a musical bird wave

My doom and gloom message of this morning was actually written yesterday. This morning's birds had other ideas. There was a nice wave and, to judge by the NYC reports, it was widespread. Widespread enough to reach out here.

Shortly after dawn, there was a male Bobolink singing in our Weesuck Creek marsh and an Indigo Bunting was doing the same from the edge of the marsh. The sharp, metallic chink of a Rose-breasted Grosbeak cascaded down from an oak tree right outside our kitchen. There were wood warblers in the woods too. Blackburnian Warbler was the obvious morning star but Black-throated Green, Blackpoll and Magnolia were also around (plus more than one Yellow Warbler and the local Pine Warbler and Common Yellowthroat). Strange Baltimore Oriole calls suggested that some the orioles in the trees were not our homebodies but migrants on their way up north. Numbers of Northern Flickers zipping around were almost certainly migrants too. The presence of strangers calling and singing seemed to have inspired the locals to new vocal heights so the whole place was ringing with song. Not an earthshaking fallout but a most musical one.

There was a Mourning Warbler at the Quogue Refuge (seen by Eileen Schwinn and Mike Higgiston) and apparently a Yellow-throated Warbler was on the premises not so long ago. I'll bet there will be good reports from elsewhere as well.

Eric Salzman