Greetings,
I took a walk around my property in Culpeper County this morning, as I do
nearly daily. It's remarkable how much bird song is out there. Many species
have been singing for a few weeks, but some I'm just starting to notice song.
Mourning Doves, White-breasted Nuthatches, Titmice, Chickadees, Cardinals,
Robins, Goldfinches and Purple Finches have been singing for a few weeks (some
well over a month), with the most heard song in my yard being the Purple
Finches. Song Sparrows and White-throated Sparrows seem to have begun singing
in earnest here just about two weeks ago (though the White-throats will be
coaxed to belt something out on any sunny day), Bluebirds too, and the Winter
Wren that flirts with my property along one of the streams that cut through
here was first heard some time last week. Slate-colored Juncos were first
heard
adding their trill earlier this week. Even the Hermit Thrush has added some
softly-sung, broken verses to the din. There's a Phoebe that's been sharing
time this winter between my house and a neighbor's a couple hundred yards
away through the woods, and I heard him singing this morning for the first
time.
Not singing but present daily are Field Sparrows, Myrtle Warblers, Brown
Creepers, and Golden-crowned Kinglets. Also quite vocal (but hard to call
singers) have been Blue Jays, and the woodpeckers, which for me are Hairy,
Downy,
Red-bellied, Pileated, Sapsucker and Flicker. The Red-shouldered Hawk that
nests somewhere nearby has been seen and heard screaming from above. One of
the rarest annual birds I get here are Ravens, and I had my first noticed pass
25 Feb, croaking merrily along.
If the weather lives up to the forecast for next Saturday, I might be
hearing all of this with eighty degree weather.
Cheers,
Todd
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Todd Michael Day
Jeffersonton, VA, USA
blkvulture@xxxxxxx
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