There are definitely two male Common Yellowthroats transmitting their "witchity, witchity, witchity" calls from opposite ends of the property. There was another warbler as well that I couldn't identify; it was up at the head of the marsh but quite far away and it flew before I could get a closer look. It may have been a female Yellow Warbler but there is the possibility of something more exotic.
There may also be two pairs of Green Herons working on nests. One bird flew out of a nearby oak tree where we have been seeing activity for a while now. The other flew with a fairly substantial branch in its beak into an oak tree on the other side of the house. I don't know how territorial Green Herons can be but we've certainly had a lot of Butorides activity (yes, Butorides is another way of saying Green Heron).
Great Crested Flycatcher came in this afternoon into the woods right next to the house and was constantly on call. As readers of this blog will be aware, this is one of my favorite birds. It was formerly mainly a woodland denizen but it has spread into areas where woods and houses intersect. It nests in old woodpecker holes (and nest boxes) which gives it quite a bit of immunity to the depredations of stray cats.
The Purple Martins and Barn Swallows on the marsh are now accompanied by Rough-winged and Barn Swallows in small numbers. A lot of fancy flycatching flying over the marsh these days.
Eric Salzman
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A bird and nature blog with regular posts describing the natural history of the land, wetlands and waters of a site on Weesuck Creek in East Quogue,NY.Wider excursions on LI and to other parts of the world are sometimes included.
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