Birding Notes

Yesterday we had another full day of heavy rain and thunderstorms. A dark gray day and very, very wet. As with other recent heavy rains, I could look out my office windows and see braided streams of water flowing downhill in our woods, and there is standing water in many places around our own yard and all through the neighborhood. 

This morning brought a bright, cool, sunny day with strong, gusty winds. 

Early in the morning a Carolina Wren flew to the deck rail right outside our kitchen window. It stood there in the wind, somehow clinging low to the rail, a small, sturdy, cinnamon-brown little bird with a long tail, a long bill, and a brassy, bold demeanor. The leaves of a Carolina jessamine vine whipped all around it as it sang, and trees tossed and swayed in the background. The wind ruffled its feathers, but the wren sat firmly on the rail and sang again, and again, a loud, musical, beautiful morning song.