It was a warm humid day when 15 happy birders circled one of the Regional Water Authority’s beautiful reservoirs. Much of our morning was spent dawdling up to and over the dam, inspecting the Tree Swallows and Eastern Bluebirds that were in turn inspecting the colony of nest boxes on and below the dam. Two bluebird pairs had selected their home boxes and were busy defending them against the many Tree Swallows eager to move in themselves. Besides those two species we identified an Eastern Kingbird carrying nesting material, Northern Rough- winged Swallows that use holes in the dam’s spillway as nesting sites, Indigo Buntings, several hawks, and several warbler species, probably all intent on nesting locally rather than migrating onward – Common Yellowthroat, American Redstart, Chestnut-sided Warbler, and Pine Warbler. On our 2.5 mile circuit of the lake, we were treated to the songs of typical forest birds including Warbling and Red-eyed Vireos, Veery, Wood Thrush, and Ovenbirds.
Pat Leahy