Cold Snap
February starts up with a bit of January. By 5 AM, it was in the low twenties but now, at 6:41, it’s dropped to 18 and mostly clear. No wind. Time for that layered look.
Despite the cold, I don’t expect the species numbers to take a dive, though yesterday would be hard to top.
At 6:53, a Carolina Wren starts to down-trill hesitantly from the brushy area across the river. A Song Sparrow goes over, and a Northern Cardinal starts ticking; a Mallard quacks somewhere, and then I hear a Dark-eyed Junco flight call: all this by 7.
With the clarity today, everything’s starting earlier, though the herons don’t come through town again. The Black-capped Chickadee is up by eight past the hour, and it sounds like ‘TR,’ the tannery raven, is still over in its traditional roosting area. I hear it croak the higher pitch, but don’t see it until 7:16 when it comes from behind my building, going north toward Burger King.
Killdeer!
The air is clear and clean enough to send me the unmistakable cry of a Killdeer (PH200 #58) somewhere high up. I doubt this species completely left the area since I last heard one at the end of December, but the remaining ones mostly spend their time on the farm fields of Sinking Valley or Eden Hill, I believe.
After Tufted Titmice start at 7:15, there is a noticeable five-minute lull: a cessation of all non-titmouse bird sound, and too early to be able to see anything flying.
American Crows go over high, toward the towers, and a Common Raven suddenly lifts up silently, soaring and circling, above Bald Eagle Mountain. Then, as abruptly as it emerged, it drops down and disappears. That’s all for ravens this dawn.
Starling Exodus
European Starlings arrive in tiny groups, the first by 7:25. There’s some pipping and circling, but no large groups arriving and no perching on the poplar tops or the lights. I start to notice that starlings are leaving town, heading out over Bald Eagle Mountain or through the Gap.
As far as I can tell, HOFI, the House Finch with the predictable pattern, has shifted out of my perception: now, it’s four finches heading south at 7:34 to mark the start of that species’ activity.
Six American Robins fly high and purposefully east through the Gap. It’s been several days since I last saw them, and they aren’t congregating on the local trees anymore. At least they’re still around, though.
A repeat of yesterday: at 7:41, two Carolina Wrens are at it. One, along lower Bald Eagle Creek or the river, is ‘chirting’ quite rapidly at my 12, while another, closer than it’s been, somewhere along the river above the confluence, at my 2, is down-trilling. Perhaps some sort of winter territory maintenance?
Wrapping up the dawn I glimpse an unusual sight: 90 starlings heading back out of town, over Bald Eagle Mountain, into the valley. I wonder if this marks the beginning of the end of Tyrone’s privileged place in their feeding schedule? I’ve never figured out if any actually roost in Tyrone or if they all come streaming over Brush Mountain from roosts in Sinking Valley or some point beyond. I have to say that I’ll miss them a bit: it was quite exciting to have hundreds all over the local trees, which now, all day, stand quiet and abandoned.