This adventure actually took place in November 2014 but I have only recently been able to put the tale in writing and assemble the pictures and figure out the uploading and whatnot needed to post a diary. Please bear with me as I stumble into my first post and hopefully due the Dawn Chorus some justice....
As I mentioned, these events occurred in November. We had been having a very mild autumn in my part of southern Monmouth county, New Jersey. We hadn't turned the heat on in our house until November 1st and even then it was really only needed at night. I was looking forward to having a nice crop of bearded iris for my birthday on the 5th. There were a few stalks coming up and if we had average or above-average temps, it was possible that there might be blooms for Thanksgiving.
Of course we got slammed with below-average temps starting on the 19th, even setting a record low that night of 20 degrees, and those freezing lows persisted until the 22nd when another record low was set. All those iris stalks froze solid and then literally melted into mush. The iris flowers weren't the only things lost. We were robbed of peak fall color. So many plants hadn't fulfilled their autumn obligations and their leaves curled up, freeze-dried on the branch.
viburnum
Royal Star magnolia
Japanese anemone
As far as I was concerned it was now officially winter in jersey; a million shades of brown until late March. As I looked out the window in despair at the bleakness, I noticed a little flutter in the dried, dead sedum at the edge of the patio. "What is that?" Some little bird was aggressively attacking the half frozen sedum. It was kinda brownish, nondescript but plump. Like a warbler. "OOH! Could it be a Yellow warbler? Where'd he go? Crap. This is gonna require going OUTSIDE." Ok, so I'll bundle up. "Camera? Check. Sunglasses? Check. Scarf? Check. Gloves? Check." Out I went. Did I mention that the high that day only reached 33 degrees? And the average wind speed was 12 mph? I don't mean to sound like a wimp but a week before it was 66 degrees! Heck two days before we hit 53! Now? It was still in the 20s with the windchill; damn cold! But I needed to find that bird.
So out I went into a patch of sun and just stood still. Sure enough the little flitting bird was back. "Ok, c'mon, move into some better light. Zoom. Hmm. White eye ring and wing bars. Greenish, not buff. He looks like he's gleaning bugs. What bugs could be out in this?"
"Wait, where'd he go? Crap he's coming right at me!" Then he was gone. Back inside to download photos and consult
Birds of North America, Eastern Edition. Could it be a Ruby-Crowned Kinglet? He never showed his little crown. Maybe it was girl.
The CornellLab of Ornithology notes the Kinglet is:
A tiny bird seemingly overflowing with energy, the Ruby-crowned Kinglet forages almost frantically through lower branches of shrubs and trees. Its habit of constantly flicking its wings is a key identification clue.
I'll say! Frantically-foraging-wing-flicking? Sounds like what I'm seeing. Gotta go back out to look for him again. So out I went a second time. I watched all the bushes listening to all the various songs. I'm not good at bird ID via song. I can tell the peep of a hummingbird, and blue jays and cardinals and even red-bellied woodpeckers from the noise of the other birds, but for the most part its like trying to tell all those little brown birds apart by their respective brown-ness. But, I'm pretty sure this guy had an angry little chitter. Could I pick it out again?
Sure enough my eye caught the flittering of the plump, little bird. He was in the evergreen border now. And chittering!
At least the light was good. But he was being a little less than helpful.
Snap, snap, snap. "Yes! He's flashing that red crown now! Wow, that's red!"
After stalking the little guy in the cold for about an hour we were both a little tired of each other. He stared me down...
and then dove deep into the hollies.
This little guy is a lifer for me and it really cheered me to catch up with him.
So there's my little story, I hope you all liked it. I'm going to go out and shovel my way to the feeders now and will check in to see what's flittering around your neighborhood later on!