Yesterday (Friday 4/21/17) dawned stormy after an equally stormy night. We picked up nearly 2 inches of rain (+ some hail!) and enjoyed several hours of lightning and thunder. It was dicey enough – and I busy enough – that I skipped Friday’s morning survey.
Saturday, Earth Day (!) was misty, windy, and cool but mostly dry. After a morning field trip, I checked the Noble Research Center and found the fifth Orange-crowned Warbler of the survey. (Recall, that Thursday, 4/20, produced the fourth.) It is tantalizing – and sad! – to think of two birds traveling together and dying together, especially considering that the collision took place at the same spot on the building. I don’t think, however, that this ASY, fat = 0, probable female had been in place since Thursday. She was much too dry to have lain out in the open during Friday’s deluge. So I think she really did come in overnight and if not traveling with Thursday’s male, evidently following a similar route.
