May 18, 2021

Went to Eshqua Bog yesterday with our youngest, and it was common yellowthroat town, but I also heard my first Nashville warbler and watched a savannah sparrow through my binoculars. Both I identified once I was back at home and listened to the videos I took at the bog. I’d seen the sparrow and noticed the yellow by its eye, but could ID it. The Nashville warbler was completely new to me, but apart from its song, the ID made sense because of the tamarack in the bog.

At home I’ve been hearing parulas almost every day, and the Louisiana waterthrush sings not only by the brook but up near the house. Also a chipping sparrow and Baltimore oriole. The common yellowthroats are hanging around as usual, and this morning I watched a black-and-white warbler singing from a branch outside the window. A redstart is calling now, but I haven’t spotted with binoculars yet. Yesterday I think I heard a palm warbler as well, a bird that’s been bedeviling me. But its song was similar to the parula’s except it didn’t rise and clip at the finish, so I think that’s what I heard.

The phoebe must have laid her first clutch of eggs, as she’s usually in the nest when I walk by the side of the house. Caught a raccoon on the trail cam last night.