...I was doing some gardening in the almost freezing weather this afternoon, when I heard a call other than the White-throated Sparrow flock that had been working its way through. We also had a nice wave of Ruby-crowned Kinglets, and I had already seen several Yellow-rumped Warblers and a Black-and-White Warbler.
Then I heard a call that I couldn't place, around to the front, near the pond that is threatening, in all this rain, to take over my lawn. Walking around the house, I heard it again. That sounds almost like a waterthrush, I thought. Hmmm. Went round to the car for the binoculars I keep there. Didn't have my glasses on, but my prescription sunglasses were there, so I put them on. The bird called again. I moved closer to the pond, and waited. A red squirrel ran across a log, and the White-throated Sparrows kept flitting by. At first they were a distraction, but after about 10 minutes of standing in place, I caught a glimpse of a small, dark bird flying around a log at water level. Landed and in a couple minutes I found it again. It was singing, and sure enough, the tail was tipping, tipping, constant movement. That's all I saw of it, but I can picture the rest. In my minds' eye I see a creamy streaked breast and belly, a long white eye stripe, fast, sure movements to grab food from the water and the mossy, water-soaked logs. It sure pays to know your songs. Holly Peirson Columbus, SE Anoka Co. ---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
