A fogless morning

Finally a gorgeous blue-sky sunrise without fog -- just a few traces of mist on the opposite bank of the creek that quickly disappeared (the mist, not the opposite bank).

Yesterday's Redstarts are gone with the fog but there were two singing Parulas this morning, a non-singing female Yellow Warbler, a non-singing female Scarlet Tanager, a non-singing Brown Thrasher (sex undetermined) and a persistently singing Red-eyed Vireo -- possibly the same one that has been hanging around for the past week or so. A big surprise was a Blue-headed Vireo, a common enough migrant but not one that I expect to see in late May.

The outstanding bird of the morning was an Empidonax of the type that used to be known as "Traill's Flycatcher" -- in other words, either a Willow or an Alder, two closely related species separated mainly by geography and by voice. This modest little flycatcher is not outstanding in any obvious way; on a scale of 1 to 10, most objective observers would rate it as a 2. But birders are not objective and for me the challenge and excitement of identifying small 'empids' exceeds even the challenge of identifying sparrows. This empid was gorging itself on an outbreak of moths in a green nook beside the old right-of-way into the property; he (or she) would dart after a flying insect at high speed, snap it up and land on perch in the open to look for the next one to gulp down. Later in the morning, what I presume was the same bird had moved its field of operations -- its 'no fly' zone one might say -- down the road a tad, offering still more good looks of his modest looks. I would describe it (him? her? can't tell!) as a slender bird with a short-to-moderate primary projection (the length of the longest primary flight feather as measured against the tail when the bird is perched), an essentially invisible eye ring, a shortish bill and a generally grayish/olive appearance on the upper parts. To me this adds up to Alder Flycatcher which is, in any case, the more likely of the twins to be seen in our area during migration (most of the Alders breed north of us while most of the Willows breed locally and to the south). Additionally, in my experience, the Willow is a much browner bird so the coloration of this bird strongly favors Alder. But the conventional wisdom is that it is impossible to be 100% sure unless it calls and this bird did not. Not a peep. Ironically, the Willow is the 'common' local Empidonax but it is the least likely of any of the five Eastern species to turn up on our place in migration and I am not really sure it has ever actually occurred!

Speaking of gulping, the Green Heron was clearing his throat for a hour or two shortly after sunrise from a perch on a large oak tree in the woods. According to at least one reference book, he makes that sound 'near the nest' but, looking at him calling on his lonely branch, I can't help the (possibly romantic) impression that this is a love-lorn Butorides advertising for a mate ("what a beautiful spot for a nest") and hoping that some equally unattached female will heed his gulpiform plea.

Eric Salzman