a wave

A small migration wave -- the first real wave of the fall season out here -- came in last night. It was already anticipated by a movement of Robins and Flickers yesterday and the influx continued into this morning. I managed to get down to the trail just after a beautiful red-white-and-blue sunrise and the bushy area between the woods and the marsh, which I call the migration trap, was full of birds. Oddly enough, these were mostly Song Sparrows and House Finches -- but there is nothing in the rule book that Song Sparrows and House Finches are not allowed to migrate! There were warblers too, mostly familiar ones: several Northern Waterthrushes, Common Yellowthroats, and American Redstarts, at least one Parula Warbler and, notably, an early Yellow-rumped Warbler. Other birds were Barn Swallows and an Eastern Phoebe.

The sight of a raccoon moving in a pine tree near the edge of the woods was unusual (our raccoons are usually active only at night). And loud, persistent, completely unfamiliar cracking sounds -- something like a Catbird or Blue Jay alarm call but many times louder and coming from a different wooded area -- might have an animal or a bird; I could never locate its source.

Eric Salzman