They arrived last night! There were many swamp sparrows singing this
morning behind the house in the scrub shrub swamp. I tried to count but it
was about impossible. I estimate there were at least 10 different ones
singing, but I only saw 7-8.
Also heard the first singing catbird for the season. A nice pair of yellow palm
warblers were the only gleaners present today so far, a dissapointment given
the flight of swampies. This may have been a pair, since one was distinctly
bright and the other was rather subdued but still very yellow overall. The very
bright one had strong chestnut streaking in its breast (most of the time I see
more brown here for streak color), which I have not seen to this extent
before. I think it was an adult male; it was really beautiful. This has been a
very slow month for arrivals at the house. Last year I had 29 FOY birds in
April; so far this year I have only 10.
I am excited about the next two weekends!
Have a great weekend-
Jeff
Croom MD
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