Lynn Barber's Birding Blog

The last couple of days Black-billed Magpie youngsters are making our yard very noisy. One of the two is very tame, hopping to about six inches of my hand when I hold out a goody such as part of a strawberry or a dried mealworm. But so far that’s the closest it comes, waiting until I give up and drop the treat before quickly eating it. Mostly they just squawk at everything.

Yesterday there were two Wilson’s Warblers in our yard, possibly the first time I’ve seen them there.

About an hour after a spectacular sunrise this morning I went to Westchester Lagoon to see what the rising tide might bring in. At first there wasn’t much happening other than the Red-necked Grebes still feeding their nearly grown-up youngsters, and puddle ducks and the usual gulls and yellowlegs. I have not seen any of the young grebes dive yet, but one of them seemed to be trying (second video) every now and then while preening, or maybe it was just doing a sort of bath.

Way out on the flats along the coastal trail there were also a single Hudsonian Godwit, a Spotted Sandpiper, a Wilson’s Snipe and a flyby Killdeer. On the walk back, the dowitchers in the pond along the trail had roused themselves from their usual sleepy pose and were busily eating.

I had a bit of a start when it appeared that a Mourning Dove was perched in a distant tree – a grayish bird with a long pointed tail. But when I got closer it turned out to be somebody’s lost escaped cockatiel.

While I was trying to get a decent picture of the cockatiel, my first-of-the-year Osprey flew over.

At Lakes Spenard and Hood, the Red-throated Loon was again not present. There was a small family of Northern Shovelers and both Horned Grebes there amid the scaup and goldeneyes and more Red-necked Grebes.

Back at home, the magpies greeted me, only slightly disturbing the busily eating Downy Woodpecker.