Tuesday, May 12, 2009

IN THE HEIGHT OF SPRING

I wrote before that I am more of a "Bird Listener" than "watcher". It is true. If one has half decent hearing, as I do, they can hear, as I did yesterday invisible Easter Towhees, House Wrens, Baltimore Orioles, Tufted Titmouses, Carolina Wrens, Common Yellowthroats. The birds that I actually "see" here at the Mount are: Bald Eagles, Red-Winged Blackbirds, Blue Jays, Chipping and Song Sparrows, Mourning Doves, Rusty Blackbirds, Carolina Wrens, Northern Mockingbirds... There are hardly any Nuthatches and Chickakees around. Oh yes, the Swifts, Tree and Barn Swallows are back. One thing that has fascinated me are the very varied Northern Cardinal calls an songs. I have gotten used to the great variety of Robin song. But I am now "getting the hang" of what I would call "Cardinalish song". If you go to the sounds easilly obtainable on the Internet (especially the Cornell Site to which there is a link at your bottom LEFT) you will find a good "sample" of bird songs and calls. But there is an infinite variety. (The truth seems to be that birds are learning different ways of expressing themselves just like us human beings). At least that is the way I see it. Right above you have a picture of a beautiful cloud-filled Hudson River sunrise. And here a "Mom Eagle" caring for her two invisible eagletts.

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