pine lovers

For various reasons, I didn't get to do a walk this morning but the persistent afternoon belching (okay, gulping) of the Green Heron got me out of my seat, out of the house and into the field where I actually located the bird in a pine tree at the edge of the marsh. None of this was surprising except that this was a dead pine (one of the casualties of Sandy) and, in spite of the lack of green needles, it took me a while to find the bird. But it was there all right, sitting on the edge of one of the branches extending out toward the marsh and surrounded by a thicket of cones. In fact, the entire tree was covered with cones (as are many of the dead pines killed by Sandy). Perhaps these cones contain viable pine nuts which may reseed the neighborhood in Pitch Pines when the time comes.We'll see. Green Herons like live Pitch Pines for nesting trees but I have also seen them breed in oaks and perhaps a dead Pitch Pine might even host an artfully constructed nest. As I said, we'll see.

Oddly enough, another pine dweller also seems to have survived the destruction wrought by Sandy and continues to frequent both live and dead pines as well as the various oaks just now coming into leaf. This is, of course, the inimitable Pine Warbler which announces its presence with its characteristic one-note trill. Some people find it difficult to separate this song from the similar call of the Chipping Sparrow (there are, in fact, other birds that announce themselves with one-note trills) but there is something melodious -- a kind of rise and fall -- in the Pine Warbler warble which I find quite distinct. I have never found the nest (it nests high in Pitch Pines) but I am sure that it is nesting, if not on the property, somewhere close by.

Eric Salzman