Brewster, MA
What a great feeling to know that outdoors will finally match our need for a bird walk today! What a morning! It's like we're out of the dark tunnel here on the Cape and there was a celebratory crowd ready to walk the trails and take in the sights and sounds of Tuesday Tweets! The birds are the stars of the show and right away... a Pine Warbler was busy singing out, as if to say..."Get going! Wait 'til you see everyone along the way!" See, we did. We built a great list today and one of the Tuesday Tweeters asked what other warblers we typically see/hear this time of year. Most everything has been a bit on the "late" side as far as migrant arrivals go, although with May it seems things have seemed to be more on the "regular" schedule. I was hoping for a Prairie Warlber, though I did warn that... it may be too early.
There were Tree Swallows darting acrobatically over the marsh and we did get to see the Osprey pair, one on the nest, one flying off for food. There are two eggs now in the nest...wouldn't it be wonderful if there were three chicks again this year!? Here's hoping they are successful. We had a great visit from an Eastern Towhee and had a lovely unabashed song solo from a very vocal Gray Catbird! S/he did not seem bothered by the group of us walking right by on the trail. The musical morning continued.
As we entered the meadow, we caught sight of an Eastern Bluebird and several Tree Swallows. These two species battle for nest boxes, 2 or 3 of which were right nearby. It's just mind-blowing the brilliant color of the plumage of these birds! Aquamarine, sky blue & rust, with bright white as a contrast. It was on the approach to the beach that I heard it first... the Prairie Warbler! What a great & unique song they have! I asked our group to pause because though there were bird songs coming from every direction, I wanted them to dissect the sounds with their ears, much like a music teacher would ask of her musicians listening to a symphony and distinguishing between similar instruments' songs.
I do believe most everyone got to hear that sweet upward spiral call of the Prairie Warbler. What a gift to us all! It was a song-filled Tuesday Tweets! We heard even more from an American Goldfinch male, all teed up on a branch, singing away...so handsome!
We did make it to Cape Cod Bay with its own phenomenal allure. When the weather is the way it was this morning... it really makes a Tuesday morning, hard to beat! (double click photos to enlarge)
Our List:
Pine Warbler
Northern Cardinal
Gray Catbird
Black-capped Chickadee
Song Sparrow
Osprey
Ring-billed Gull
American Goldfinch
Herring Gull
European Starling
Red-tailed Hawk
Tree Swallow
Prairie Warbler
Eastern Towhee
Eastern Bluebird
Willet
Yellowlegs (Greater? Lesser? - we only heard them)
American Crow
 |
| Pine Warbler |
 |
| Osprey |
 |
| Bird Nerds on the salt marsh |
 |
| Poison Ivy |
 |
| Eastern Towhee - male |
 |
| New buds on the trees contrasting with the blue sky |
 |
| Gray Catbird |
 |
| Gray Catbird |
 |
| Tree Swallow - male |
 |
| Bird Nerds heading toward Cape Cod Bay |
 |
| American Goldfinch - male |
 |
| American Goldfinch - male |
 |
| American Goldfinch - male |
 |
| American Goldfinch - male |
 |
| Cape Cod Bay hues of the sandbars |
 |
| Willet |
 |
| Willet |
 |
| Song Sparrow |
***Don't forget... in July, the time for Tuesday Tweets will be changing to start at 9am & run through 'til 10:30am***
Happy Birding!
No comments:
Post a Comment