Some years ago, I was standing before a group as we were watching a small bird flitting in the shrubbery. “Black-throated Green Warbler” said I. “You’re making that up” said a voice.

No, I wasn’t. There are black-throated blue warblers, black-throated green warblers and black-throated gray warblers though the gray variety is found on the Pacific coast and has only wandered a few times into Ontario.

The dainty little black-throated green is often seen fluttering about, part way up trees, picking off insects from the outer branches. In the breeding season it is found in pine stands or hemlock groves; in migration it seems to prefer birches and willows.

This morning I found one bathing.

The buzzy song is rendered as “cheese, cheese, little more cheese.”

Other birds:

Species list: double-crested cormorant, Canada goose, mallard, wood duck, red-tailed hawk, Cooper’s hawk, ring-billed gull, rock pigeon, downy woodpecker, hairy woodpecker, northern flicker, eastern phoebe, blue jay, American crow, black-capped chickadee, red-breasted nuthatch, white-breasted nuthatch, American robin, house sparrow, black-throated green warbler, common grackle, northern cardinal, American goldfinch, song sparrow. (25 species)

Other life:

Some botany:

Today’s group:

NATURE POETRY

O sweet September rain!
I hear it fall upon the garden beds,
Freshening the blossoms which begin to wane.   – Mortimer Collins (1827–76) 

Miles Hearn