Sebonac

Sebonac is one of the most attractive and birdy spots in our area. There is a lot of fresh water at or near the surface and, as a result, there is great variety in the vegetation which includes sycamores, red maples, tupelos and a thick shrub understory. This is an area to find breeding birds that are hard-to-find elsewhere (or else occur only a migrants) and this morning's visit produced a nice handful of those: White-eyed Vireo, American Redstart, White-breasted Nuthatch and Wood Thrush (alas, becoming rarer and rarer). Also, Red-eyed Vireo, House Wren, Prairie, Yellow and Blue-wing Warblers and Scarlet Tanager (plus the more common Baltimore Orioles, B-c Chickadees, etc.) A long, repeated series of deep cuckoo calls was of the type that I always used to call Black-billed Cuckoo but I now believe that this call is actually made by the Yellow-billed. Either way, it represents the first cuckoo of the year for me.

Eric Salzman