1 June 2024
This week was “All Peregrines All The Time” with a notable exception.
On Memorial Day Charity Kheshgi and I wanted to see a Kentucky warbler (Geothlypis formosa) so we went to Harrison Hills Park where they breed. It didn’t take long to hear one singing in an extensive thicket along the Pond Trail but we could not see him. We waited patiently for him to appear.
What an elusive bird! We never saw him fly from one end of the thicket to the other though he did it many times. He even flew, unseen, over the trail we were standing on. We must have waited half an hour before we got a glimpse of him in the shadows.
And then he perched and sang (photo at top). Ta dah! A Life Bird Photo for Charity.
We also saw an eastern wood-pewee (Contopus virens) building a nest.
She had already decorated the exterior with lichen …
… and was now working on the nest lining. She placed material inside the cup and used her belly to form the interior.
Her mate sang “Pee Wee” in the woods nearby.
Birds of the World says the “female often gives a plaintive, two-noted wee-ooo when nest building” but we didn’t hear that sound. She was busy.