Migration is well underway in the north. The most abundant migrant so far is Pine Siskin. The past few days I have see several thousand every morning. There are also a lot of Red-breasted Nuthatches that are feeding on the seeds of white pine cones. With such a large cone crop I wonder how many nuthatches will show up further south.
With warblers there are two species that I’m seeing at our cabin in large numbers- Myrtle (Yellow-rumped) Warblers and Palm Warblers. There have also been a few Nashville Warblers.
American Pipits are common. A surprise was seeing two Clay-colored Sparrows yesterday.
When people talk about food crops and migrants they are often referring to conifer cones, acorns and various seed-producing grasses, But an equally important food crop are insects and invertebrates. Currently there are a lot of caterpillars and moths, as well as large numbers of caddisflies.
Speaking of moths. We’ve had a surprisingly large and divers number at our lights.
These are two species of borers. The left on is a loosestrife borer moth, which feeds on whorled loosestrife. The one on the right is a pitcher plant borer moth, which feeds on pitcher plants, presumably purple pitcher plant our one native species in Michigan.
More tomorrow…
Michael's Place 