My Sicklerville Big Day (sorry so long!)

So my big sit was today in the backyard. I only made it 6 hours (8-2) because my eyes were in pain. So i decided to turn my big yard sit into a Sicklerville-style World Series of Birding. I stayed within my zipcode and tried to find as much as I could. I actually didn't bird the whole 6 hours at home (included a nap, lunch, eye breaks, etc). But here's how I did.

My first photo op were these two female Northern Cardinals fighting for the feeder:
And then the Wild Turkey clan (5) came along to clean me out of cracked corn:

Petunias are still strong here in October!

My first major highlights were 2 Northern Harriers (yard bird #103) and 54 Double Crested Cormorants, all migrants flying very high! But then the day hit a screeching halt and all I really saw was the following:
Oh, and:

But then as the afternoon approached some local hawks started to fly. 1 Cooper's Hawk, 1 Sharp Shinned Hawk, 3 Red Tailed Hawks, 2 Black Vultures, and a bunch of Turkey Vultures.

That followed with a few high migrant hawks (2 Cooper's Hawks, 1 SS Hawk)

So I ate lunch with Dad and tallied another brand new yard bird, a Red Breasted Nuthatch (#104) and then headed off to Lake George and Donio Park.

Lake George had a very pleasant surprise: the early arrival of 50-60 diving ducks (all Ruddy Ducks and Ring Necked Ducks). 2 weeks early for that local gang. Also, picked up Belted Kingfisher and Mute Swan there.

Then I went to Donio Park for shorebirds, swallows, and ducks to add to the list. I got Killdeer, L Yellowlegs, and Solitary Sandpiper, N Rough Winged and Tree Swallows, and a Merlin! But, the real highlight was the songbird group feasting on bugs.

Mainly consisting of dozens of Yellow Rumped Warblers, I was hoping for Palm Warbler, and I managed two of them, a "western" and a "yellow" subspecies. Poorly pictured here :)

I also had a diverse group of sparrows. 4 total sparrows, all different species! Chipping, Field, Savannah, and Song. Here's a Chipping Sparrow with a YR Warbler:

And a Field Sparrow with a Yellow Rumped Warbler:

And a Savannah Sparrow with the Chipping Sparrow (sorry bout all the pics, I thought it was cool all the sparrow diversity mixed with YRW's)

Here's a pair of Yellow Rumpeds (nickname "Butterbutt" makes sense)

So I was thrilled with my successes there and the fact I added about a dozen birds (including both Kinglets on the way out, and Eastern Bluebird).

So I had to get my car cleaned , filtered, and vacuumed today so I went home and figured I might manage a few more species to meet my yard bird goal of 40 for the day (needed 3). Tree Swallow was #38, a female Purple Finch was #39, and a very nice "Yellow" Palm Warbler was #40! It was also yard bird #105! He hung around for 90 minutes feeding in the grass in the backyard!

So I totaled 40 for the yard, 55 for Sicklerville and I really look forward to doing another Sicklerville Big Day next month!