A beautiful birdy autumn morning with brilliant sunshine in a clear blue sky and just enough wind to make it feel like fall. The bird list starts with two Black Ducks in the pond and continues with a swarm of Yellow-rumped Warblers all along the front edge -- shrubs and woods -- facing the marsh. Sparrows everywhere; I was able to identify Song (most of them migrants, I'm sure), Swamp (many), White-throated (some singing), Chipping (winter plumage) and Field (these last two, Firsts of the Season). There were other sparrow possibilities but we don't have any open sparrow habitat so these birds have to be pished from under cover and I don't always get a good look at them. All of the five woodpeckers were in action including Yellow-bellied Sapsucker. Both kinglets: Ruby-crowned in the shrubs at the edge, Golden-crowned back in the tree canopy. There were a few Eastern Phoebes and I could hear (but didn't see) nuthatches (probably White-breasted).
On and around the water, Great Blue Heron, Great Egret, Double-crested Cormorants and Belted Kingfisher continue. Osprey appear to be gone but there are still a few Royal Terns around.
Our local mammals, squirrels, White-tailed Deer and Raccoon, were out and about along with a few early-rising Sunday Homo Sapiens..
Jean Held suggests the confusion about who produces the rasping sounds -- raptors or jays -- is due to the fact that jays like to imitate hawk calls!
Eric Salzman
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