Beautiful morning!

House Wren

It was 70 degrees and sunny with a semi-cloudy day. It sure felt warmer than yesterday and that was nice for all of us, birds included.

I was greeted immediately by house wrens and tree swallows. The witchety witchety of the common yellowthroat rang out and I was bound and determined to find him - especially since I spent a week on Hog Island in Maine, only to hear him and never see him. I finally found him in an unusual spot, high up in a tree top. I'll apologize for the picture in advance, but he was quite far away!

Common Yellowthroat

Lots of yellow warblers. We saw one yesterday at the June Doin' event on the Pete Gilmore bird walk. We found a nest and watched as mom flew in to sit on it. That had the people on the walk quite excited. A couple of mourning doves paraded around the path. A baltimore oriole female dropped down into a garden and flew away, presumably with some bugs for her brood. Not sure where her nest is this year as they're not in the same spot they were last year. I think it might be in the oak trees at the back edge of the lower gardens. Of course there were catbirds and robins, a couple of grackles and song sparrows.

Yellow Warbler

A red-winged black bird couple seemed to be enjoying some seeds in the meadow. American crows called from the woods near the JCC. I wasn't sure if some mobbing action might be happening there as it sounded quite persistent. I was quite surprised to see what I believe was a male purple finch. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to see the female which would have helped confirm my id. Having seen purple finch couples every day for 5 days in Maine, I'm fairly certain, but not 100% sure. In addition to birds mentioned in the lower gardens were a pair of cowbirds and goldfinches. The robin pictured at left must have been building a new nest as it sat and posed with mud and nesting material in it's beak. It waited patiently for me to leave so I wouldn't know the location (unless these were bugs, but I don't think so).

The soccer field/pond area was fairly quiet. A red-winged blackbird male was feeding it's baby that

Robin with nesting material

was begging on a branch high up in an oak tree. The water in the pond is low and grasses are emerging. A bull frog sang like a low plucked string on a fellow and a warbling vireo sang out.

The river was quiet save for an oriole calling and a blue jay calling from the JCC woods.

We heard from Larry (Charles River Canoe and Kayak) yesterday at the June Doin' event that eagles have been seen nesting near the river in Waltham. That would be a fun canoe trip.

On my way back to the car, a great blue heron flew overhead. What a beautiful sight.