Louisiana Waterthrush
This morning began cold and clear, with a hard freeze that has threatened to nip some of the flowering trees and shrubs that have emerged so early this year, after a stretch of warm, spring-like weather that began in mid-February. As I stood on the front porch before starting out on a walk, I heard a bright, soaring song coming up from down near the creek that runs through our woods. It was the song of a Louisiana Waterthrush, a lively brown warbler with a streaked breast, long pink legs and short but very expressive tail, that returns each spring to nest along the banks of streams. Always one of the earliest migrating birds to arrive, the Louisiana Waterthrush sings a bold, shining song that lights up the winter-gray woods – and heralds the approach of spring.