on the way south was just west of the junction of Hwy 65 and CC, where we observed a Great Horned Owl was sitting on two fledglings. A great look was had by all.
This was a lifer for many in the group, and the ones of us that had seen the species had trouble recalling how long ago it was that we had seen it.It was then that we settled into the business of the day, searching for neotropical migrants. First to appear was a nice Yellow-throated Warbler in the sycamore near the parking lot. It was not long before we add American Redstart, Black and White Warbler, Kentucky Warbler, Northern Parula, Nashville Warbler, and Tennessee Warbler.
We then left Busiek State Forest to check a lower stretch of Bull Creek for Ceruleans and a pair of Mississippi Kites that had spent last summer there. No luck on either, but we did pick up Blue Grosbeak, Broad-winged hawk, and Ovenbird.
All in all, it was a good day considering the brisk north wind, cold temperatures, and cloudy skies. We ended up with 13 warbler species with 68 species total, and departed with hopes of 20+ warblers and over 100 species in a day next week. Complete trip list at the GOAS Message Board.
After my awesome photographer friend Marvin sent me his beautiful pictures of American Redstart, Northern Parula, and White-eyed Vireo that he shot near Bull Creek at his home, I couldn't resist getting out there to take a few shoots myself. Although mine can't touch the quality of Marvin's photos, it's still great fun to try to catch those beauties close up.
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
3 Yellow-throated Warblers, 
one with no legs! :)
1 Louisiana Waterthrush, 1 Kentucky Warbler, 2 Common Yellowthroat, and my favorite; one Yellow-breasted Chat.
1 House Wren, and 1 Pileated Woodpecker.
Red Bridge photo courtesy of David Backlin. Taken in June 2005
David Ringer, left, Lisa Berger, and Jane Simpson, enjoy the view from the bridge at Busiek State Forest.
Pine warblers, Ovenbirds, and Ruby Crowned Kinglets added their voices to the growing cacophony.
With time restraints arising, we headed over to Busiek State Forest to conclude our trip. We immediately picked up a Yellow-throated Warbler and a White-eyed Vireo. I then
climbed up to the glade to scout it
Lay back in a bed of last year's leaves
The highway back to the city
Sometime in the last few weeks, I lost my desire to blog. Not sure what happened except that lots of stuff is going on. The fact that relatively spring-like weather arrives every few days and has kept me out of doors is also a contributing factor.
My best shorebird pictures for the day involved Solitary Sandpipers. Guess you saw the one at the beginning of the entry. Here's a couple more of them.
Both Marvin and I celebrated the arrival of two very cooperative Scissor-tailed Flycatchers. We saw three for the day, and also spotted our first Blue-gray Gnatcatcher of the year. I have posted one of my STFL pictures.
It's been a great year for shorebirds in the greater Ozarks area. Charley Burwick spotted 10 Long-billed Curlews a week ago near Lockwood, Missouri. It was the first Long-billed Curlews sighting in Missouri since 1996 and the sighting beat the previous high number set over 100 years ago! Here's a picture of one of the birds he saw on April 3rd.
