A little cuckoo over bird sighting

A few weeks ago, I spotted a different looking bird perched like a statue in the branches of the crabapple tree. It sat there patiently while I took several photos and didn't budge.

After I was sure I had some decent shots, I thanked the cooperative photo subject and left. It remained in the tree as if nothing new had happened.

I at first thought it was some sort of flycatcher, but searches on the internet pointed toward the black-billed cuckoo. However, most of the photos on the websites had the bird sporting a red eye-ring and the one I photographed had a yellow eye ring.

​I turned to a birding Facebook page where one user said that it was indeed a black-billed cuckoo and that the yellow eyering was indicative of this year's hatchlings.

"Uncommon and elusive, the Black-billed Cuckoo skulks around densely wooded eastern forests and thickets," said a post on The Cornell Lab's www.allaboutbirds.org.
Venango County is in the cuckoo's summer breeding range.

"On the breeding grounds, this ardent caterpillar-eater makes quick work of tent caterpillars and webworms," the post continued.

I was thrilled when I read this and the statement could have explained why the cuckoo was in the crabapple tree.
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Unfortunately, things aren't looking good for the black-billed cuckoo as a species.

"Black-billed cuckoos are uncommon and their populations declined by 68 percent since 1970, according to Partners in Flight.

The species is on the Yellow Watch List and has a Continental Concern Score of 13 out of 20.

The estimated global breeding population is 890,000. In 2016, Partners in Flight estimated that if current rates of decline continue, Black-billed Cuckoos will lose another half of their remaining population by 2055," according to www.allaboutbirds.org.
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That kinda makes this sighting even more special for me. However, I would love it if I continued to spot them.

It was so nice to have a bird just sit there and let me move around to find a good shot.
Often by the time I raise the camera into position, the bird is gone.

The same is true when I see the goldfinches feeding on the sunflowers. All day through the windows, I watch them tear apart the blossoms to get the seeds. As soon as I step outside with a camera, everyone leaves. I try to hide in and around the sunflowers and manage to get a few shots here and there.

At the neighbor's pond I was able to capture a couple of photos of an Eastern phoebe.

I would love to catch the bird in action as it swoops over the pond to catch bugs.

​However, it is enough of a challenge just to get a shot of it sitting still.

This common summer resident arrives mid-March and generally 

departs by early November, according to local birder and author Gary Edwards in his book "Birds of Venango County."
Edwards also wrote, "The phoebe arrives earlier and remains later than the other flycatchers."

Additionally, I barely got a shot of an ovenbird with a caterpillar as a snack. The ovenbird is another common summer resident of Venango County that is getting ready to migrate soon.

​Edwards listed its latest recorded departure date as October 9.

Meanwhile, the number of hummingbirds has dwindled to two. Even though there are two feeders for two hummingbirds, the fighting and chasing still occurs. The hummingbirds are also getting ready to migrate. No doubt a lot already have.
The Journey North website at journeynorth.org also tracks hummingbird migration.
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"Fewer hours of daylight trigger hormonal changes that cause an urge to fuel up and fly south. Most hummingbirds that breed in the U.S. and Canada winter in Mexico and Central America. Recent studies also indicate that hummingbirds of a dozen different species spend winter in the US. along the Gulf coast and into Georgia, Florida, and the Carolinas," the site posted.

A lot of other birds are also on the move. BirdCast offers migration forecast maps. It had forecast high migration activity for our area over Sept. 8-9.
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Birds aren't the only one on the move.

The monarchs are in the midst of their yearly migration.
The Team Journey north at journeynorth.org posted an update on the orange butterflies on Sept. 8.

"Monarchs are on the move — flying, nectaring, and roosting. They are busy building fat reserves by drinking nectar along their migration pathways. These migration pathways occur in large urban centers such Toronto, Detroit, Chicago, Kansas City, and Atlanta as well as the mountains of Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia, the fields and prairies of southern Minnesota, Iowa, Kansas, and Nebraska, and along the coastlines of the Great Lakes, the Atlantic, and Gulf of Mexico. Migration momentum is building," said a post on the site about the eastern migration.

It is a little sad to see the birds and the butterflies leave. However change is the only constant.

​That's just the nature of things 'round here.
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Just one more