a rosy breast

An immature male Rose-breasted Grosbeak turned up this morning. I would have called it a female except that it had a rosy breast -- not the clear pattern of the adult but a kind of rosy or pinkish wash, which indicates a juvenile male. An early migrant or simply a local that wandered away from its natal nest? Impossible to tell. Another immature, a young Yellow Warbler in a perfect lemony plumage, was popping up and down out of the foliage, presumably fly catching. Since Yellow Warbler is a common local breeder, I would hesitate to call this an early migrant. Also in the neighborhood: an immature Pine Warbler and an Eastern Phoebe.

There are now four species of terns working the creek in small numbers: Common, Least, Forster's and Royal. The two young Green Herons are still around but they are extraordinarily shy, flying off long before I come near. On one occasion, the younger one dropped into the marsh while the older one took up a sentinal's post on the dead cedar tree on the opposite side of the pond; it tolerated my presence because and only as long as I was sitting down.

Eric Salzman