On a quick visit to the college nature trail on Thursday, I was pleased to catch sight of a couple of migrants. The first was a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher.
The other bird was a Ruby-crowned Kinglet.
Seeing the Kinglet made me realize that it's about time for our winter yardbirds to start taking up residence. The first to arrive are normally Ruby-crowned Kinglets and Orange-crowned Warblers, both of which tend to turn up in late October.
When I got home from work on Friday, my wife informed me that she'd just seen a Ruby-crowned Kinglet and an Orange-crowned Warbler in our yards. Over the weekend I kept an eye our for both birds but only saw the Warbler. Of course, I don't actually know if it was the same bird that Dee saw because we normally get several Orange-crowned Warblers in our yards each winter - and they all look very much the same to me.
I'm hoping that I get to see the Ruby-crowned soon. And I'm hoping that it's the same male that I believe has spent the past five winters with us. Admittedly, it's difficult to be certain that we've had the same bird each year but it hangs out in exactly the same parts of our yard every year and raises his red crest very frequently, which is not very common behavior.
What a little star the Ruby Crowned Kinglet is..... lovely. I am hoping it returns soon for you too Jeff
ReplyDeleteAs most songbirds have very short lives, the odds of the same bird surviving and returning to our yards are not very good. But I'm keeping my fingers crossed, Dave.
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