Warblers, Red-wings & Ravens

There was a thunderstorm this morning and I had to deliver the car for inspection to the local repair shop so my morning walk was a bit on the late side. Even so there was a very respectable collection of warblers stopping by: several Parulas, two or three Black-and-white, at least two Nashvilles, Black-throated Green, Blue-wing, Blackburnian, Yellow, and Magnolia plus several singing Blue-headed Vireos (far more common so far this year than the Red-eyed!). Also the two oriole pairs, Baltimore and Orchard, still hanging out together -- perhaps the same birds seen yesterday although in a different spot. One of the Orchards looks like a first-year male but I wonder if Orchard females might not sometimes show some black on the face. Have to research this.

Catbirds have started to sing while the Cardinals and Carolina Wrens are relatively quiet -- probably because they already have young in the nest. Large silent V flocks moving southwest to northeast overhead were Double-crested Cormorants and not geese A couple of House Finches also showed up; this once-common bird is now rather uncommon after its populations were cut back by disease.

The early arrival of spring vegetation continues to astonish me. Is it due to climate change or does it have to do with the fact that this was one of the driest winters on record? The dogwoods are at least two (maybe three) weeks early as are the wistaria (or is it 'wisteria'?), violets, bush honeysuckle and lilac; the Norway maples are fully leafed out and the oaks and hickories are way ahead of schedule. It is, incidentally, the early flowering of the oaks that (probably) attracts the early movement of warblers which is shaping up as one of the warbler springs of recent years.

The ravens are back at the Hampton Bays water tower and their giant stick nest, pushed into some cabling on the left side of the water tower is visible from the entrance road. However the nest is high up and facing away from the road so it does not seem possible to see if the birds are sitting or if there is anything inside. The adults were seen walking around on the grassy lawn to the left and front of the tower.

Down at our pond, a violent rustling in the grass turned out to be two male Red-winged Blackbirds locked in a titanic struggle rolling over and over again on the ground. Only when a large simian approached them did they disengage and fly off.

Eric Salzman