a 'jar of nuthatches'?

The weather patterns of late seem to be repeating themselves. After a light rain last night (a front coming through?), the wind shifted to the northwest. There was still heavy cloud cover this morning but the skies had completely cleared by the end of the morning.

The only new bird -- not a rarity but a welcome visitor -- was a beautiful male Black-throated Blue Warbler in the trees facing the pond. The day's other warblers were the expected Yellow-rumped and a single Common Yellowthroat.

An odd and amusing sight: a Blue Jay trying to chase away a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker that was working on its favorite Pitch Pine. The woodpecker finally did fly away leaving behind a neat matrix of holes drilled into the pine bark. Did the Jay think it was some kind of hawk?

Speaking of hawks, I was looking at a 'jar of nuthatches' (apparently that's the correct collective term; I looked it up), consisting of both White-breasted and Red-breasted, when all of a sudden a Sharp-shinned Hawk exploded out of somewhere (he/she must have been examining the same 'jar of nuthatches' from some nearby tree branch) and gave chase to one of the Red-breasted. Did it catch it? I have no idea. The whole thing happened so quickly that I didn't even get my binoculars up.

Kevin Brennan, a neighbor on Randall Lane and a new birdwatcher, has been reporting an Osprey overnighting on a bare stump in his back yard. This is not particularly close to the water and I thought it might be actually be another raptor. But early this morning as I emerged from the woods onto Randall Lane, there it was sitting on the bare stump and calling loudly. Definitely an Osprey. In fact, a young one -- perhaps from the Pine Neck nest -- still in its spotty immature plumage.

All the regulars of recent vintage were still on hand: Royal Terns, Great Blue Herons, Great Egrets, Lesser Yellowlegs, Pine Siskins, American Goldfinches. Swamp, White-throated and Song Sparrows. Lots of birds feeding on the ground including Northern Flicker, Eastern Phoebe and Yellow-rumped Warbler. One good-sized, handsome yellow-and-black Box Turtle surprised me basking in the sunshine by the house with head, neck and legs extended. I've been seeing a lot of turtle-nibbled mushrooms but this was the first live turtle in quite a few weeks.

Eric Salzman