Cattus Island 5/8--Marsh Wren

Marsh Wren

The thing about Marsh Wrens is that you can feel like you're right on top of them when they're singing away in the phragmites and still not be able to see them. That's what it was like on the boardwalk leading to Scout Island at Cattus Island CP this morning. I heard Marsh Wrens on either side of me, as if they were competing to see who could be louder and more elusive. Short of throwing a rock into the reeds (which, of course, I would never do, even if there was one laying around in the mud), there was no way they were going to be dislodged. So I took my camera, aimed it more or less in the direction of the liquid singing and took pictures of the common reed (phragmites) and damned if I didn't get lucky--the lens found a bird buried in the brown. 

That was the only year bird for the day. I was hoping that the southwest winds would drop some warblers down in the woods, but the only warblers I saw and heard were the expected and already listed regulars. For the morning, 46 species--a good count, but only the Marsh Wrens (which I should have seen by now, truth be told) were new for the year. 

Canada Goose  5
Mallard  1
Mourning Dove  4
Semipalmated Plover  1     Peninsula
Spotted Sandpiper  3
Greater Yellowlegs  1
Least Sandpiper  1     Peninsula
Laughing Gull  5
American Herring Gull  15
Forster's Tern  3
Double-crested Cormorant  1
Little Blue Heron  1     Flyover
Great Egret  3
Osprey  10
Red-bellied Woodpecker  3
Northern Flicker  2
Great Crested Flycatcher  10
Eastern Kingbird  5
White-eyed Vireo  1
Blue-headed Vireo  1
Blue Jay  1
American Crow  2
Fish Crow  2
Carolina Chickadee  2
Tufted Titmouse  3
Tree Swallow  5
Barn Swallow  3
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher  2
Northern House Wren  2
Marsh Wren  3
Gray Catbird  17
Northern Mockingbird  1
American Robin  1
American Goldfinch  4
Seaside Sparrow  4     Boardwalk, marsh, peninsula
Saltmarsh Sparrow  1     Peninsula
Song Sparrow  6
Eastern Towhee  1
Red-winged Blackbird  50
Common Grackle  2
Black-and-white Warbler  1
Common Yellowthroat  10
Northern Yellow Warbler  8
Pine Warbler  4
Yellow-rumped Warbler  1
Northern Cardinal  3