Chirps and Cheeps

Today, I stopped at a couple places along the waterfront, including Woodlawn Beach State Park, Times Beach, and Tifft Nature preserve. Migrants were still out and about and I enjoyed seeing a few warblers as well as some nice surprises.

There were no surprises at Woodlawn Beach or Times Beach. Water birds were scarce, barring Canada Geese, Double-crested Cormorants, and gulls. The same was true of water birds over at Tifft, but I did see a couple of groups of warblers, my first of the season Ruby-crowned Kinglets and White-throated Sparrows.  As a matter of fact, I heard the haunting whistle sounds of the White-throated Sparrows before I even saw one and felt a little thrill to think they were back in town. It's funny how you begin to look forward to their appearances!

I also found several Ruby-crowned Kinglets up in a willow tree.  I never got any decent photos of them (yet!) but it was great seeing those cute, little warbler-like fellows too.  My first of the season sightings of them was actually over at Amherst State Park this past Wednesday evening. I ran into Sal over there and we enjoyed watching some Golden-crowned and Ruby-crowned Kinglets mixing in with a bunch of warblers

Sal had pointed out the sound of a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker to me that night - and I heard it again today at Tifft. I actually knew just what to look for - and I eventually found two young sapsuckers working hard at finding insects on a tree together.

Another nice find was a Brown Thrasher.  This guy alternated between feeding on berries in a bush and looking for insects on the ground.  He allowed me a few photos, for which I was grateful.

In the warbler department, Yellow-rumps outnumbered any other species, with Palms coming in a close second.  I did not find a single flycatcher nor thrush (outside of the ubiquitous American Robin!).