Yellow-rumped Warblers
On a cool, gray, cloudy day birds seemed mostly quiet – though maybe it was only that it was a busy day for me, with not much time to spend outside. An Eastern Bluebird sang from the top of a maple tree whose leaves were faded yellow and almost gone. Below it, among the few remaining leaves, were two Yellow-rumped Warblers – the first of the season here. The first one I saw looked pale and drab gray-brown, in winter plumage, with muted streaks of gray and smudges of yellow on the sides – and the yellow rump. The other appeared to be still at least partly in summer plumage, much darker, with some markings almost black, bright white, and yellow. They flew with dry, flat calls of tchek.