April 20, 2006 [LINK]

Warblers? Only Yellow-rumps

With perfect, balmy conditions I figured there must be warblers and other neotropical migrants swarming around here, but on my walk behind the Staunton-Augusta Rescue Squad this morning, all I saw were two male Yellow-rumped warblers, not quite in full breeding plumage. I was lucky that one of them posed for me at close range. Well, I'm sure I'll see many more warblers before too long. Today's list:

• Purple finches (M, F -- abundant)
• Goldfinches (M, F --abundant)
• Towhees
• Chipping sparrow
• Mallards (!)
• Brown-headed cowbird (M)
• Yellow-rumped warblers (M)
• Pine siskin (back yard!)

I also heard a (probable) Blue-headed vireo again, and yesterday evening I saw a Cedar waxwing in our back yard.

Click the camera icon below to see a female (or juvenile male) Yellow-rumped warbler I saw last October.

 

Save the Horseshoe crabs

I remember strolling along the beach in southern Delaware many years ago, and being astonished to see the carcasses of dead Horseshoe crabs everywhere. Last year I learned that a species of sandpipers known as "Red knots" depends on the eggs of Horseshoe crabs during their migration from South America to the Far North every spring. Fishermen rely on Horseshoe crabs as bait, but their stocks have been depleted in recent years. The National Audubon Society has a campaign to conserve this vital if humble species.