A Busy Thicket in Late Afternoon Light
Late this afternoon, the place to be was a messy-looking roadside thicket of privet and other shabby shrubs and weeds, all draped with withered brown kudzu vines. In the midst of the weeds stand several struggling, broken old oaks, with thick, sturdy trunks but scarred and hacked with holes, and many of the larger limbs torn off.
In a clear, soft blue sky with high traces of white clouds, a filmy gibbous moon was rising in the east, still a few days short of full. In the other direction, a bright sun was sinking low, and for several minutes, its light reached this bramble of an overgrown old grove and lit it in a warm rosy glow – and the place was full of birds.
Several bright red, peeping Northern Cardinals flew from perch to perch. At least four black, red-orange and white Eastern Towhees competed for space in the branches of one old oak. Dozens of American Robins rustled under the shrubs and squeaked, and one even tried a few bars of its cheer-up, cheerily, cheer-up song. A Ruby-crowned Kinglet called jidit-jidit. Two Eastern Phoebes flew from spot to spot. The tseet calls of White-throated Sparrows and their scratching and rustling filled the bushes, and a few came out briefly into view.
Four Mourning Doves and two Northern Mockingbirds sat quietly on wires overhead, and from the old field across the road, a Carolina Wren sang a loud and beautiful che-wortle, che-wortle, che-wortle.
A female Yellow-bellied Sapsucker clung to the trunk of one of the oaks, richly colored, with crimson crown, white and black-striped face, white throat, large white slash on the side, and buffy-charcoal-white barring, and even a subtle dull-yellow showing on the belly.