Yellow-throated Vireo and Katydids
July began today with an unusually cool, breezy morning, and a Yellow-throated Vireo singing in the woods to the east – a song we’ve seldom heard this season, and I’ve missed it. It was a soft, gentle, rare summer morning in a far from gentle world. The news, national and international, is all bad and seems worse every day. So it felt like a gift to be able to sit here for a few peaceful minutes, enjoying the pure blue sky and fresh green leaves, and listening to the Yellow-throated Vireo, and to the calls of a Hairy Woodpecker and the songs of a Scarlet Tanager, a Towhee and an Acadian Flycatcher. A female Ruby-throated Hummingbird checked out all the bright red geranium blooms, and came and went from the feeder. We haven’t seen a male Hummingbird yet this year. But I think there may be a nest somewhere in one of the pecan trees out front, because I’ve seen the female go there several times.
Last night I heard katydids singing for the first time this year, just after dark, while the night was still warm.