Summer Residents Settling In

Our summer residents have begun settling in and starting their families. Here are a few of them.

Least Terns nest in the dunes above the high tide mark. The males seem to be bringing in fish for the females on the nest.

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Two more nesting birds…a Red-bellied Woodpecker peeking out of her nest and an Eastern Kingbird sitting on hers.

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A few of us were looking for Indigo Buntings where they typically nest. An Eastern Towhee seemed to be pointing us in the right direction. “He’s right up this trail.”

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Actually, the Towhee was preening and it looks like he did a good job.

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And the Indigo Bunting was in fact just up the trail. He posed for a bit and flew off. We encountered him or his neighbor further along, singing from the top of a tree.

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This is a Chestnut-sided Warbler in a tree near his nest that was somewhere close by. This is one of the warblers who stay here for the summer instead of moving further north.

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There were a lot of birdwatchers in this particular area looking for an uncommon flycatcher. We were keeping an eye out for it, just in case. But we didn’t undertake finding it as a mission. We did end up seeing it, but weren’t sure of the ID until I checked my photos. We saw a Great-crested Flycatcher (top) first. The Olive-sided Flycatcher (bottom), the object of many a search, was high in a tree further along the trail. Sometimes you just get lucky.

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We’ve had three straight days of rain and I have been unable to get out into the field. We needed the rain and I got to take care of other projects, so no complaints. The non-feathered guest star below certainly didn’t mind. Green Frogs are one our most common frogs.

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