Son of Rocky

Rocky Raccoon is back! The old bull Raccoon was back in his favored sleeping post high in the crotch of an old bull Pitch Pine this morning. Or it is our old friend? The present incumbent (or should I say 'recumbent'?) actually looks somewhat smaller and more reddish than Rocky who was big and fat and gray. Let's call his successor Son of Rocky.

It was a beautiful warm morning with the leafing-out process reaching its peak. But this was not a day for migrants. There was a Traill's Flycatcher -- that's the catchall name for two similar empidonax flycatchers (Willow and Alder) that used to be lumped together -- hunting in the foliage for the second time in the past few days. If this was a Willow, it might be considered a local bird (Willows nest in the shrubs on the barrier beach) but if it was an Alder, then it was a true migrant (Alders mostly nest to the north). I'm calling it a Traill's because it was medium size with a narrow eye ring, medium long wing extension and quite olive on the back. Least is small and grayish; Acadian is big and very greenish. Willow and Alder probably can't be told apart with certainly unless they call (and this one didn't). 

There was also a flock of a half dozen Cedar Waxwings heading over the head of the marsh. Waxwings have been very scarce this year. Like the Am Goldfinches which have also been present, they are late nesters.

Otherwise, most of the activity belonged to breeding birds: a song competition between some highly vocal Baltimore Orioles; at least two new Common Yellowthroats trying to set up territories along the edge of the marsh (making three singing males in all). A pair of Downy Woodpeckers has been excavating a nest hole next to the trail at the far end of the property. The two birds were coming and going like clockwork for several days but this morning all was quiet. Have they abandoned the project? Or are they sitting on eggs in the completed nest hole?

Eric Salzman