Sunshine returns!

After the deluge, the sun. What a blessing.

Louie and I cruised down to the almost submerged footbridge this morning. Actually, we didn't get to the bridge because the water was 50' up the path. But we did see and disturb the resident pair of Canada geese who had, to my delight, a pair of goslings in tow. That's a small number of offspring for this fecund species so I can only assume that the long rainy spell and some fast moving water (or hungry otter?) removed a few downy siblings.

Further upstream I watched a Baltimore oriole sipping the nectar out of the small white bell-shaped blossoms on what I think is high bush blueberry. I wouldn't be surprised to be wrong. This was growing not far from the water's edge. Of course, the water's edge is about 20 to 40 feet or more from its usual location. So, this lovely orange and black bird very delicately worked his way through all the blossoms.

The warblers are here but darn hard for me to see. I did hear a Yellow Warbler and several Ovenbirds, both favorites of mine. A mob of crows made life miserable for some poor raptor, battened down in a pine across the marsh. And the bustle of blackbirds and grackles working the marsh was loud in my ears.

Further along, I heard a scarlet tanager and saw a rose-breasted grosbeak singing away.

On my way out of the cemetary, I heard a loud, only slightly raspy singer in a pine and then in an oak. I worked it for 5 minutes, wondering what kind of oriole or tanager it might be. Well, it was a robin. To call my birding skills rusty would be polite.

Here's to more sun and better looks at the warblers!