The Fourth opened with an overcast sky and light rain -- not strong enough to stop me from making my rounds through the flourishing trailside vegetation which was now soaking wet, jutting out right into the trail and dumping water on me. Okay, I'm going to get wet. A Common Yellowthroat male at the head of the marsh was very upset at the appearance of this rain-forest primate and it proceeded to chide me with his full range of soft and loud chips as he circled through the shrubs and lower tree limbs, all the while holding an insect in his beak. A sure case of a bird with nestlings or fledlings nearby since (1) the food is intended for the offspring (otherwise, he would gulp it down himself), (2) his noisy and active performance is intended to attract my attention (which it did) and distract me from looking elsewhere, and (3) the calls are a signal to the little ones to lie low. Curiously, all the fuss and feathers attracted a female Ruby-throated Hummingbird which perched quietly right over my head, apparently observing the scene. What was she doing there? This is the best place around here to find hummingbirds but I've never seen anything which would suggest that they might breed nearby.
Eric Salzman
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