|
Previous Report | Current Report | Next Report
|
|||||
| |||||
White crowned sparrows. Well, it took a while, but the Bird Report here reemerges—albeit from an altered vantage. I expect it to continue, too, at least intermittently, like rain. The day dawned early, bright, and steeped in a disjointed chorus of birdsong. Somewhat cool, but with a promise of sun-warmth. Maple buds be a-poppin' out, rose leaves are unfurling, and some kind of hawk has been hunting in the hillside oaks out back. I think it's a female marsh hawk, though I've only a few harrier sightings to go by. I snapped a quick photo of it the other day, outbound, carrying a snake. May, in Maine, is a month of changing shade. Its daylight starts out wintry-looking, with only the shadows of conifers and hardwood trunks and houses and hills to walk in; by June, the places under maples, oaks, and birches have gone dim as a secret, and a rightful sense of mystery inhabits an alder swamp. A shift in bird populations seems evident this year, meantime. Along with the chippies, I've noticed many more juncos, a few more white-throated sparrows—and I don't believe I've ever seen a white-crown. Others species seen or heard today: chickadee, white-breasted nuthatch, goldfinch, redwing, mourning dove, starling, blue jay, phoebe, black-and-white warbler (a black-throated green yesterday), herring gull, crow, and the aforementioned hawk. A butterfly also flitted past on the breeze of an early-May day. | |||||
|
Bird Report is a discursive, intermittent record of what's outside my window in Rockport, Maine, USA (44°08'N latitude, 69°06'W longitude). —Brian Willson | |||||
(There's moose here somewhere. Must be.) Already, the change is noticeable. And in this morning's gathering shade, an unexpected gift: a small group of white-crowned sparrows stopping off, on their way to nesting spots up north somewhere, to peck about under the side-yard feeder. I counted at least three, I believe, including (I have to think) one brave-spirited male. Two gray squirrels didn't bother them much, and they spent a good half-hour out there alongside a few chipping sparrows and a house finch or two.
©1997-2010 by 3IP |