On Monday afternoon, my wife Miyoko Chu and I walked along the Cayuga Inlet at Allan H. Treman State Marine Park. Near the opening closest to the red lighthouse, we found an EASTERN KINGBIRD parent with two recent fledglings, both with white-fringed plumage, yellow gape, and dopey and inert but endearing demeanor. The center of the adult’s throat was reddish-pink. It could be an honorary Rose-throated Becard.
Then at the northernmost point of the trail loop, we saw a mother YELLOW WARBLER and a recent fledgling in the tall lakeside vegetation. This young one was still mostly covered with puffy gray down, except for its face and a couple of patches of smooth yellow juvenal plumage. Imagine the colors of a female Canada Warbler, the unkempt feathered head and incongruously flat bare yellow face of an Egyptian Vulture, and the overall fluffy spheroidal cuteness of a Furby. That’s what this bird looked like. The big open field with the active Osprey platform is now full of fragrant blooming milkweed, with dozens of Cabbage Whites, a few Red Admirals, a Viceroy, and many beautiful Yellow-collared Scape Moths. I hope that it will be full of Monarchs in late summer and fall. Mark Chao -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
