Maine to Texas and Back to Wisconsin

I will often have a pop up photo on my iPad revealing a past memory.  Apparently Apple has this feature as a default enabled (and can be disabled if desired.). This morning a photo of a Scarlet Tanager popped up with an image that I had taken 6 years ago.  I had not seen one since – until today looking out into the densely treed area near the river behind our house.  The bright red in the distance really stood out even though it appears as just a small spot.  I was fortunate to have my camera with the 800 mm lens handy to capture the scene.  Here is the image from May 24, 2020 and today’s image May 24, 2026.  Needless to say, this must be their time to migrate!  And nature is consistent! Will have to be on the lookout every year on this day. He also has a similar pose, looking for insects like any good flycatcher.

In winter, Scarlet tanagers migrate to the montane forest of the Andean foothills of northwestern South America, passing through Central America around April, and again around October.  Male scarlet tanagers reach their breeding ground from mid-May to early June. Females generally arrive several days to a week later.  Scarlet tanagers are often out of sight, foraging high in trees, sometimes flying out to catch insects in flight and then returning to the same general perch, in a hunting style known as “sallying“.  (iBird Pro-Wikipedia)

I asked ChatGPT to identify the bird in the photo. Here is the result:

Least Flycatcher (Empidonax minimus)

This appears to be a Least Flycatcher, the smallest of the Empidonax flycatchers. Key identifying features visible in the photo:

• Olive-brown upperparts with a rounded head
• Pale yellowish-white underparts
• Two white wing bars on dark brown wings
• Bold white eye ring
• Short, broad bill typical of flycatchers
• Compact, round body shape

Why Least Flycatcher?

The Empidonax genus is notoriously difficult to identify visually, but the combination of the prominent eye ring, small size, whitish underparts with just a hint of yellow, and the overall “puffed up” posture points strongly to the Least Flycatcher.

Fun Facts

• Their distinctive “che-BEK!” call is usually the most reliable identification method
• They’re insectivores, sallying out from perches to catch insects mid-air
• Common migrant through Wisconsin in spring (like right now!) and fall
• They breed across Canada and the northern US, wintering in Central America

Given your location in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, this would be a perfectly expected sighting during spring migration in late May! 🐦

Shrikes are small to medium sized perching birds with a stocky head, short wings, and a long tail. Shrikes are solitary birds. Among the most predatory of passerines, they hunt by watching for prey from perches that offer good vantage points such as power lines, fence posts, and the tops of trees. Once a mouse, small bird, or insect is spotted, they swoop down to grasp the prey item and snap its neck with their bill. The prey item is then carried to a roost for eating or storage for later use.  Shrikes, including the Loggerhead and Northern Shrikes, are most well known for their habit of impaling dead prey items such as grasshoppers, mice, and even small birds on thorns or barbed wire. Their habit of storing food in this manner has earned them the nickname of butcherbird.  They have strong legs and feet to help with seizing prey, and a distinctive strong, hooked bill that has a tooth-like notch in the upper mandible for cutting the spinal cord of small vertebrate prey.

(eBird Pro)

Tricolored Heron in breeding plumage with blue beak. Contrasted with other photos taken at different times of the year. In addition to the color of beak change, the legs also change color. The image with the beak pointed to the sky is taken while in a mating pose. A few other images added from those taken over the years including a juvenile and an adult on the nest.

Yellow-crowned Night-Heron likes to hunt and feed at night and we occasionally see them sleeping in the daytime.  Here we found him trying to sleep in the mangrove today. I have added photos of another Yellow-crowned Night-Heron we discovered in Richardson Park in Wilton Manor Florida today. Note at one point, probably while trying to sleep, we see his Nictitating Membrane, the protective layer over his eye.

The snowy plover is among the rarest endemic shorebirds in the Americas. Since 2014, it is listed as “Near Threatened” by the IUCN because of a moderately rapid population decline caused primarily by habitat degradation and human disturbance. At the beginning of the breeding season, males excavate multiple nest scrapes that are advertised to females; one of these scrapes is later selected for breeding. Some females will desert their brood soon after the chicks hatch to re-mate with another male, while their first mate will continue to rear the chicks. Such polygamy is uncommon in birds, and is possibly a strategy to maximize breeding success. (Wikipedia )