I saw my FOS Chimney Swifts Sunday evening - two of them. And a pair of
Brown Thrashers were scratching around near the woods.
I also heard a Towhee SINGING. Okay that may not sound surprising but all
last year I never once heard a complete song though plenty of the birds were
about and I either saw them or heard them calling. But when it came to
songs, all I got were partial phrases, as in "Drink your" or "your tea" or
just "tea". I haven't been doing "serious" birding for very long. Maybe
this is normal. But these birds were in different places in the area and
not just my yard.
Pine Siskins are still here. A White-throated Sparrow was hopping about in
my flower box. It took me a while to identify it but I finally concluded it
was an "immature" bird. It had all the right markings and didn't match
anything else in my book. Is there another sparrow that I might have it
confused with? I also got a brief glimpse of a sparrow with a lot of white
on its head. I have never seen a White-crowned Sp. but I decided it must
have been one.
One male Hummer comes by off and on all day and occasionally a female shows
up. Another exciting thing this Spring is a Robin sitting on a nest in the
maple tree which I can easily see from my bedroom window. The pair had a
time chasing away Blue Jays and Grackles from the tree earlier this week but
seemed to have been left in peace now.
Sadly I have not heard from the Wood Thrushes for the last two days. Maybe
they moved on.
Nancy Young
Botetourt County
