Spotted Sandpiper and Yellow-crowned Night-Heron still with us. But no sign, sight or sound from the Red-eyed Vireo after a week of intense singing.
The most notable event of the morning were the thrilling chases of two Eastern Phoebes as they whizzed through the mid-tree level. Is this love or war? I suspect a rival male has arrived on the scene to challenge the incumbent and he is fighting back. As before, I suspect that there is a nest hidden under the eaves of a neighbor's house and the nesting may already be advanced (usually there is only one Phoebe at a time implying that the other one is sitting on eggs or brooding hatchings).
Add to the flower list: Wisteria in full bloom; Wisteria is a garden plant but it has escaped and does well on its own. Various azeleas and rhododendron (rhododendra?) are coming into bloom; these are all garden plants. Some of the hawkweeds have started to appear including what I think is Mouse-eared Hawkweed (it has solitary blossoms rising out of a mat of basal leaves).
No butterflies today!
Eric Salzman
P.S. Juliana Duryea found this on the beach over the weekend and Mike Bottini sent on the photographs. This is a Least Bittern, a really tough bird to find on Eastern LI (probably more common than we think but it's very secretive). I've never seen it out here (once missed it by minutes on Dune Road because I wouldn't stop to see what a curious birder was looking at in the Pragmites!).
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