Large flock of hungry Robins arrive in Florida for Winter and eat Brazilian Pepper Berries as fast as they can. These robin flocks look for ripe fruit and berries and when its exhausted move on - they usually return north in March or April although a few sometimes linger into summer. A lone Cedar Waxwing is mixed in with the flock!
Monarch Butterflies heading south on their Fall migration pass through the vast forested Great Smoky Mountains looking for isolated meadows with wildflowers to refuel. It is getting late for this area as most wildflowers at higher elevations are dead, but I managed to spot three in an hour on October 12th. Monarch Butterflies are under considerable environmental pressure and in danger of disappearing. The Great Smoky Mountains National Park has a Monarch banding program. More information at the links below: http://www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/pollinators/Monarch_Butterfly/migration/index.shtml http://www.gsmit.org/CSMonarchTagging.html
Relaxing, soothing, and healing feast for the eyes and ears - Monarch Butterflies feeding on purple thistle on their annual migration to Mexico set to ambient music. No loops, static images or repeats - this is 20+ minutes of original migrating Monarch Butterfly videos set to an outstanding ambient soundtrack. Filmed on October 20th, 2015 at 3,500 feet in the Great Smoky Mountains of North Carolina this is very late for Monarchs to be passing through - and they are hungry. I noticed a patch of thistle on the roadside with just a few blooms left, all other fall wildflowers were dead, this became a migrating Monarch Butterfly magnet! Enjoy, relax and contemplate the healing power of the Monarch of Butterflies.......
The outstanding soundtrack is credited to:
Ambiment - The Ambient by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
Painted Buntings of the 2014-15 season started passing through on October 28th, 2014. Always exciting to see these rare and colorful birds return each fall and stay til April. As is typical the outrageously beautiful males will come a little later. These first "Greenies" of the season are typically immature non-breeding males and young females. Painted Buntings are not ones for migrating great distances typically coming from coastal south Carolina to the east coast of Florida. The early and late season Buntings are typically passing through the backyard on their way south and back north, but by sometime in November we generally get a core population of 8 to 12 Painted Buntings that stay here through March.
Preparing for fall migration southward a cold Ruby Throated Hummingbird puts on a lot of weight in early October and guards its nectar feeder in preparation for the long flight from the Great Smoky Mountains to perhaps Mexico or Central America. Freezing temperatures have arrived as of 10/5/14 and a few straggler migrants will continue passing through and feeding voraciously. Feeders will be kept out for a few more weeks just in case a late arrival needs help. Contrary to some beliefs, leaving hummingbird nectar feeders out in the fall does not delay migration, but rather helps those hummers migrating later in the season.
A pair of mature male Painted Buntings at the feeder.
The last Painted Buntings have left the Backyard and heading for breeding grounds along the Georgia/South Carolina Coast this weekend. The first Painted Bunting arrived in early October and as usually they spent almost seven months in the Backyard. Although the first to arrive and last to leave are probably not part of the resident group of 6-8 we had this year, but Buntings passing through on their way south and north. There undoubtedly many birds that use the Backyard as a resting place. The trend of fewer mature males continued this season with only two to three mature males and 5-6 "Greenies" which are females or immature males. The population has been like this for the past three years. These birds are somewhat unique in that they have one of the shortest "migrations" in the bird world. They will travel only 300 miles or so from central Florida to their breeding grounds in coastal Georgia and South Carolina.
A "Big Day" in the backyard! Winter birds are arriving now that the first really cold air is filtering down the eastern U.S.. The latest to arrive is a small group of 8-10 Yellow-Rumped Warblers and the first magnificent mature male Painted Bunting of the season. A few Bunting "Greenies" have been around for a week or so. A group of Catbirds are "meowing" in the brush - they do not come to the seed feeder. All-in-all things are pretty much on schedule.
