Northern Parula, Scarlet Tanager, Red-eyed Vireo
Early morning brought surprisingly cool and pleasant weather, the chirping of crickets and grasshoppers, and the sweet songs of three migrating birds – among the very few to come this way so far this month. Under a clear blue sky, a Northern Parula lisped its buzzy, rising tssssiiip as it moved through dense leaves around the edge of our back yard. A Scarlet Tanager somewhere in the treetops sang a series of hoarse, insistent phrases, and a Red-eyed Vireo whistled its refrain as it moved along the branches of a tall white oak – here I am, up in the tree, where are you, look and see.
A Pine Warbler also sang a lyrical trill, and several more of our year-round residents sang or called – an Eastern Phoebe, Eastern Bluebirds, Carolina Wrens, Tufted Titmice, Carolina Chickadees, and a Downy Woodpecker. Ruby-throated Hummingbirds twittered as they came and went from the feeder. A Northern Cardinal or two peeped. An Eastern Towhee called chur-whee. A Red-bellied Woodpecker rattled. A White-breasted Nuthatch honked its nasal call not far away, and Brown-headed Nuthatches chattered squeakily in the pines. The caws of American Crows and cries of Blue Jays could be heard in the distance.