Morning chorus

I'm hobbling around with a cane these days so most of my bird watching is limited to what I see from the kitchen window or from the front deck and my, it is amazing how much avian activity there is here at the north edge of Naicam.

Up close at the hummingbird feeder suspended from a plant hanger at the edge of the deck, two male Ruby Throats are having a nasty duel - one chasing the other to the birch at the east side of the deck. I can hear a clicking and a clattering of leaves and then one returns to nervously sip nectar. There are four spigots so why must they fight over it? Half a dozen or more Pine Siskins and Goldfinches happily share the niger towers.

Then a Collared Dove is peacefully surveying the morning from the top of the light standard across the street, occasionally emitting its cuk-cooing call when suddenly a robin dive bombs and chases it away, claiming to top spot for its own. The robins are nesting in the spruce in our front yard - they must be on their second batch.

A Yellow Warbler is announcing to the world how sweet life its from somewhere at the top of the birch. I can't see it from where I'm standing but its "sweet-sweet-I'm-so-sweet" song makes my heart happy, too.

Overhead, a Killdeer passes, plaintively calling its name and Tree Swallows and Barn Swallows are performing their aerial ballet catching breakfast on the fly. In the evening the sky is full of Purple Martins but they seem to search for breakfast in a different part of town.

The Rail Trail runs just behind the homes across the street and on the east side of that is a big slough. Through a break in the trees, we can see a portion of the slough from our kitchen window. When Kristin was here from Ontario, she said we have a "lake view." Now over the slough a Common Snipe is diving through the air creating its eerie, haunting wooo-wooo-wooo sound that seems to come from all directions at once.

Closer a Clay Colored Sparrow is buzzing its giant insect sound and then
suddenly all bird sounds around me stop. A Merlin silently streaks by. Don't stop here for breakfast, I pray. And because the birds are quiet I can hear a chorus of frogs serenading from the direction of the Rail Trail. Ah, the sound of frogs - takes me back to my childhood at Rutan!