Our winter window into the high tree canopy is filling quickly with new leaves. Whether you’re a serious birder, or like me just want to see a few more of our local avian residents, this is the time. “Passerines” are songbirds with feet adapted for perching. Migratory ones all have tickets on different weather systems, and different destinations, but a lot of them fly through here in early May. This year a bunch of them cooperated for me, rotating through my feeders for a very colorful week or so. Some kept on moving, some are my usual tenants, now busily staking out territories.
Brown-headed Cowbird: April 26 Rose-breasted Grosbeak: April 29 Yellow-rumped Warbler: May 1 Gray Catbird: May 2 Ruby-throated Hummingbird: May 3 Baltimore Oriole: May 4
Courtesy Pat Miller 
Courtesy Pat Miller
The orioles own the biggest red oak; the catbirds always nest in the forsythia. Hummingbird swordfights will soon begin. As an added treat, the tree frogs started trilling last week too. And a solitary yearling turkey strolled through, lingering where I turned over the compost. Yum, fresh bugs. Even better than my back yard, some Joshua’s Trust properties are magnets for special bird experiences.
This January while at Mackeys, we took a quick walk down the paved trail along the Willimantic River, where it runs opposite the Trust’s Potter Meadow. A Bald Eagle sprawled in a sycamore on that bank casually tearing up some tasty treat it had found in the water. We pointed it out to thrilled hikers. Look for it there next winter. Down the Airline rail trail a bit from the Windham Cedar Bog is a big marsh where several families of Great Blue Herons usually nest, raising their young high up in the dead trees. And on my last hike through Pigeon Swamp, there were dozens of busily squawking Passenger Pigeons. Just kidding about that one.
The Trust’s Hubbard Sanctuary in Chaplin, with a huge variety of habitats, is a bird paradise; it includes the rare Bobolinks in the pasture and the variety of water birds in the many ponds. Ever seen a Bobolink? Behind Darling Pond, where the dirt road trail forks toward Pumpkin Hill Road, is a great place for Scarlet Tanagers and warblers, sometimes even the Cerulean Warbler. Stop and look wherever the road widens into a turn-around. According to Trust Steward and Master Naturalist Deb Field, anywhere with flowering fruit trees (apples, crabapples, cherries) is worth a look for Cedar Waxwings. How about Atwood Farm too? The west side of JT’s Knowlton Preserve is one of the last places I saw a Ruffed Grouse, and the Haberman Haven part of the Church Farm, along the boardwalk on the Mt. Hope River, is always good for Yellow Warblers.
June is too late. With a good summer rain those curly little leaves will spread to full size in a couple of days, making your view into the treetops a challenge. Take a look and listen now, before the busy world is once again too much with us.
~ George Jacobi
Thank you for this blog. Amid the not-normal life, this was a serene glimpse into the natural world, that thanks to all at Joshua’s Trust is still available to those of us who really need it. Hope to meet you when the opportunity arises.
Bonnie, we’re glad you enjoyed the post and that you are finding such solace in nature! I look forward to meeting you too!