5/7/17
Did I say something about no wrens? The most vociferous voice of this morning's chorus was the Carolina Wren -- at least one bird singing a heartfelt non-stop medley of wren tunes right in our back yard. The House Wrens were not quiet either although not as noisy as they were yesterday.

Springtime birdsong can be intermittent but it's still the best way to tell what's going on in the post-dinosaur modern world! Yes, these modern dino descendants give away their presence more often by sound than by sight. This morning, Common Yellowthroat announced its presences (at least one male) with a series of loud witchity-witchitys. A new arrival? At any rate, the first of the season for me. Another, not so welcome FOS was a small flock of cowbirds, male and female, presumably getting ready for the oncoming nesting season. They also announced themselves vocally, not with a song, but with a characteristically ugly rattle.

There were terns out on the bay but too far away to get any field marks. In the past, I would have simply marked them down at Common Terns but Forster's Terns have been prominent in early spring in the past couple of years. I'll keep a sharp lookout (and listenout -- there is a difference in the calls). Another FOS was a calling Yellowlegs, probably Lesser by distant look and by sound.

I'm trying to compile a list of early blooming flowers but I keep finding new ones, many of them garden or escaped garden species. Yesterday I did find, somewhat surprisingly for the first week in May, a fruiting of the edible Marasmius Oreades, commonly known as the Fairy Ring Mushroom. This is something of a misnomer as it doesn't always grow in fairy rings and some other mushrooms often do. In any case, it is a small mushroom with a pretty distinctive firm cap (the edible part) and an ability to dry out and then resuscitate in water. It is also a delicious mushroom -- if you are sure of your ID!

Eric Salzman