finally a dry morning

There are three (not two as I previously thought) young Green Herons frequenting the marsh these days. All three were perched in the half-dead Red Cedar near the path going up to the head of the marsh. These birds are not quite the same in age -- one has a full Mohawk fuzz on the top of its head, another has lost almost all its fuzz and the third is somewhere inbetween. It is not so uncommon for some of the larger, non-passerine birds to hatch their eggs in the order in which they are laid (rather than waiting for the full clutch to appear before starting to incubate). The age and size difference that results means that the older birds have a better chance to survive in bad years while the younger and smaller members of the brood will also make it in good years (a bit cruel for our sensibilities perhaps but apparently a sensible option for the birds). Nevertheless it's interesting to observe that the three young birds stick together (the adults were also around but not seemingly paying much attention to them). They hung in until I was almost underneath before taking off (one by one and not together).

There were also five Osprey on the creek this morning with four of the birds flying together around the tip of Pine Neck (the fifth was on the nest). Were there three Osprey young this year? Or was this morning's extra bird just passing through?

There were a few migrants in the wake of the rain storms of the past two days. A Ruby-throated Hummingbird was working the Evening Primrose blossoms this morning right outside the porch window (where I am writing these lines). A brownish Empidonax -- probably another Alder Flycatcher -- was moving along the screen of bushes at the marsh edge, pausing only long enough to let himself be (sort-of) identified. American Robins were on the move, flying in their usual fall pattern around here, from southeast to northwest. There were also many Gray Catbirds which, like some of the Robins, were feeding on the ripening Tupelo berries; many, if not most, of these were migrants as well.

The usual mid-summer visitors were also still present: male and female Belted Kingfishers (on top of the dead cedar by the post early in the morning and again in the afternoon), Spotted Sandpiper and Northern Waterthrush. Also Screech Owl whinnying and trilling away in the night.

Eric Salzman