I made the most of being grounded today. When I went outside for gardening instructions, the first thing I heard was a vague warbler song from the mature spruce tree in the neighbors' yard. Forty-five minutes of procrastination yielded one second of view of a new bird for the cumulative yard list: a male CAPE MAY WARBLER, which was also new for this year for me in the Cayuga Lake Basin. Maybe I'll recognize its song now, though I still consider it vague. From time-to-time throughout the day I heard the singing again, and I stared at the tree for signs of movement. Five hours later (during which I was also somewhat productive) I was rewarded with an extended view of the bird. It crawls around the interior of the tree, neither at the very top, nor on the tips of branches, and it doesn't fly much or far, but it sure is beautiful.
As a bonus in the meantime I also heard a SCARLET TANAGER singing from the trees atop the cliff across the street. After supper on the back porch, I suggested watching the spruce tree again in case the Cape May or some other warbler was still there. Laurie was only indoors briefly to get a jacket against the chill, but during that time, 7:30pm to be precise, a COMMON NIGHTHAWK flew over going somewhat erratically north east. It was high enough to be out of the shadow of West Hill, and it looked tan in the sunshine, with the white stripes near the wingtips easily visible through binoculars. --Dave Nutter -- 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/ --
