Chirps and Cheeps

There was a little more variety at Tifft this morning and some exciting sounds down in the marsh. My ears are slowly getting trained to recognize a few more birds and I'm finding it's making birding so much easier. But I never would have keyed-in on the low, rapid "glunks" of a Least Bittern the way Doug did.  Although we scanned and scanned, we never did get to see the bittern, but s/he was definitely close by out in the reeds. The bittern kept up its "song" for over 30 minutes!

A Northern Parula was the second highlight of the morning. There were 2 in the bushes near the boardwalk. One of them gave me wonderful looks!

I was startled by the flight of a Black-crowned Night Heron who was roosting right above me. As I walked by the tree it was in, it took off and flew over the creek. At first, I thought it was a raptor of some type, but quickly dismissed that once my eyes focused.  I later found it roosting up in another tree across the water. Very cool!

On my way out of the preserve, I saw a shorebird in the middle of the creek! I suspected it was a Spotted Sandpiper - and later, my bird guides confirmed that ID. It's another lifer for me!

Other highlights included an American Redstart, 1 Warbling Vireo, and 3 FOY's: a Hooded Warbler, Marsh Wren, and Philadelphia Vireo.