Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Backyard Birding News…

Slowly but surely, spring migrants continue to show up. Since, April 6th, when I reported the Fox Sparrow, there has not been a lot of new visitors other than the regulars. However, in the last few days, a couple of new visitors showed up including a new species for the backyard list and the first Spring Warbler. The new species was a “Swamp Sparrow”, which makes number 85 for the backyard; I was surprised and delighted to see this bird as this was one that I had hoped to see in the garden. I tried really hard for an open photo of this bird, but it was not cooperative and I had to settle for a documentation shot. The first Spring Warbler in the backyard was a singing male Yellow Warbler, who I heard first and then tracked him down. The other new visitor was a Chipping Sparrow; the lone goldfinch that stayed through the winter now has about 9 new friends. I am thoroughly enjoying the songs and bright colors of the male Goldfinches who are in spring plumage. Other backyard activities include the work I am doing on repairing the grape arbor as rain and age took a toll on the construction. Unfortunately, it meant that I had to cut back the grape vines and that will affect some of the other visitors that were attracted to the fruit. As far as Spring planting, I have added two Red Cedars and a Female Northern Bayberry. Share with SociBook.com Bookmark and Share

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