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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Andrew Whitehouse" data-source="post: 1205052" data-attributes="member: 3550">Hmm, I see I'm coming in for some stick from the younger generation <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite2" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=";)" />.  Anyway, as I'm sitting waiting for a delayed flight from Indianapolis airport, I thought I'd post an update.After a strenuous day of hard work, I managed an evening walk down to Griffy Lake and this time I made it as far as the causeway that separates the upper part of the lake from the lower.  This is more the ‘official’ end, and there’s a car park and lots of people go there for walks and boating.  Before I got there I walked one of the forest trails, which was pretty quiet much of the way around apart from a White-breasted Nuthatch and some good views of Blue-gray Gnatcatcher.  Going along one of the higher parts of the trail I became aware of quite a large bird hacking away at the leaf litter just twenty yards or so away.  Rather splendidly this was a Pileated Woodpecker and it proceded to burrow away for a couple of minutes, presumably looking for ants, before bounding off into the forest.  I saw a couple more later on in the evening.  A more frustrating sighting came when I walked down the road towards the causeway.  A very large and rufous looking owl flew straight across the road, into the woods and out of sight.  Probably a Great-horned but nowhere near tickable views.The causeway at Griffy is fringed by trees and these were busy with birds, with Yellow and Wilson’s Warblers and Eastern Bluebirds showing well.  Best of all was a lovely male Orchard Oriole, deep chestnut and an almost purplish black.  A regular repeated four note call came from the woods above the lake and I recognised it as the song of a Black-billed Cuckoo.  Over the water several chunky and irridescent Tree Swallows were feeding and an Eastern Phoebe was in residence around the toilet block.  A few Green Herons were lurking along the marshy fringes of the lake.  I walked a little way along the wooded trails that skirt the upper lake and saw a female Wood Duck swimming quietly along the edge of marsh before disappearing – my first ‘real’ one.  A couple of Carolina Wrens were noisily chasing one another around the base of a tree.  As I crossed back over the causeway, a small bird came down onto the edge of the road.  I was very surprised to see it was a beautiful Yellow-throated Warbler.  I think this is one of my favourites so far, with just the right mixture of neatness and colour.  Several Common Nighthawks were cruising the city skies as darkness came.Early the next morning I headed the same way, walking a little further around the marsh at the back of the lake.  It was a little bit quieter than the previous evening.  A Wood Thrush was along the edge of the road  and I spent a bit more time figuring out the Waterthrushes that were singing along one of the streams feeding the lake.  From what I can tell from the song these were again Northern Waterthrushes, but I found it a bit tricky from the views I had to be sure.  A pair of Warbling Vireos were nesting along the causeway and they were very busy and vocal as they scrabbled around the trees.  On the way to the marsh I had good views of a couple of quarrelsome Kentucky Warblers, which seem to be rather common at Griffy.  A Racoon was prowling around the marsh and the whole woodland area was awash with lots of Chipmunks.  For those who are unfamiliar with them, they are extremely vocal and their calls are confusingly bird-like.  I even saw one doing the classic ‘cheeks filled with food’ thing.  Awww… The birding was a bit quiet though, although there seemed to be a lot of Warbling Vireos around.  A Parula Warbler was singing its buzzy song from a tall tree and I heard what I think was a White-eyed Vireo, which remained rather too distant to check out.Around lunchtime I was up at an old farm just outside of the city and was able to spend an hour or so looking around.  There was quite a variety of habitats, with some good woodland, a small marsh and a few abandoned fields.  I’d been hearing a gently ascending song all morning and was finally able to confirm my suspicions as to what was making it when I had good views of a Prairie Warbler in a tall tree.  There were several others singing, mostly from the scrubby abandoned fields.  They’re another very good looking warbler.  Also in these areas were a few Field Sparrows and a brief burst of wheezy song put me onto an exquisite Blue-winged Warbler perched low in a tree.  The marsh was full of Common Yellowthroats and Indigo Buntings and along the adjacent creek I disturbed a brood of five Wood Ducks, which scuttled off upstream with their mother.  A few Red-tailed Hawks soared overhead.  Near the creek I caught sight of an Empidomax flycatcher.  At first I was frustrated that it didn’t call but later it became quite vocal giving a distinctly upward-inflected song that indicated that it was an Acadian Flycatcher.  Nice to be able to sort one of these out.On my final morning in Bloomington I had a bit more time on my hands, so I went back down to Griffy to explore further.  I began on one of the forest trails that I’d walked back on my first morning.  It was quiet at first but I soon came across a pair of Acadian Flycatchers calling noisily to one another.  A real surprise was a wonderfully bright and obliging Yellow-throated Vireo that was mooching through the foliage.  I saw it or another bird a few hundred metres away later on in the morning.  A Red-shouldered Hawk drifted through the trees and landed not far away.  Whilst I watched him, I could hear a slow descending song from the canopy, rather like a lethargic Willow Warbler.  Eventually I saw that it was being made by a Yellow-throated Warbler and I was to hear a few more of these during the morning.  Returning to the road I had pretty satisfying, from an ID perspective, views of a Gray-cheeked Thrush.  It showed a much less obvious eye-ring than the Swainson’s that I’ve been seeing fairly regularly on this trip, and quite a grey tone to the ear coverts.  Another Canada Warbler was watched creeping through the understory.Down at the lake there seemed to have been an influx of Empidomax flycatchers, with three or four seen.  Frustratingly, only one gave a call and I’ve yet to figure it out from this.  I suspect one may have been a Least Flycatcher and some of the others could easily have been Willow, but I’m not going to attempt them without either very close views or vocalisations.  A Killdeer and a Spotted Sandpiper were around the back of the lake and a Belted Kingfisher cruised down the creek.  I ventured a bit further upstream than I had done before and the trail passes through some very good wet forest.  An insect-like trilling song was coming from the woods and after a bit of searching I found the hoped for singer, another Worm-eating Warbler.  I heard what I suspect was another on the other side of the creek and then had fantastic close views of a pair low in scrub.  In the same area a Kentucky Warbler and a Wood Thrush showed well.  In the trees above, a remarkably slender Black-billed Cuckoo arrived in the branches, its slim, downcurved bill silhouetted against the sky.  The previous day I’d read reports from a local birder indicating that there were lots of Louisiana Waterthrushes along the creek so I was hoping I might be able to sort one of these out.  Eventually I came across a pair that began to convince me, particularly as they seemed to be carrying food (Indiana is south of the breeding range of Northern).  I soon had good views of one bird and it showed white underparts and a clean white throat, meaning that both species of Waterthrush could now go on the list.  A couple of times I heard tantalising snippets of what I think was a Cerulean Warbler but it was always brief and distant.  A bird I might have to return to Indiana for another time.</blockquote>

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