Yellow-rumped Warblers Singing

On a cool, gray morning with new leaves filling out the trees more and more each day and white dogwoods in snowy bloom, a Red-eyed Vireo again sang in the woods around the back yard. Northern Cardinal, Tufted Titmouse, Carolina Chickadee, and a Ruby-crowned Kinglet also sang. Blue Jays cried, and a Hairy Woodpecker flew over, calling its emphatic peenk several times, and then I could hear it begin to work on a tree not far away in the woods. A Great Crested Flycatcher called its deep whreep.

In the front yard, an Eastern Bluebird flew swiftly out of the bluebird box, a female, I think. A Northern Mockingbird, Brown Thrasher, Carolina Wren, Eastern Towhee, Eastern Phoebe, and Chipping Sparrow sang nearby, and the shining notes of a Louisiana Waterthrush rose from along the creek. A Downy Woodpecker whinnied, American Crows cawed as they flew over, and two walked around the yard. A Mourning Dove cooed. Azaleas bloomed in big, loose, pale-pink blossoms, like clouds of flowers drifting in the yard. A Brown Thrasher kicking up the mulch stopped, and ran for cover under a bush.

The soft, jingling songs of Yellow-rumped Warblers filled the trees all around with loose, gentle trills, like bracelets ringing. There were several small birds in the oaks above me, and all of them I could see were Yellow-rumped Warblers. A half dozen White-throated Sparrows scratched at the mulch and leaves under shrubs. Another White-throated Sparrow sang from down the street, then another and another, their high, whistled songs lingering like echoes.

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