a rude gastric sound

A odd repeated sound, something like a rude digestive noise, caught my attention this morning. I actually thought for a moment that it was my stomach in distress! But no, the sound was coming from a tree somewhere down near the water and it was repeated every 30" or 40" seconds or so, mostly as a single sound but sometimes in little groups of two and three. I had heard this sound before and a little research reminded me that the source of this inelegant noise was the Green Heron. Sure enough, after sorting through the various crows (and their various calls), I found the heron sitting on its lone bare branch and, you should excuse the expression, burping away. The gastric serenade continued throughout much of the morning until, remarkably enough, another Green Heron, a distance away, called loudly with the more familiar and more typical 'sheeyew'. Upon hearing this, the gastric Green Heron promptly flew off in the direction of the other call. It's difficult to find even a reference to this call, let alone an explanation, in the literature. The only mention I could find says that it occurs 'near the nest' (which doesn't seem to explain anything). My guess is that it is connected with mating. The idea would be that a male or female bird uses it to notify the world of Green Heronry that it is available. The female Clapper Rail has such a call and I have seen a male Clapper Rail come rushing out of hiding towards the playback of the female call (this should not be tried at home or, for that matter, in the field).

I think there was a Hairy Woodpecker on the place this morning; I heard one calling loudly. There are Hairy Woodpeckers on Pine Neck and I have found nesting birds over there so I have never understood why they are so scarce over here. At the moment, we have plenty of woodpecker wood and three other woodepckers in residence. This morning I found a female Red-bellied outside what I am fairly sure was its nesting hole but, as long as I hung around the area, the mama bird refused to go in.

I made a mistake in saying that the local Catalpa trees were past their blooming prime. They are just coming into flower and their striking ruffled blossoms, marked by purple and yellow streaks inside, are starting to fall off the trees and litter the ground beneath. I assume that the interior markings are guidelines for who or whatever patronizes the tree and fertilizes its flowers to produce the long hanging beans that follow. Another flower to add to the growing list is a Lathyrus pea (Everlasting Pea?). Ironically enough, both the Catalpa tree and the creeping pea vines belong to the same large family of legumes.

Eric Salzman