Mount Loretto 6/25--Indigo Bunting

Bird diversity at Mount Loretto today wasn't great, but there was certainly enough to keep me interested in the almost 2 1/2 hours I spent walking all the trails.

The highlight was seeing two Indigo Buntings, males, singing. The first one I caught a long glimpse of in a pin oak soon after I arrived at the end of the grasslands trail. After he disappeared deeper into the trees I heard an unfamiliar song which I suspected was the bunting.

Later, on the wetlands trail, I saw another male, this time singing vociferously, and it was the same song as I had heard previously. I'm pretty certain I'll recognize it in the future, but I couldn't sing the song for you. I think the only birds I can imitate are cardinal, Carolina Wren, and Common Yellowthroat.

23 species for the walk.
Mallard  1
Double-crested Cormorant  3
Great Egret  5
Black-crowned Night-Heron  1
Turkey Vulture  2
Killdeer  1
Laughing Gull  2
Common Tern  3
Mourning Dove  1
Belted Kingfisher  2    One was juvenile, the other had its back turned toward me, couldn't tell age or sex
Northern Rough-winged Swallow  8
American Robin  9
Gray Catbird  5
Northern Mockingbird  1
Brown Thrasher  1
European Starling  10
Yellow Warbler  4
Common Yellowthroat  6
Song Sparrow  1
Northern Cardinal  4
Indigo Bunting  2    Singing
Red-winged Blackbird  23
Common Grackle  2