Marsh Meanderings

The warblers are coming through. I saw some in the morning along the river, and then in the afternoon on our family walk, the bushes were alive with them.

They were all yellow-rumped warblers. They look like chickadees in silhouette — till you can see the colors.

The males are quite flashy.

The females are a little more muted.

I am hoping to see more warblers this year. (I quoted from Wendell Berry, and from Jean Craighead George, on the subject of warblers in this post.) They are so small, and move so quickly, that it’s hard to get a good look at them. The nice thing about a camera is that it preserves them to be admired.

At the opposite extreme was an Eastern phoebe, hunting insects. Not colorful at all, but very soft looking and very athletic.

There were multitudes of swallows, too. In Rufous Redtail, the young hawk wants to have eyes like a hawk, but to fly like a swallow.

They seem quite sociable…

…but have their squabbles!

Wishing you the best of spring meanderings!