That's not all. My favorite (my nomination for Best Bird of the Day) was a singing Purple Finch perched high on the big tupelo at the head of the marsh. It was in a female-type plumage (this is one case where the female plumage makes the bird easier to identify) but it was, no doubt, a first-year male.
Other warblers were American Redstart and a Pine Warbler type with streaks on the back -- not a Pine Warbler at all but a Blackpoll in fall plumage (also the first seen this season). Both Red-eyed and Blue-headed Vireos were well represented. Other birds included a morning burst of Am Robins with a few N. Flickers mixed in, a number of Eastern Phoebes (there's one fluttering around outside the kitchen window as I type this), Eastern Wood-pewee, some high-flying Tree Swallows, both nuthatches (the White-breasted was the first of the season; the Red-breasted has been here for a while), Marsh and Carolina Wrens (both singing), Song and Swamp Sparrows plus the usual mimids (Mockingbird & Catbird), corvids (crows & jays) and larids (gulls, that is; no terns at all).
There were V lines of D-c Cormorants overhead all morning. The recent parade of fishing and migrating Osprey continued with up to 5 and 6 birds on the creek at a time. Judging by the noisy crows and jays, there were probably more than a few raptorial visitors around but I saw only three: a Red-tailed Hawk soaring over Pine Neck, another being chased across the creek by a pack of crows, and a Northern Harrier that came winging its way over the creek seemingly unnoticed by the jays and crows (who also ignore the Ospreys).
And not to forget: two Box Turtles active in the warm weather: one with bright yellow markings and a bright orange eye (presumably a male) and a slightly smaller one that was mostly black with orange highlights and dark eyes (presumably a female). I know you can tell the sexes apart by looking at the plastrons but, as they completely ignored me, I preferred to just let them go their own way.
Eric Salzman
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