two identical days, one with birds

After Sunday's rain, both yesterday (Monday) and this morning dawned calm and clear with fairly robust winds rising from the southwest -- strong enough to make whitecaps on the bay -- on both days. These two days were identical in all respects except one: yesterday produced almost no birds while this morning there was a fair influx. I got down to the edge of the marsh a little bit after sunrise and there were sparrows popping -- almost all Song and Swamp Sparrows (with perhaps a very few Chipping Sparrows mixed in). Although Song Sparrows nest here, only a handful of the local property-holders have continued in residence (I suspect that the young birds of the year were mostly chased out). So most of the Song Sparrows appear to be new arrivals. The Swamp Sparrows are definitely new birds (I saw one earlier this fall) and, if past years are any indication, they will be around now for a while.

There were a few warblers including Common Yellowthroat, Northern Parula and several Blackpolls in their fall plumage (like Pine Warblers but with streaing on the back and sides). Other birds of interest included Eastern Phoebe, Red-eyed Vireo (the only one of these birds that was also seen yesterday), Brown Thrasher and a Marsh Wren. There were also a lot of Black-capped Chickadees in several places suggesting that many of these were also new arrivals.

Eric Salzmant