Same Old Singers

Black-throated Blue Warbler

The birds in our woods seem as happy as we are when the showers stop and the sun tries to peek out.  The singing, even at mid-day, is amazing.  The only birds I that seemed not to vocalize were the song sparrows -- perhaps they’re courtin’ days are over this spring.

We’ve had a noisy Common Yellowthroat in the bushes/trees near the driveway for days now.  I’m always surprised at how tough he can be to see, even though he’s singing his head off, drowning out most others.  Of course, once you get him, he’s pretty easy to follow with the glasses.

I heard a call today that I knew that I should know (lots of those) and sure enough, tracked down a Black-throated Blue Warbler which bounced around in the nearly-leafed-out trees but then posed for some photos. 

Ovenbirds are everywhere -- their singing rings through our wood lot.  Try to find them though -- I usually can only see them briefly when they flit off.  Likewise for Wood Thrushes -- probably a half dozen were singing away during my noon walk.  I did track one down but it saw me and was pretty jumpy, moving from branch to branch.

The star of the walk was a male White-throated Sparrow which I heard, and called in with the iPhone app.  He popped up next to me for a good photo op.

White-throated Sparrow

Add some Black-headed Juncos, a Chestnut-sided Warbler, and the standard Blue Jays, American Crows, Black-capped Chickadees, and an American Robin on a nest, and in spite of the black flies and mosquitoes, you have a nice walk.  Penny, the Vizsla, is giving me the evil eye for leaving her home but birding without a bird dog seems to go a lot better.  She has, and will have, plenty of chances to “help” me bird our property.