BirdingGirl

I was at my parents' house on the Cape this past weekend and despite the rainy weather there was quite a lot of activity at the front and back yard feeders. I saw a lone Chipping Sparrow, which went back and forth between the front and back yards, a Goldfinch pair, a female Cardinal, several chickadees and nuthatches, and a titmouse. I was also happy to observe that both of my parents' birdhouses are currently being moved into—the nuthatches are moving into the front yard birdhouse and the titmice are moving into the back yard birdhouse. Two years ago my parents had a great crested flycatcher family attempt to live in the back yard feeder, but House Sparrows kicked them out. They cleaned out the birdhouses after that and repainted them, but didn't get any inhabitants last year. My dad hypothesized that maybe they didn't like the fresh paint smell and now that the houses have had a year to 'season' they're attractive again. Nonetheless, I'll be anxious to...

Work has finally slowed down enough for me to take my walk at lunch again. Today was a little overcast, and much cooler than it has been, but it was good to get some fresh air. I walk along the Charles River and have a 45-minute loop that I do. Now that I'm actively looking for birds, I've learned where to spot certain ones. The path at the beginning of my walk cuts down close to the river and I've decided that's my best bet for seeing interesting birds. It's overgrown and there are plenty of places for them to hide. On the first part of my walk I saw several titmice, a flicker, chickadees and house sparrows. Later in the walk I saw what I believe was a pair of warblers. I've seen this bird before on my walks along the river, and it's the first that I've tried identifying. This was the best picture I could get today, and although it's hard to tell, it has yellow markings on the crown and black and white feathers on the wings. I'll do a little mor...