A Day on Merganser Lake
Yesterday, I showed a male and female American redstart as an example of sexual dimorphism (male and female look different.) Today, here’s the bobolink, a beloved bird of our fields. Another good example of dimorphism. Click here for yesterday’s post.
Here’s the male …
A Day on Merganser Lake
I have been seeing an eastern bluebird pair at my feeders daily since February. I’m in a fairly wooded area and there are no open fields (bluebird’s preferred nesting area) in the neighborhood. I assumed it was a young pair that wasn’t breeding this year as it was well into the nesting season and they were still visiting daily.
To my pleasant surprise, yesterday the pair showed up with a youngster. It is a noisy and demanding little bluebird. The parents are dutiful in feeding it. I still don’t know exactly where they nested but I’m happy to still see them every day, especially with a youngster in tow. I’ve also seen them in the woods behind my house catching natural prey so, thankfully, they are not relying solely on my mealworm handouts. It’s also nice to see that it is indeed a bluebird youngster and not a cowbird as I’ve seen plenty of those around this spring.
Here are a few more shots of the family.
A Day on Merganser Lake
The common yellowthroat is one of the more common warblers we see throughout New England. Thankfully, we get to see them for several months out of the year as they nest throughout the region. They are often heard singing their “witchety-witchety-witchety” song, but it is usually tough to find them in the thick brush in which they skulk.
A Day on Merganser Lake
Warbler season was on full display over the weekend. One of my favorite warblers is the chestnut-sided warbler. I like the color scheme and anything with the color chestnut has got to be cool. This guy was lurking among the bushes as I was trying to find a different warbler. I’m glad he made himself known.
(Repeat text for context: I’m running out of COVID-19 lockdown themes so from now until things get back to some semblance of normalcy, I will simply post my best photo from the previous day. You could say it fits because of its uncertainty and challenge. I’ll call the series “A Day on Merganser Lake,” even though that’s not the real name of the lake I live near in southwestern Connecticut, it’s just a nod to my favorite duck family.)
A Day on Merganser Lake 1
As promised, I’ll start a new series today. I’m running out of COVID-19 lockdown themes so from now until things get back to some semblance of normalcy, I will simply post my best photo from the previous day. You could say it fits because of its uncertainty and challenge. I’ll call the series “A Day on Merganser Lake,” even though that’s not the real name of the lake I live near, it’s just a nod to my favorite duck family.
Plus, it’s a great time to do this because spring migration is picking up steam and new birds are arriving every day. Yesterday, I saw my first chipping sparrow and this morning I saw my first pine warbler (not that I got a photo of either one of them.)
I hope you are doing well through this crisis. As always, feel free to send me your bird or nature photos. I’ll post them on my reader submitted photos page. Leave me your name and town, state.
Birds of New England.com 