Red-eyed Vireo
Early this morning the bright, insistent song of a Red-eyed Vireo drew me out onto the deck – Here I am; where are you? Over here, up in the tree. It’s the first Red-eyed Vireo of the season here. The early morning was breezy, sunny and green – with leaves coming out everywhere now. The Vireo sang from a perch near the top of a tall sweet gum tree, among its new, fresh-green, star-shaped leaves. It sang and sang from one spot, not moving around as much as Red-eyed Vireos usually do. The song was clear, bright and fast-tempo – and I could just see the bird well enough to see its slender shape, plain olive-gray back, pale breast, white eyebrow, and black streak through the eye.
A male Ruby-throated Hummingbird zipped by me and settled on the feeder, where it stayed for a long, deep sip. Although I just saw him for the first time yesterday, I think hummingbirds have probably been here for several days at least, maybe a couple of weeks. We’re seeing them now because I just put up a feeder two days ago.It was another sunny, very warm day with only a few distant white clouds in a hazy blue sky. The suddenly warm weather, following a lot of rain last week, seems to be bringing out everything almost at once. The redbuds now are thick with pink blossoms, and this morning I noticed that our river birches are covered in small, shimmering, new-green leaves. Most water oaks and tulip poplars are fully green, and even pecan trees and white oaks now have catkins and the small beginnings of new leaves. A few dogwoods in the woods have begun to open into lacy white bloom.