Teacher, Teacher, Teacher!

[heather mahoney]

Greetings from Embarrass! We've reached that season where I will stop mid sentence and ignore everything around me to grab my binoculars or camera to identify a bird. 😀

I heard our first Ovenbird this morning sing it's "teacher, teacher, teacher" 

In the last few days, we welcomed our first of the year Nashville Warbler (which is usually my first warbler of the year, but this year was the Yellow Rumpled), Black and White Warbler, Northern Yellow Warbler, American Goldfinch, Rose Breasted Grosbeak, Baltimore Oriole and Hummingbird.

Other firsts of the year include American Bittern (we had a nesting pair last year), Wilson's Snipe, Broad-Winged Hawk, Woodcock, Morning Dove, Solitary Sandpiper, Mallards, Northern Flicker, Purple Finch, Red Winged Blackbird, Rusty Blackbird, Golden Crowned Kinglet, Ruby Crowned Kinglet, and lots of sparrows including a Lincoln Sparrow - no Harris Sparrow yet. Fox Sparrow are my favorite and they were the first sparrow to return.

I still see Evening Grosbeaks and Juncos on colder mornings. We've had a Red-bellied Woodpecker the last few days which is not one I see here often. It's apparently a fan of the hummingbird nectar. They're a fun change up from the Hairy, Downy and Pileated woodpeckers.

We have a thirteen lined ground squirrel that created quite the tunnel system in my flower bed. Plenty of moose tracks back by the pond. I need to get trail cameras back up but we had another one "taken out" by woodpeckers last year. I've seen two bumble bees so far and was bit by my first mosquito of the year. We had a young bear come in one night but thankfully it was only one night...so far.

Colder spring nights gave me the opportunity to "talk to" a nearby Great Horned Owl. I've also enjoyed listening to the winnowing of the Wilson's Snipe. The frogs are so loud, I can hear them at night in the house. I never mind that sound. I recently heard Sandhill Cranes just to the North of us. 

No Vireos or Veery yet but I'm betting they show up soon! We usually hear our first Blue Headed Vireo just East of the driveway. 

** This time, eight years ago, was when we had a Lazuli Bunting show up...which really was the bird that made me a Bird Nerd I am today. **

Happy birding - hope you can enjoy some time outside today!

Heather Mahoney 

Sent from my Galaxy

[Mary M White / Charles R Neil]

Great post, Heather! You live in a special spot on the edge of a wet and wild area. Though I’d been birding for decades, I greatly appreciated your hospitality and patience eight years ago when you allowed me and many others to invade your space so we could see that lazuli bunting, a bird I and dozens of others who stopped by had never seen in this neck of the woods. Thanks again! 

Chuck Neil, Embarrass

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[chip hanson]

Great stuff Heather       So much action out in the woods right now