Less than 100 yards away, seven Great White Egrets and a Black-crowned Night Heron are settling in for the night just before 7 pm. This is the highest number of the season, indicating they are pretty comfortable here – high out over the water in a quiet area with no major predators or free-running dogs to upset their slumbers. How additional birds find their way to a spot picked first by a few is a mystery, but a welcome one; they bring tranquility to life.
New arrivals as the season unfolds include a Brown Creeper, spotted today. One bird book calls the bird
so cryptic it is a birder’s challenge. Blending perfectly with tree bark, when startled it will flatten in a way that makes them all but invisible. Uninhibited today, however, it exhibited the trademark creep up a tree trunk, spiraling around in search of insects. Once at a high point, down it floated to have another go up the trunk. I watched this happen three times in a few minutes.
so cryptic it is a birder’s challenge. Blending perfectly with tree bark, when startled it will flatten in a way that makes them all but invisible. Uninhibited today, however, it exhibited the trademark creep up a tree trunk, spiraling around in search of insects. Once at a high point, down it floated to have another go up the trunk. I watched this happen three times in a few minutes.
As our daffodils came to full display, a cowbird made its first visit of the season, feeding alongside a mature and a first-year Redwing Blackbird this afternoon. In the pines by the creek, Kinglets picked their way through the cones looking for leftover seeds. They seem to have replaced the winter chickadees that we assume are now entertaining to the north.
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