damp days

Several days of warmish, damp weather have brought migration out here to a virtual halt. Best bird seen: the first Winter Wren of the season in the dense vegetation around the upper marsh. This area is wren heaven -- two breeding species (House and Carolina) and a migrant or winter species (Winter), all seen here on numerous occasions.

There are a few Swamp Sparrows in the marsh, the vanguard of what is usually a major wintering bird in our marsh. No sign yet of our other winter sparrow, the ubiquitous White-throat.

There has been a single Mute Swan regularly in the creek; it may or may not be the same bird. Occasionally, it turns up with another swan -- once or twice an adult bird, once a young bird molting from its brownish juvenile plumage into white. Most of the time, it is alone. The creek used to have a resident couple which produced a brood every year but one or both of those birds have disappeared -- perhaps victims of one of our hurricanes. The current occupant (either a survivor or a new bird) seems not to have yet acquired a mate.

Eric Salzman