Palm and Yellow-Rumped Warblers at Breakneck Hill

For a good part of my morning hour at BHCL, I was the only person there, and it was so peaceful.  The sky was pale blue, the breeze cool, the grasses in the meadows a bright green, and the air was just full of birdsong in every direction.  I walked the path closest to the woods, hoping for some warbler sightings.  It seems as if almost every tree had one or more Yellow-Rumped Warblers in it!  Compared to all the other warblers out there that dazzle the eyes, this one doesn't usually impress, but I still like it!  (It may help the cause that I don't often see the others and because I don't like getting "warbler neck"!)

This cute little warbler also has a patch of bright yellow just above its tail (where it gets it name).  Some people have nicknamed it Butter Butt.

 Yellow-Rumped Warbler

Chipping Sparrow

 Palm Warbler

 again

Eastern Bluebird

and another

I had three fly-by Great Blue Herons and 1 Double-Crested Cormorant as I walked.  Female Red-Winged Blackbirds were feeding on caterpillars high in the treetops.   I had never seen that before.   An American Goldfinch male chased a female through one tree at lightning speed.  A Red-Winged Blackbird chased a Northern Flicker that had entered its territory.  Eastern Bluebirds were paired up and hunting insects in all parts of the meadows.

Birds seen:

1. American Crow
2. American Goldfinch
3. American Robin
4. Chipping Sparrow
5. Double Crested Cormorant
6. Eastern Bluebird
7. European Starling
8. Great Blue Heron
9. House Sparrow
10. Mourning Dove
11. Northern Cardinal
12. Northern Flicker
13. Palm Warbler
14. Red-Bellied Woodpecker
15. Red-Winged Blackbird
16. Song Sparrow
17. Tree Swallow
18. White-Breasted Nuthatch
19. Yellow-Rumped Warbler

I wanted to focus on butterflies during my afternoon hike, but the sun was quickly disappearing behind a cloud bank.  When I saw a few breaks, I decided the time was right and headed over to yet another section of the Sherborn Power Line trail.

Again, I was serenaded by multiple Prairie Warblers.  It's obviously a great habitat for them!

 Juvenal's Duskywing

 I believe this is a Prairie Warbler's nest.  No one was in it today, but it looks like it was freshly built.  I'll have to check on it again next visit.

 Gray Hairstreak

 Bird's Foot Violet

more Spring "fireworks"

 Low bush Blueberry (good for butterflies)

 Eastern Pine Elfin (a gorgeous butterfly!)

 Prairie Warbler

 Prairie Warbler

 Prairie Warbler

 Spicebush 

(the female plant produces yellow flowers in spring)

 Juvenal's Duskywing

 Moth

(I promise to work on the ID, but in the interest of posting.....I'll do it someday.)

 Green Six-Spotted Tiger Beetle

 one more Prairie Warbler

Juvenal's Duskywing

Last but not least, I wanted to see if the Bobolinks had returned to Chestnut Hill Farm in Southboro.  They have!  They were hanging on the edges of the meadows for the most part, but I did catch them in my sights.  The grass needs to grow a bit longer before they stake out their territories.

Another dandelion close up (love those curlicues!)

one of several Barn Swallows zipping across the grassland

Do you see what I see?  A camera-shy Baltimore Oriole!

 Bobolink (male)

Cabbage Whites were still fluttering across the meadows

Birds seen:

American Robin
Baltimore Oriole
Barn Swallow
Blue Jay
Bobolink
Northern Cardinal
Ovenbird
Red-Winged Blackbird

Savannah Sparrow
Tree Swallow