mostly (but not entirely) marsh

Ruby-throated Hummingbird female buzzing around just back from the pond -- the same area where she or her sister nested last year! We'll keep an eye on it

On the listening side, duetting or, most probably, dueling Baltimore Orioles were out in front of the house this morning. The weapon was their mellow, flutey calls -- practically a call and response. The bell-like calls are very musical in tonality but only rarely do these notes seem to add up to a coherent or stereotyped melody.

A pair of Cedar Waxwings was working the treetops in the woods. This species is a late nester but may well be pairing up and getting ready for domestic life.

The Clapper Rail continues his efforts to find a female. He moves around the marsh a lot, trying his luck from one end to the other. Also in the marsh this morning, a Black-crowned Night Heron (but no Yellow-crowned) and a Bank Swallow still flying around with the Martins and Barn Swallows.

A vertebrate in the marsh: a young spotted yearling fawn roosting (if that's the right word) in the drier upper part. A young buck with fuzzy antlers is paired with a doe and they roam around the woods but they were nowhere near the fawn which must be the offspring of a different pair. It looked to be not much more than a few weeks old.

Eric Salzman