Birds: An April Morning

April 14, 2011 to be exact. Most days I walk the mile-long trail along Pine Creek. Usually, in the spring, the mid April and early May days bring FOY (first of year) birds as they migrate and stop in this preserved green corridor with its variety of habitat.

Today, the woods were FULL of Ruby-crowned Kinglets and Myrtle Warblers. Both birds were almost certainly just passing through to their more northern breeding grounds so to see dozens of them flitting about was delightful. Kinglets are either Golden-crowned or Ruby-crowned. I have seen both species several times, but lately, the Ruby-crowned have been predominant. On the Rubies, the "crown" is a tiny red slit that is usually nearly impossible to see, both because the bird is often high in a tree and because kinglets are frenetic! They truly seldom are still for more than a second or two. But they also don't seem to mind the proximity of humans and will just keep moving through the brush or shrubbery or trees, stopping and starting, moving from branch to branch or even to the ground at times. They don't spook and disappear as many birds do when threatened. Kinglets are tiny round balls of bird energy. They have noticeable white areas in front of and behind the eyes, white wing bars, tiny slim bills and are just over 4 inches long. I often was looking DOWN on them as they foraged, nearly always seeing their "seldom visible" red patches.

And then the Yellow-rumped Warblers, which were also numerous. The group known as Yellow-rumps (butterbutts) was officially "split" in March of 2010 into Myrtle warblers (those in the east) and Audubon warblers (those in the west). The throat is white in the Myrtle and yellow in the Audubon. (This taxonomic splitting has the benefit of increasing one's life list pretty easily.)

All the warblers are lovely, small and active birds, just a bit slower and larger than the kinglets, but not by much in either category. The Myrtle male has yellow patches in four places: both sides of the breast, the top of the head and the rump. It has a white throat, white wing bars, white belly with some black streaking and is mostly dark grey-blue and black elsewhere. Very pretty. I stood on the bridge and watched a male sit on a branch over the creek, not more than six feet away: just the bird and a background of moving water. These perfect moments are one reason to become a birder: the emotional thrill and a brief suspension of time with the utter certainty that life is fine.

It happens so often that I get a glimpse of a bird, hope for a better look and then the bird pirouettes as if showing off, or steps into the open or disappears briefly but reappears soon, closer and in better light. Not always but often enough. So it was with the Myrtles this week.

I walked along and watched an elusive Rusty Blackbird work the creek edge. Last year, Deborah and I saw a blackbird moving along the creek, with quite different behavior from the Brewer's Blackbirds and, after investigation in several bird guides, we learned about Rusty Blackbirds and their declining populations. So I've been on the lookout for them.

There were also Brown Creepers, tiny mottled brown birds, moving up tree trunks, usually noticeable first by this movement. They work up a tree and then fly (Maria says "flutter like a leaf") down to the bottom of another tree and start moving upwards again. Don Gorney told us they nest under loose bark. A Fox Sparrow rustled in the leaf litter. A Red-bellied Woodpecker called and was easy to spot as the trees are still bare of leaves.

I saw a Hermit Thrush twice that morning: The second time was back by the horseshoe-shaped pond and I watched it for ten minutes. It is grey-brown on the back with a rufous tail. It has spots on its light breast and has a robin shape. It flew to a branch at eye level not far ahead of me and flicked its tail up and then much more slowly lowered it, over and over...making an easy ID as this is a signature of the Hermit Thrush.

Wood Ducks, Mallards, Grackles, Red-winged Blackbirds, Cardinals, Blue Jays, Coots, Song Sparrows, Canada geese, Tufted Titmice.....

As I stood on the walk overlooking the one of the ponds, I heard twittering and watched catkins fall to the trail dislodged by Pine Siskins working in branches very near the tops of the trees. The catkins looked like tiny fox tails.