Eastern Phoebe and Marsh Wren

I birded the neighborhood most of Sunday morning. It was very cold until about 9:30. I found a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker on Chester Forest. Stillforest was relatively quiet but there were 2 Eastern Phoebes on Hazelhurst. (Pictured is an Eastern Phoebe I photographed near the creek back in September.) This is our only winter-resident flycatcher and it's quite common, but I usually only see them near the creek. By the new hike-and-bike trail footbridge there was the usual flock of Yellow-rumped Warblers. And a Cooper's Hawk flew across the smaller tributary creek scaring up lots of other birds. But I found the bird of the day on Lake Creek near the Parmer bridge where there's a small patch of marshy habitat. A few weeks ago I found wintering Swamp Sparrows there and I found 1 on Sunday too. But a Marsh Wren also briefly came into view. (I tried to get a picture of it but it just wouldn't come out of the reeds.) This was a new bird for my neighborhood list, bringing it up to 171 species! I need to explore that little marsh more -- maybe there's a rail or 2 in there!

I recently finished a NASWC article about our more common neighborhood wrens. You can find it here.