As my husband and I sat and enjoyed a cup or two of coffee on the deck this afternoon, we were entertained by our usual entourage of squirrels, chipmunks and birds as well as a few newcomers. There was a new song in the air as I cleaned the lawnmower and then I saw who the singer was trying to attract--a female scarlett tanager. I did not see the male until the coffee break some time later. There were actually two brilliant red boys flitting about in the elm tree and they no longer seemed at all interested in lovely lady hanging out in the ash tree.
Scarlett tanagers are extremely endangered these days as we keep breaking wooded tracks of land into smaller and smaller islands surrounded by suburbs and highways. Another bird that used to come to our wooded home was the veery which is equally endangered for the same reasons but the veery is rarely seen; rather, he is heard. An ethereal call that sounds like silver water swirling down a crystal tube. My husband and I christened the veery the "Magic Water Bird." I miss hearng that beautiful call on hot summer nights but fear I never will. Speaking of sounds I miss,I haven't heard a whipporwill in about thirty years.
Anyone out there heard any calls from these rare nightengales?
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