American Redstart and Northern Parula – A Change in the Air
When I stepped outside this morning, the first thing I heard was the buzzy song of a Northern Parula. It was singing from the branches of some oaks across the street, fluttering among the leaves as it searched for insects – a tiny bird with bluish head, greenish back and deep-yellow throat. It might have been a Parula that nested here this season, or a migrant moving through. Either way, it’s a song not heard lately on these long, hot summer days, so it sounded like a change in the air.
Further down the road and up a hill, in the area where the Broad-winged Hawks can usually be found – a green, deeply-wooded spot of mixed pines, oaks, sweet gums, tulip poplars and other hardwoods – a feeding flock of small birds included a vivid orange and black American Redstart, another Northern Parula, a sleek, elegant Red-eyed Vireo – and I think maybe an Eastern Wood-pewee. A sweet whee-oo sounded like the autumn, partial call of a pewee, but I only heard it once, so can’t be sure. Chickadees, Titmice, a Downy Woodpecker and a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher also were part of the flock.
A Broad-winged Hawk whistled its high call several times from somewhere nearby in the trees, but stayed frustratingly out of sight and I never could see it until it flew after several minutes – a glimpse of broad brown wings outspread as it dropped from a treetop and threaded low through the trunks, fading into the shadows of the deeper woods.
The morning was cloudy and gray, but very warm and humid, sultry, muggy, steamy weather.
In the old field along the highway, one Red-tailed Hawk perched on a utility pole, and there seemed to be a good bit of activity in the field, but it was hard to catch sight of birds as they flew from one tangled mess of weeds into another. White-eyed Vireo and Eastern Towhee sang. And the two bright yellow female Orchard Orioles surprised me again by still being here – and being out and active as usual. One flew across the road in front of me, calling a raspy chuff-chuff-chuff as it flew, and continuing to call as it moved from place to place among the bushes.
Several American Robins were scattered out in grassy yards, more and more of them it seems, each day. And Eastern Bluebirds are very active. I’m not sure how the pair are doing in our bluebird box. We’ve had some work being done on the corner of our house that required a crew doing a lot of digging, but I’m hoping it was far enough away not to keep the Bluebirds from their nest.