windy

Yesterday's rain and the following change of weather suggested the possibility of more migration but, possibly due to the high winds yesterday and this morning, the results were meager. There was a flycatcher this morning that showed strong 'vest' markings on its breast -- i.e. dark sides with a white stripe down the middle -- and, for a moment, I thought it might be a Boreal Pewee -- better-known as the Olive-sided Flycatcher. However the bird in view was relatively small-looking with prominent wingbars and no sign of white elsewhere so I had to be satisfied with calling it an Eastern Wood-pewee. The other slightly out-of-the-ordinary sighting -- like the pewee, up at the head of the marsh -- was a Field Sparrow in the big tupelo. 

The only raptors riding the winds this morning were a couple of Osprey on the creek and a juvenile male Cooper's Hawk (medium size bird with a long tail rounded as the base and a largish head). Overhead there was a light but continuous movement of Tree Swallows and, at one point, four pointy-winged shorebirds, probably yellowlegs. The only other sign of migration was a fairly steady stream of Am Robins.

In the meanwhile, a pair (i.e. male and female) of dashing looking -- presumably freshly molted -- Red-bellied Woodpeckers have become very active, lending credence to my suspicion that our local year-round carpinteros -- like the owls and some other resident birds -- begin their courting activities in the fall.

Eric Salzman