A day dominated by strong southerly winds and rain showers meant no banding was carried out! A brief look around the wood noted a Northern Parula and American Redstart. The harbour held a mix flock of swallows sheltering from the weather as 8 Chimney Swifts past overhead.
13th May
A bright sunny day with no wind and many birds. First year tick came just after net opening when a Swainson’s Thrush bundled into one. Next seen in the trapping area was a male Bay-breasted Warbler feeding high in the trees. The morning was good quality with 189 birds banded including a female Blue and Golden-winged Warbler along with 3 Scarlet Tanagers. Early afternoon I explored the lighthouse area picking up a male Blackpoll Warbler, 2 Orchard Orioles, Warbling Vireo nest building, ‘orange’ Scarlet Tanager and a skulky Sedge Wren. Heading back north a Chimney Swift flew overhead, arriving at Point Traverse I located a warbler flock along the cliff edge comprising of 3 Bay-breasted, Blackpoll, Black and White, Blackburnian, Cape May, Myrtle, Black-throated Green, Black-throated Blue, Northern Parula and Ovenbird. A Great crested and several Least Flycatchers followed on as well. On the road back to the obs a second Golden-winged Warbler was seen. 
Sedge Wren
Scarlet Tanager
12th May
On the whole a glorious sunny day with very few birds. I carried out census once again with just 36 species noted but on arriving at the banding lab a bird was singing in the trees, close inspection revealed a White-eyed Vireo that promptly vanished on return from the census. The morning was spent showing visitors all the birds caught. The afternoon was spent trying to get onto the internet for the big game, thankfully I finally got on mid way through the second half to see that the mighty CLARETS were two nothing up! What a fantastic result but sadly I’m a little to far away for the big trip to Wembley so I had a beer instead to celebrate the win. An Evening walk was unproductive as the leaves start to emerge making spotting birds a little harder.
11th May
A sunny day proved to be relatively quiet compared to recent standards. I carried out the morning census picking up just 41 species, as it was obvious a departure took place over night. As the sun warmed up a flock of feeding swallows over the house contained my first Bank Swallows. We had a tape lure running this morning with a successful result when five male Bobolinks were caught together with an Eastern Kingbird. The standard nets also produced a smart male Wilson’s Warbler out of just over a hundred birds. This afternoon was dedicated to food shopping and laundry but whilst in town I got my first Chimney Swift.
10th May
Awoke to a brisk northwesterly wind today that hampered the nets with less than a third being opened. However it was obvious that birds remained from the previous day with warblers sticking low in the wooded areas. The only lifer for the day appeared first thing singing over a closed net 8c, a Bay-breasted Warbler. However most activity was from the banding lab through to net 3, here were 2 Indigo Buntings, Northern Parula, Black-throated Blue Warblers along with a grey male Brewster’s Warbler.
A walk through the trees in search of a White-eyed Vireo came up trumps, not the vireo though but my second male Cerulean Warbler, an absolute stonker! Best of all though it was only a metre off the ground and showing very close, he just blew me away.
Cerulean Warbler
Noon passed and we kept the nets open a little longer and were rewarded when the Cerulean Warbler found itself in one of the nets. This is only the second bird to be trapped in the spring with the first back in 1999. The nets were closed shortly after with the final bird of the day being an Orange-crowned Warbler. Hot on the search for more birds the harbour edge produced another showy Cerulean Warbler and a Pine Warbler. Turning around I headed to Traverse where I bumped into Brendan as we both had just picked up a female Summer Tanager feeding in the trees overhead. The bird showed well along side a male Scarlet Tanager and Rose-breasted Grosbeaks. Many warblers flitted around with at least 8 Northern Parula, 10+ Black-throated Blue, 6 Cape May and a banded Cerulean Warbler. 
Summer Tanager
9th May
Today followed on from yesterday with a calm morning and initial signs were good with many birds singing around the netting area. The first net round produced the first baby robin of the year and by the second the nets were filling up quickly with the main culprit being Myrtle Warblers as a ‘Blue-winged Warbler’ type bird sang from the swamp. American Redstart, Tennessee Warbler, Northern Parula and Red-eyed Vireo were all added to the banding list. But the morning was cut short as a thunderstorm was tracked heading straight for us so all the nets were closed as it could be heard approaching in the distance. The morning’s tally still reached a very respectable 262 birds of which 112 were Myrtles. At 12 o’clock the storm hit with torrential rain for 15 minutes followed by showers.
Early afternoon and a stroll just out into the wood resulted in the finding of a male Golden-winged Warbler shortly followed by a fine Blue-winged Warbler as the sun started to shine. Both birds showed well alongside Blackburnian, Cape May, Black-throated Blue, Black and White as well as several Black-throated Green Warblers.
Golden-winged Warbler
Around on the edge of the harbour a muddy puddle continued to draw in Cliff Swallows who are all busy rebuilding on the lighthouse. Heading for Point Traverse the wind increased from the west keeping birds lower down. On arrival I took the eastern path through the wood coming across a mixed flock, quickly picking out Baltimore Oriole and Scarlet Tanager I next came across a bird with a bright yellow throat. Closer inspection revealed the identity to be a Yellow-throated Vireo. I watched the bird for 10 minutes or so before the flock moved on disappearing from view. Efforts to relocate the bird just turned up another Golden and Blue-winged Warbler to end another great day.
Yellow-throated Vireo
8th May
A truly amazing day for migration with a light southeasterly breeze over night with high cloud, then from mid morning the lake was covered with low mist and birds dropped out of the sky. Leaving the house at dawn a Northern Mockingbird was spotted immediately, next on the list was a Magnolia Warbler. The banding was very hectic with a total of 434 birds banded (by far the busiest day) with the best being a smart Brewster’s Warbler that looked almost like a Blue-winged.
Brewster's Warbler
The afternoon was spent around Traverse with many birds to check. New in were Tennessee Warbler, Eastern Wood-pewee and a Red-eyed Vireo. Warbler numbers were impressive with final counts of 7 Northern Parula, 6 Chestnut-sided, 3 Black-throated Blue, 4 Magnolia, 7 Cape May, 16 Black and White, Northern Waterthrush, Blackburnian and 500+ Myrtle Warblers. 
Northern Parula
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