A persistent Pine Warbler

May 4, 2013

Thursday's southeast wind shifted to the northeast yesterday morning. Not optimal for May migrants.

Our Persistent Pine Warbler spends so much of his time feeding and singing in a small isolated group of Pitch Pines back of the house that he has me worried. Does he have a mate? Does his persistent singing indicate that he's looking for one? Or is there a nest already built in one of these pines that requires him to stay on the alert for possible competitors? I can't find a nest or second bird but that's not surprising considering how difficult it is sometimes to find the male when he's working high inside a tangle of pine needles.

Carl Safina writes me that the Ospreys in his area are on eggs. That may be the case around here as well but the two nests that I have tried to observe are so large (and presumably deep inside) that there is a strong possibility that the sitting bird is invisible from my vantage point. It is certainly true that I am seeing only one Osprey fishing on the creek or fileting its catch on a dead stump near the nest.

Two more FOS (First of Season) birds: Downy Woodpecker and Belted Kingfisher. A male Kingfisher appeared at high tide, hovered over a tidal pool in the marsh, dropped in and came out with a fish. But instead of devouring the fish on the spot, it flew up the creek still holding the fish suggesting that it was headed for a kingfisher nest hole perhaps to feed its sitting mate.

Willets and yellowlegs (apparently the same Lesser) still active and calling; ditto House and Carolina Wrens. A few Purple Martins overhead but not much activity at the colony site.

Eric Salzman