Weekend activities

Here's Mort on sunny Saturday afternoon, watching me trim the hedges, trying to stay awake...

Originally uploaded by splaestro

And here he is this morning at Cope, after a long, rather muddy walk.

Originally uploaded by splaestro

Very proud of his accomplishments...

Originally uploaded by splaestro

Birding highlights included:

• A nice long look at a Veery;


• A few fleeting glimpses of a Scarlet Tanager;


• First-of-year observations of Common Yellowthroat & Eastern Kingbird;


• White-eyed Vireo (a lifer!)

Had two looks at the vireo, the first one quite close and several minutes long. Unmistakable gray-colored eye and yellow forehead markings. Something about the shape didn't say vireo, however, so it took me a long while to find it in Sibley's. Its song is somewhat catbird-like, in that it has a mewing note in the middle, but it's much more regular than a catbird's.