toodle-oo bird

Today's 'new' bird was a White-breasted Nuthatch toodling away -- as is its wont -- and investigating all the dead and semi-dead wood that we have courtesy of Irene and Sandy. In the meanwhile, the messy areas at the edge and up to the head of the marsh have attracted a vigorously singing Yellow Warbler and two Common Yellowthroats who seem to be in the process of sorting out their adjacent territories. All the fallen wood and other debris has also attracted House Wrens which also sing furiously and seem to compete for territory. There are fewer Carolina Wrens then in the past and no Carolina territories at all directly around the house; I suspect that the cold winter may have done some of them in (this is, after all, a southern, non-migratory species). One bird that appears to have survived the winter quite well is the Northern Cardinal; there are singing males and pairs of these birds everywhere.

Eric Salzman