The next best thing to a lifer is a new yard bird, after 28 years. Yesterday
morning I had TWO by 7 AM!!!! I got up early thinking I'd take a long walk
through my back 40, but then decided I'd plant some stuff that's been waiting.
I heard an unfamiliar song off the deck, and what popped up but a WILSON'S
WARBLER! While tracking it I heard what I was sure was a LEAST FLYCATCHER,
then saw it overhead, with a huge moth in its mouth!
Sometimes it pays to let the birds come to you!
Also in my backyard this past week have been a singing VEERY (don't know that
I've ever heard one singing outside of the mountains and the North) and a
NORTHERN WATERTHRUSH--this seems to be a regular stop on his migration north,
as I've had one in my backyard a few other times.
Finally, I've been lax in following the listserv this spring, but has anyone
else noticed the plethora of Prairie Warblers this spring? From the first
arrival, it seemed I heard them everywhere I went, and at Banshee Reeks Nature
Preserve in Leesburg last weekend, we had easily 14, when usually we struggle
to get 1 or 2.
Mary Ann Good
Lincoln, near Purcellville, western Loudoun Co.
