a warbler that is not a Warbler

Two 'new' birds for the year this morning.

Cedar Waxwings, have been common enough in recent years and have even nested. This is a songbird without a song, the quietest of all our birds but also one of the most elegantly beautiful. Nice to see even a single bird but where did the others all go?

The other, also a singleton, is a warber that is not a Warbler. This would be the Warbling Vireo, not common on our place and one with a checkered history on Long Island. Once upon a time, Warbling Vireo was considered a common LI bird, even nesting in gardens and in street trees in the villages. Then it disappeared for unknown reasons. One theory was that it needed Elm trees for nesting and it was the decimation of the local Elms due to Dutch Elm Disease that did them in (I must say I don't find this  very convincing). Whatever the explanation, Warbling Vireos became a rarity out here until a few years ago when the bird began to nest again and now it is definitely on the increase. Except for its warbling, the Warbling Vireo is notable for its extreme lack of field marks. Our local birds are small, a uniform light grayish color with just a trace of a white eye stripe -- not that different from a Philadelphia or even Red-eyed Vireo except even less well marked. The warbling song is however easy to recognize once you get to know it; it has a slightly hoarse or buzzy quality that, oddly enough, many books and web sites forget to mention. This bird is so well camouflaged that it even sings on its nest, a statement that I might not believe if I hadn't actually witnessed it myself!

A cohort of Crows harassing a Red-tailed Hawk over the creek was the major event of the afternoon. Crows don't sing either but they sure can make a lot of racket when they go after an enemy. Another feature of the afternoon was the extremely high tide virtually inundating the marsh. These high tides may account for the fact that our swans and ducks have had little nesting success in the past couple of years as normally dry areas (where they might nest) are flooded. I'm not sure that this is altogether a bad thing as Mute Swans and Mallards are introduced birds in these parts, popular with the general public but bringing their own set of ecological problems with them.

Eric Salzman