While walking the dogs this morning, the Riverway was a riot of birdsong, especially the unfamiliar buzzing and twittering of migratory warblers. Bird watching while dogwalking is not very effective, so we brought the dogs home, and came back out with our binoculars and cameras.





We've been seeing red-winged blackbirds for a few weeks now, but this was the first day this year that we've seen a female. The hens aren't red-winged or black, but instead look like big sparrows. We also saw female orioles, who are somewhat less gaudy and noisy than their mates.


The spring green of the young leaves makes the river look nice even on a cloudy day.


This is a female common yellowthroat, our first warbler!


And not far away, a male.

We encountered another couple of birders, and I asked them what this one warbler call was that we kept hearing--a very buzzy ascending call, that alarms Jim when we imitate it. They said it was a northern parula. Judging by how much we heard it, there must be dozens of the things out there. But they are a very small bird among very small birds, constantly on the move eating inchworms from the oak flowers.


But we finally found one!


Warblers are hard to spot, because many of them are high up in ancient oaks way over our heads. Seeing them at eye level is lucky.


The high vantage point of this footbridge helps.


Japanese barberry is a plant that becomes obvious in fall and winter, with its many red berries. Its greenish yellow flowers in spring are more inconspicuous.


Down in a low place with lots of shrubbery cover, we can see those species that feed on insects in the leaf litter. We saw an ovenbird, one of the warblers that feeds this way, but I didn't get a good picture of it. Alexis did, though.


We also saw this bird. Any idea what it is? 'cause I'm stumped.