Though early July has been very hot, and birds have seemed relatively quiet on most days, today I kept an informal count for the first time in a while, and was surprised to find at the end of the day a total of 47 species. Most of these are species I usually hear or see, and would expect to find here on an ordinary summer day, not unusual sightings.<\/p>\n
The Cooper\u2019s Hawk is an exception. I have seen them only a few times this summer, including this morning, when a juvenile flew out of a low tree into a bush close to a house, just as I was walking past. The hawk stayed for several seconds, standing on the ground, mostly hidden in the bush but with its tail sticking out. Then it backed out, looked around and flew. It did not seem to be carrying anything.<\/p>\n
Most of the species listed below I saw or heard along a walk through our neighborhood early this morning. Both Black and Turkey Vultures I did not see until later in the day, and though one Ruby-throated Hummingbird did zip past as I was walking, I saw them far more often at home during the rest of the day, coming and going frequently from the feeder on our back deck.<\/p>\n
Among our most interesting summer birds are Red-shouldered Hawks \u2013 their kee-yer<\/em> calls are frequently heard, and I\u2019ve often been surprised by the sudden quiet rush of their wings as one flies suddenly from a perch low in a wooded area as I walk by; Yellow-billed Cuckoo, whose dry, echoing cawp-cawp-cawp<\/em> calls are one of our most characteristic summer sounds; Acadian Flycatcher, calling a crisp wheet-sit<\/em> from down around a creek; Great Crested Flycatcher \u2013 a pair continues to come to sunbathe on our back deck most days; White-eyed Vireo, its percussive chick-a-perioo-chick<\/em> is one of the most consistent songs in the dense, weedy thickets of the old field; Wood Thrush, singing so very beautifully from a low, wooded area near the creek; Gray Catbird \u2013 this morning one was singing a hesitant and strangely pretty series of gurgling phrases and whistles from somewhere in a large, bushy stand of shrubs at the head of a driveway.<\/p>\n Black-and-white Warblers sang this morning in at least three different places, their high, sweet weesa-weesa-weesa<\/em>. One or two sang here all through the month of May, then I didn\u2019t hear or see one again until July 6 \u2013 and they\u2019ve been singing again each day since then. Louisiana Waterthrush whistle their anthems early in the morning near the creek; a Blue Grosbeak \u2013 though I rarely hear or see one in the old field along the highway this summer, there\u2019s one that sings in a large, meadow-like yard in the neighborhood with lots of shrubs, widely-spaced trees and tall grasses. And an Indigo Bunting sits almost every morning in the top of a tree or tall shrub in the old field, a tiny dot of deep, intense blue, chanting sweet-sweet, chew-chew, sweet-sweet<\/em> against a noisy background of highway traffic.<\/p>\n The following is a very informal list, and I may well have missed some species, but these are the ones I have seen or heard most days in early July (plus the Cooper\u2019s Hawk).<\/p>\n Black Vulture<\/p>\n Turkey Vulture<\/p>\n Red-shouldered Hawk<\/p>\n Red-tailed Hawk<\/p>\n Cooper\u2019s Hawk<\/p>\n Mourning Dove<\/p>\n Yellow-billed Cuckoo<\/p>\n Chimney Swift<\/p>\n Ruby-throated Hummingbird<\/p>\n Red-bellied Woodpecker<\/p>\n Downy Woodpecker<\/p>\n Northern Flicker<\/p>\n Pileated Woodpecker<\/p>\n Acadian Flycatcher<\/p>\n Eastern Phoebe<\/p>\n Great Crested Flycatcher<\/p>\n White-eyed Vireo<\/p>\n Red-eyed Vireo<\/p>\n Blue Jay<\/p>\n American Crow<\/p>\n Barn Swallow<\/p>\n Carolina Chickadee<\/p>\n Tufted Titmouse<\/p>\n Brown-headed Nuthatch<\/p>\n White-breasted Nuthatch<\/p>\n Carolina Wren<\/p>\n House Wren<\/p>\n Blue-gray Gnatcatcher<\/p>\n Eastern Bluebird<\/p>\n Wood Thrush<\/p>\n American Robin<\/p>\n Gray Catbird<\/p>\n Northern Mockingbird<\/p>\n Brown Thrasher<\/p>\n European Starling<\/p>\n Pine Warbler<\/p>\n Black-and-white Warbler<\/p>\n Louisiana Waterthrush<\/p>\n Summer Tanager<\/p>\n Scarlet Tanager<\/p>\n Eastern Towhee<\/p>\n Chipping Sparrow<\/p>\n Northern Cardinal<\/p>\n Blue Grosbeak<\/p>\n Indigo Bunting<\/p>\n House Finch<\/p>\n American Goldfinch<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Though early July has been very hot, and birds have seemed relatively quiet on most days, today I kept an informal count for the first time in a while, and was surprised to find at the end of the day a total of 47 species. 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