Greetings to October

A beautiful clear fall morning provided a fine greeting for the month of October. So did the Goldfinches, still working the marsh edge in considerable numbers. Strikingly, one of them turned out to be heavily striped with a rather sharp-looking bill. A Pine Siskin! And then, a bit later in the morning, the one Pine Siskin metamorphosed into a flock of a dozen or more birds!! An October greeting indeed!!!

A small flock of Yellow-rumped Warblers also came in with a few other things in tow -- notably a handsome Blue-headed Vireo. There were also some other warblers but most of them were zipping around and staying quite high. I picked out at least two Blackpolls in their (always confusing) fall plumage.

Last call for "Birds of Peru". This evening at 7:15 pm, I'm doing an illustrated program on an adventure from the Peruvian coast to Cusco and then down the Manu Road and the Mother of God River (Madre de Dios) into the gigantic Manu Biosphere Reserve, one of the wildest places still remaining on the earth. I call it Penguins to Parrots and if you come by, you'll find out why. The event is at the Quogue Wildlife Refuge and it is sponsored by ELIAS, the Eastern Long Island Audubon Society. But you don't have to be a member of anything to get in; the public is welcome.

Eric Salzman