Horicon Lake 5/1--Gray Catbird

At last--Gray Catbirds have arrived. While searching for a Brown Thrasher that was singing high up in a tree (every phrase was doubled, so I knew it was a thrasher) I lowered my binoculars for a moment and found a catbird on a picnic table at the Horicon Lake. And when they arrive, they arrive in numbers. My count of 4 is very conservative. I'm always wary of counting birds twice when I and the birds are both moving around an area.

Usually, I have catbirds on the list by now, but that's probably because they are what's called "half hardy" birds, meaning that some overwinter. This winter was cold and none stayed around, at least that I could see. Now that they're here, I'll get sick of their mewling calls pretty quickly. I remember a September day in Prospect Park telling a birder I was with that I was damn tired of catbirds and he said, "Soon they'll be gone and you'll miss them." And, of course, he was right.

34 species for my walk in the park:

Canada Goose  20

Couldn't resist

Mallard  3
Great Blue Heron  1
Turkey Vulture  1
Red-tailed Hawk  1
Mourning Dove  2    Heard
Belted Kingfisher  1
Northern Flicker  2
Eastern Phoebe  2
Blue Jay  1    heard
Fish Crow  2
Purple Martin  2
Tree Swallow  5
Barn Swallow  5
Carolina Chickadee  4
Tufted Titmouse  1
Carolina Wren  2    heard
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher  1
American Robin  1
Gray Catbird  4
Northern Mockingbird  1
Brown Thrasher  1    heard, every phrase doubled.
European Starling  5
Ovenbird  5    heard
Black-and-white Warbler  5
Common Yellowthroat  5
Pine Warbler  1    heard
Eastern Towhee  4
Chipping Sparrow  1    heard
Song Sparrow  3
Northern Cardinal  2
Red-winged Blackbird  5
Common Grackle  5
Brown-headed Cowbird  3