warm weather

With the arrival of warm, summer-like weather, the living trees facing the pond and marsh -- Tupelos, Red Maples and even some Sandy-blasted oaks -- have finally started to leaf out and a whole second round of flowering plants is replacing the early spring blooms. At least two Red-eyed Vireos continue to sing and, typically, they continue their monotonous call-and-answer right into the heat of the day. I'll be looking for any evidence of breeding.

The Baltimore Oriole with the piercing whistle was back all morning and I'm beginning to think that he has taken over the territory. I have seen a single female but I thought she was paired with a different male. 

The White-breasted Nuthatches, young and old, continue to move all around the woods at mid-level, the young ones following and being fed by their elders. The nuthatches give themselves away with their continuing toot-tooting -- perhaps serving as some form of communication between adults and young. On the other hand, several species, formerly noisy, have quieted down and made themselves surprisingly scarce. This includes the Chickadees and the Titmice but also the Blue Jays. Earlier this month, small groups of Blue Jays were spinning around the place, calling raucously. They were, I suspect, working out their love lives (without the aid of the internet). Now, with such matters loudly sorted out in public, they have turned private and try to go about their business in the quietest and sneakiest manner possible. It's a good sign that they are starting to nest. Many birds go quiet while they are nesting but the Blue Jays virtually disappear, neither to be seen  and only rarely heard until the young are out of the nest. If you listen carefully, you will occasionally hear the jangling or squeaky door or electronic beep call (my daughters used to say "the man from Mars is here). Jays, like most of the members of their corvid family, are song birds without a real song but they have a huge variety of calls for various purposes, not always recognizable as coming from the ubiquitous jay.

Eric Salzman