Young Louisiana Waterthrushes On the Move
24 views
Skip to first unread message
Alfred Maley
Jul 3, 2026, 7:07:55 AM (4 days ago) Jul 3
to nhb...@googlegroups.com
Yesterday, July 2, a friend reported a Louisiana Waterthrush at his home on a wooded property in Sanford, Maine (its chip “confirmed“ by Merlin).. Amazingly, this is exactly one year after we had two young waterthrushes on our deck in Hampstead. This suggests that the propensity of young waterthrushes to wander is not unusual, just rarely noticed.
Growing up in Rochester NY I was perplexed that small groups of yellow warblers would show up in early August at our house, miles from the nearest nesting habitat. Although it was a pretty leafy area of the city, the warblers were solely focused on the seven large elm trees that grew along the property line. They may have been after elm beetles, I don’t know. I never saw a breeding plumage male among them so I suspect they were all juveniles. Maybe all juvenile warblers wander prior to migration.
On another note, the young Red-shouldered Hawks have fledged from the nest across the street and are quietly begging for food. The call is two-noted like the adult, but very quiet, as if the bird were being strangled. It’s a sound I had never heard before.
Al Maley
Hampstead, NH
Growing up in Rochester NY I was perplexed that small groups of yellow warblers would show up in early August at our house, miles from the nearest nesting habitat. Although it was a pretty leafy area of the city, the warblers were solely focused on the seven large elm trees that grew along the property line. They may have been after elm beetles, I don’t know. I never saw a breeding plumage male among them so I suspect they were all juveniles. Maybe all juvenile warblers wander prior to migration.
On another note, the young Red-shouldered Hawks have fledged from the nest across the street and are quietly begging for food. The call is two-noted like the adult, but very quiet, as if the bird were being strangled. It’s a sound I had never heard before.
Al Maley
Hampstead, NH
Reply all
Reply to author
Forward
0 new messages