Is the chat a warbler? And why do titmice appear to mob nothing?

In spite of the change in weather (northwest wind, clear skies, low temperature and humidity), there was only a limited evidence of migration this morning: a few raptors, a fair number of Tree Swallows, and another pop-up Yellow-breasted Chat that was immediately chased by a Catbird.

Is the Yellow-breast Chat a warbler or is it not? If not, what is it? Stay turned. Otherwise the only warblers in sound or sight: Common Yellowthroats and Northern Waterthrush.

An unusual sighting on Weesuck Avenue and then, after turning around at the dead end, on Randall Lane was a big bulldozer sporting the logo of a company that does excavations and leading a parade of three heavy-duty trucks. The sight of these behemoths naturally aroused suspicions but it turned out that they were deputized by the Town to clear hurricane debris from the local roads and roadsides. Most amusing of all, the driver of the bulldozer turn out to be a pleasant young fellow from Orient who, on observing my binoculars, asked if I was a birdwatcher, wanted to know what I had seen and proceeded to tell me about the birds he has seen near his home (which was, he explained, right next to the Latham family property, the domain of the famous Naturalist Roy Latham).

The discussion about the Tufted Titmice who appeared to be mobbing nothing is continuing. One suggestion was that the birds were remembering the spot where an owl (or some other predator) was roosting. Another was that the birds were mobbing a snake (invisible to me). Bob McGrath (who suggested the remembered-predator theory) points out that, except perhaps for Black Racer, our snakes do not climb trees and a snake hidden in a thick patch of ivy on an old apple tree was unlikely. However the birds were only about six feet off the ground so perhaps they only appeared to be mobbing a broken branch and the object of their derision was indeed a snake hidden somewhere below on the ground (the other Titmouse mob that I saw was indeed aiming at the base of a dead cedar that was covered in leaves and debris).

But now comes Jean Held with an even more fetching theory. Suppose, she says, the adult birds were teaching their offspring what to do when you spot a predator (getting them ready for the dangers of the long hard winter perhaps). I must say it's a very elegant idea!

Eric Salzman