Black-Throated Gray Warbler (Dendroica nigrescens)
Except for a tiny patch of yellow in front of each eye, the black-throated gray is somewhat of a drab warbler. But this colouring is to the bird's advantage. In its preferred habitat of young, more open conifer forests or regions of scrub growth such as juniper, pinyon, or manzanita, its streaky plumage of black, white and grey blends right in with the bray-green foliage.
In keeping with such a somber suit is this bird's businesslike manner of feeding. Particularly in spring, when oak worms are abundant, it forages with well-ordered zeal, methodically checking ever leaf and twig for these ubiquitous green caterpillars.
Its nest, too, is carefully crafted and a masterpiece of camouflage. Typical of most warblers' nurseries, it is a neatly woven cup of dried grasses and weathered weed stalks, usually lined with moss and feathers, sometimes with horse or other animal hair, where available. The bird very cleverly conceals the nest in a small clump of leaves, large enough to disguise it but not so obvious that a predator would look for something hidden there. Ever the cautious conservative, the black-throated gray will take all sorts of evasive action to avoid leading you to its nest. But if you should manage to find it, in a flash, the bird becomes a master of the theatrical arts, feigning fits or injury so convincingly, it deserves a standing ovation.
As I was driving home from piano lessons on Tuesday we flushed a bird out of its ditch. I did not have enough time to make an even rough identification. Here is what I know:
Under a blanket of darkness, the Yellow Rail slips quietly through tall sedges, grasses and cattails, searching for food, This rather rare bird hide behind a cover of dense, marshy vegetation by day and is most active at night. It is almost always encountered through its distinctive and repetitive call, heard along marsh edges in spring. The male's territorial call, generally heard only in complete darkness, is a unique, repetitive, five-note tik, tik, tik-tik-tik, easily imitated by tapping two stones together. But catching a glimpse of these marsh phantoms is the ultimate challenge. When standing motionless, the rail's tawny yellow and dark stripes blend in perfectly with the marsh vegetation. And when required to, this bird can make itself "as thin as a rail," its laterally compressed body allowing it to effortlessly slip through tightly packed stands of marsh vegetation. Its large feet, which help the bird rest atop thin mats of floating plant materials, adds to the Yellow Rail's strange appearance.
Except for a tiny patch of yellow in front of each eye, the black-throated gray is somewhat of a drab warbler. But this colouring is to the bird's advantage. In its preferred habitat of young, more open conifer forests or regions of scrub growth such as juniper, pinyon, or manzanita, its streaky plumage of black, white and grey blends right in with the bray-green foliage.
Up from Brazil and Argentina come the bobolinks each spring, traveling in small flocks of smartly call males and sparrow drab females. They funnel up through Florida and on toward the North, feasting on dandelion seeds and filling the air with their bubbling conversations. These small flocks drop off on nesting grounds through the northern United States and southern Canada. They rear one brood of young and spend the rest of the summer bobbing about and going through a molt that leaves every bobolink wearing sparrow drab. Heading back south in the fall, they look like different birds - so much so that for years people thought they were.
Alarmed by the disappearance of so many birds, various states began to pass protective laws; but it was too late for some species and nearly so for others. Like all birds, upland sandpipers face many natural hazards - accidents, diseases, storms, and hungry predators, among others. In addition, they fly a difficult migration route of 7,000 to 8,000 miles - and are still hunted on their South American wintering grounds. Despite all this, the upland sandpipers have defied all odds and appear to be holding their own quite well across most of their large summer range.