For the last two days there have been scores of new bird songs in the neighborhood. I assumed most of the migrating birds skipped our area on their journey north, but many were just very late this year.
It’s very difficult to see the tiny warblers once the tree canopy has leafed out, but using binoculars and a lot of patience, I was able to find 8 different species in the trees around my yard the other day. There were numerous Black-throated Green Warblers:
I also spotted a couple of Indigo Buntings, a female Scarlet Tanager, many Red-eyed Vireos and an exciting new life bird for me—a Yellow-billed Cuckoo which I never would’ve seen had I not been scouring the trees for warblers.
The cuckoo didn’t utter a sound and sat still for almost 2 minutes so I could get a really good look at him. I’m thankful he stayed put because I was completely baffled by this very large bird—Yellow-billed Cuckoos are bigger than a Blue Jay! I had to furiously flip through every page of my birding field guide to identify him.
And the other night I got a treat when a beautiful Magnolia Warbler came down from the treetops to get a drink from the birdbath and flit around at eye level for a bit.
