room for an Osprey platform?

Aaron Virgin of the Group for the East End came over this morning to look at possible sites for an Osprey platform somewhere in our marsh. He is a birder and picked up on a Black-and-white Warbler -- not on the marsh but at the head of our marsh trail; it was the first of the season that I've seen. Unlike yesterday morning, there was no obvious migratory movement today but the birds put on a good show for Aaron. There were at least four Green Herons with both adults and young of the year. When I first came round to the pond, an adult Green Heron jumped up with a series of yelps and shrieks, well beyond the usual and familiar Green Heron call. It was perhaps a warning cry to the other Green Herons in the area that some sort of dangerous monster was approaching; at any rate, three other calling birds came streaking by, one after the other. This is surely a family of adults with newly fledged young. When Aaron arrived there was a Northern Waterthrush trying to chase away an immature Green Heron from its perch on a small dead cedar sticking out the marsh where it was drying off in the sun. The day had turned from wet and misty to dry and sunny. Also, as we stood by the pond, a Belted Kingfisher came in and there was a Forster's Tern flying up and then down the creek.
Northern Waterthrushes continue all around the periphery of the marsh along with a few Yellowthroats. The Cardinals and the Carolina Wrens are working on their third (if not fourth!) broods of noisy youngsters. As I sit here on the porch writing this, I can see and hear a male Baltimore Oriole, still in top plumage, feeding in the big hickory out the window along with a loose flock of Red-wings and Common Grackles. There are also Blue Jays in the neighborhood including one with a naked, featherless black head -- a strange looking creature indeed, victim of either some malady or a genetic problem.

I haven't been keeping up with the butterflies but there are Spicebush Swallowtails around along with a fair number of Monarchs.

Eric Salzman