Wednesday, March 21, 2007

Gnatcatchers and Hummingbirds

I got out for about an hour and a half of birding this evening. As I was walking down Stillforest I thought I heard the thin raspy call of a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher but it was only once and pretty far away. Then a little further down I thought I heard one again. Naw, I couldn't be sure. Finally as I got close to Meadowheath I heard one for sure, 3 or 4 times. Then on Meadowheath I saw one. Cool! I counted 6 on my walk. There are a few of these tiny birds here in the winter but I only see this many of them during migration. By the T&C playing fields I found 7 meadowlarks, which I assume were Eastern Meadowlarks but I couldn't be sure. And in the floodplain property I found one male hummingbird. I couldn't see any color on its throat so it could have been a Black-chinned Hummingbird, but I think it was a Ruby-throated Hummingbird because I've never seen a Black-chinned in the neighborhood. When there's not enough light to reflect off their iridescent throats, these birds can look identical. I guess it's time to put up my hummingbird feeder!

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