I would make a chart of our life,
know why just this circle of creatures completes the world,
what kinds of birds come with what flowers.
Henry Thoreau, April 18, 1852
Henry Thoreau, April 18, 1852
On the third or fourth of May
I saw a loon in the pond,
and during the first week of the month
I heard the whip-poor-will, the brown thrasher, the veery,
the wood pewee, the chewink, and other birds.
I had heard the wood thrush long before.
The phoebe had already come once more
and looked in at my door and window.
Walden
The sounds and sights of birds and flowers
heard and seen at seasons when they are fewest.
The whole North American forest
is being thus explored for insect food.
is being thus explored for insect food.
Each is visited by many kinds and
thus the equilibrium of
the insect and vegetable kingdom
is preserved.
thus the equilibrium of
the insect and vegetable kingdom
is preserved.
May 16, 1860
We have poetry -
flowers and the song of birds
before woods leaf out.
May 1, 1852
May 1. I hear the wood thrush, which still thrills me, – a sound to be heard in a new country, – from one side of a clearing. May 1, 1852
May 1. I think I heard an oven-bird just now, - wicher wicher whicher wich. . . . We have, then, flowers and the song of birds before the woods leaf out, -like poetry. May 1, 1852
May 2. Summer yellowbird on the opening Salix alba .May 2, 1853
May 7. The first oven-bird. May 7, 1852
May 14. Yorrick heard the 12th. May 14, 1859
May 14. Hear and see a redstart. Methinks I did also on the 10th? The rhythm a little way off isah, tche tche tche'-ar. May 14, 1858
May 15. Hear a hummingbird in the garden. May 15, 1855
May 15. As I sat by the Riordan crossing, thought it was the tanager I heard? May 15, 1856
May 16 See again the warbler of yesterday. . . . Its note, with little variation, is like twit twit, twit twit, twitter twitter twe. It must be the parti-colored warbler. May 16, 1858
May 16 See and hear a redstart, the rhythm of whose strain is tse'-tse, tse'-tse, tse', emphasizing the last syllable of all and not ending with the common tsear. May 16, 1858
May 16 See and hear a redstart, the rhythm of whose strain is tse'-tse, tse'-tse, tse', emphasizing the last syllable of all and not ending with the common tsear.
May 16, 1858
May 18. The scarlet tanagers are come. May 18, 1851
May 21. A robin's nest and eggs in the crotch of a maple. May 21, 1852
May 21. A robin’s nest without mud, on a young white oak in woods, with three eggs. May 21, 1856
May 28. I get the nest of the turtle dove . . . close to a frequented path of the cemetery and within reach of the hand. May 28, 1858
May 28. By boat to Great Meadows to look for the bittern's nest . . . From time to time I hear the sound of the bittern, concealed in the grass, indefinitely far or near, and can only guess at the direction, not the distance. I fail to find the nest. May 28, 1858
May 28. I have seen within three or four days two or three new warblers which I have not identified. May 28, 1855
May 28. Along the edge of Warren's wood east of the Deep Cut, see not only the chestnut-sided warbler but the splendid Sylvia pardalina.[canada warbler] . . .Not shy; on the birches. May 28, 1860
May 28. Hear a rose-breasted grosbeak. May 28, 1859
May 28. Hear the wood pewee. May 28, 1858
May 29. There are a great many birds now on the Island Neck. May 29, 1855
May 29. The birds sing more lively than ever now after the rain, though it is only 2 p. m. May 29, 1857
May 29. I hear from vireos (probably red-eyes) in woods a fine harsh note, perhaps when angry with each other May 29, 1860
May 29. The red-eye, its clear loud song in bars continuously repeated and varied; all tempered white beneath and dark yellow olive above and on edge of wings, with a dark line on side-head or from root of bill; dusky claws, and a very long bill. The long bill and the dark line on the side of the head, with the white above and beneath, or in the midst of the white, giving it a certain oblong, swelled-cheek look, would distinguish on a side view. May 29, 1855
May 29. There is also the warbling vireo, with its smooth-flowing, continuous, one-barred, shorter strain, with methinks a dusky side-head. May 29, 1855
May 29. I hear the quails nowadays while surveying. May 29, 1852
May 29. The republican swallow at Hosmer's barn just begun to lay. May 29, 1859
May 29. Cherry-birds on the apple trees May 29, 1856
May 1. I think I heard an oven-bird just now, - wicher wicher whicher wich. . . . We have, then, flowers and the song of birds before the woods leaf out, -like poetry. May 1, 1852
May 1. Did I not see the oven-bird yesterday? May 1, 1853
May 2. Summer yellowbird on the opening Salix alba .May 2, 1853
May 3. Bringing my glass to bear on it, found it to be
- pure white throat and beneath,
- yellow on sides of body or wings,
- greenish-yellow back and shoulders, a white or whitish ring about eyes,
- and a light mark along side of head,
- two white bars on wings,
- apparently black bill and
- dark or perhaps slate-colored (?) wings and above tail.
It surprised me by singing in a novel and powerful and rich strain. Yet it may be the white-eyed vireo (which I do not know), if it comes so early. Nuttall says it comes to Cambridge about the middle of April. May 3, 1858. See
May 9, 1858 ("I am now inclined to think it the solitary vireo.”)
May 3. The wood thrush reminds me of cool mountain springs and morning walks. May 3, 1852
May 4. A robin sings when I, in the house, cannot distinguish the earliest dawning from the full moon light. May 4, 1855
I yield the point to
the robin who sings his strain
when I think it night.
May 4.
Heard the tweezer note, or screeper note, of the particolored warbler, bluish above, yellow or orange throat and breast, white vent, and white on wings, neck above yellowish, going restlessly over the trees. May 4, 1858
May 5. See at Lee's a pewee (phoebe) building. She has just woven in, or laid on the edge, a fresh sprig of saxifrage in flower. I notice that phoebes will build in the same recess in a cliff year after year. . . . Think how many pewees must have built under the eaves of this cliff since pewees were created and this cliff itself built!! May 5, 1860
May 6. Hear the first warbling vireo this morning on the elms. This almost makes a summer. May 6, 1852
May 6.
Hear near Second Division the er er twe, ter ter twe, evergreen-forest note. Bright-yellow head and shoulders and beneath, and dark legs and bill catching insects along base of pitch pine plumes, some, what creeper-like; very active and restless, darting from tree to tree; darts at and drives off a chickadee. I find I have thus described its colors last year at various times, viz.: black throat, this often with dark and light beneath; again, black streak from eyes, slate-colored back (?), forked tail, white beneath (?). . .
Is it black throated green? May 6, 1855
May 6. Hear at a distance a ruby(?)-crowned wren, so robin-like and spirited. After see one within ten or fifteen feet. Dark bill and legs, apparently dark olivaceous ashy head, a little whitish before and behind the full black eyes, ash breast, olive-yellow on primaries, with a white bar, dark tail and ends of wings, white belly and vent. Did not notice vermilion spot on hindhead. It darts off from apple tree for insects like a pewee, and returns to within ten feet of me as if curious. I think this the only Regulus I have ever seen. May 6, 1855
May 6.
Hear yellow-throat vireo, and probably some new warblers. May 6, 1859
May 6. The song of the robin heard at 4:30 P. M., this still and hazy day, sounds already vespertinal. May 6, 1860
May 7. I think I hear the redstart. May 7, 1856
May 7. The first small pewee sings now che-vet, or rather chirrups chevet, tche-vet — a rather delicate bird with a large head and two white bars on wings. May 7, 1852
May 7. The first oven-bird. May 7, 1852
May 7. One or more little warblers in the woods this morning are new to the season, myrtlebirds among them. For now, before the leaves, they begin to people the trees. The first wave of summer from the south. May 7, 1852
First wave of summer
from the south. Before the leaves,
birds people the trees.
May 7, 1852
Now I remember
the yellowbird comes when willows
begin to leaf out.
May 7. The woods now begin to ring with the woodland note of the oven-bird. May 7, 1853
A fit place for owls,
thick woods over white spruce swamp
where bog laurel grows.
May 7. I think I hear the redstart. May 7, 1856
May 8. A singular noise from a jay this morning. May 8, 1852
May 8. The blackbirds fly in flocks and sing in concert on the willows, — what a lively, chattering concert ! a great deal of chattering with many liquid and rich warbling notes and clear whistles, — till now a hawk sails low, beating the bush: and they are silent or off, but soon begin again. May 8, 1852
May 8. The song sparrow and the robin sing early and late. The night-warbler while it is yet pretty light . . . Do I not hear the veery's yorick? May 8, 1852
May 8. Some thrashers are plainly better singers than others. May 8, 1853
May 8. A female red-wing. I have not seen any before.
May 8, 1854
May 8. Hear a yellowbird in the direction of the willows. Its note coarsely represented by che-che-che-char-char-char. May 8, 1854
May 8. A small hawk flying low, about size of a robin — tail with black bars . . .Probably this the only hawk of this size that I have seen this season. May 8, 1854
May 8. Summer has suddenly come upon us, and the birds all together . . . Already hear the cheerful, sprightly note of the yellowbird amid [the willows] . . . The ring of toads, the note of the yellowbird, the rich warble of the red-wing, the thrasher on the hillside, the robin's evening song, the woodpecker tapping some dead tree across the water . . . From amid the alders, etc., I hear the mew of the catbird and the yorrick of Wilson's thrush .May 8, 1857
May 8. Summer yellowbird. C. sees a chimney swallow. Indeed, several new birds have come, and many new insects, with the expanding leafets. Catbird . . . Grackles here yet. May 8, 1859
May 8. The small pewee, how long. The night-warbler's note . . . C. has seen a brown thrasher and a republican swallow to-day. May 8, 1860
May 8. The simple peep peep of the peetweet, as it flies away from the shore before me, sounds hollow and rather mournful. May 8, 1860
May 8. How the marsh hawk circles or skims low, round and round over a particular place in a meadow, where, perhaps, it has seen a frog, screaming once or twice, and then alights on a fence-post! How it crosses the causeway between the willows, at a gap in them with which it is familiar. May 8, 1860
May 9. Maryland yellow-throat . . . Hear stake-driver. Black and white creeper's fine note. Er-te-ter-twee, or evergreen-forest note. Golden-crowned thrush note. May 9, 1857
May 9. Saw on Mr. Emerson's firs several parti-colored warblers or finch creepers (Sylvia Americana) a small blue and yellow bird somewhat like but smaller than the indigo-bird; quite tame about the buds of the firs now showing red; often head downward. Heard no note. He says it has been here a day or two. May 9, 1853
May 9. The parti-colored warbler is very common and musical there, — my tweezer-bird, – making the screep screep screep note. It is an almost incessant singer and a very handsomely marked bird. . . and holding up its head, utters its humble notes, like ah twze twze twze, or ah twze twze twze twze. May 9, 1858
May 9. The parti-colored warbler is very common and musical there, — my tweezer-bird, – making the screep screep screep note. It is an almost incessant singer and a very handsomely marked bird. . . and holding up its head, utters its humble notes, like ah twze twze twze, or ah twze twze twze twze. May 9, 1858
May 9. Hear, methinks, a white throated sparrow (?) sing very much like the beginning of a catbird’s song. Could see no other bird. Thought it a catbird at first. See several of these sparrows yet. May 9, 1855
May 9.
See, in the Holden Swamp wood, the bird of May 3rd It has sly and inquisitive ways, holding down its head and looking at me at some distance off. It has a distinct white line along the bill and about the eyes, and no yellow there, as is said of the white-eyed vireo, and I am now inclined to think it the solitary vireo (?), whose song is not described, and which is considered rare. I should say it had a blue-slate head, and, I note, a distinct yellowish vent, which none of the vireos are allowed to have!! The sides of the body are distinctly yellow, but there is none at all on the throat or breast. May 9, 1858 ("I am now inclined to think it the solitary vireo.”)
May 9.
Hear the warbling vireo and oven-bird; yellow-throat vireo(?). May
9, 1859
May 9. Oven-bird, how long? May 9, 1860
May 9. The tapping of a woodpecker sounds distinct and hollow this still cloudy day. May 9, 1860
May 10. Hear the snipe over the meadows this evening. May 10, 1851
May 10. All at once a strain that sounds like old times and recalls a hundred associations. Not at once do I remember that a year has elapsed since I heard it, and then the idea of the bobolink is formed in my mind. May 10, 1853
May 10.
See a kingbird . . .on a willow by the river, and hear higher the clear whistle of the oriole. New days, then, have come, ushered in by the warbling vireo, yellowbird, Maryland yellow-throat, and small pewee, and now made perfect by the twittering of the kingbird and the whistle of the oriole amid the elms, which are but just beginning to leaf out, thinking of his nest there, - if not already the bobolink. The warbling vireo promised warmer days, but the oriole ushers in summer heats . . . and, in the woods, the veery note.
May 10, 1853
May 10. Above the railroad bridge I see a kingfisher twice sustain himself in one place, about forty feet above the meadow, by a rapid motion of his wings, somewhat like a devil's-needle, not progressing an inch, apparently over a fish., May 10, 1854
May 10.
A yellow redpoll still. May 10, 1855
May 10.
Going down-town in the morning, I hear the warbling vireo, golden robin, catbird, and summer yellowbird. [Later] as I paddle along, hear the Maryland yellow-throat, the bobolink, the oven-bird, and the yellow-throated vireo. . . .It is remarkable how many new birds have come all at once to-day. The hollow-sounding note of the oven-bird is heard from the depth of the wood. The warbling vireo cheers the elms with a strain for which they must have pined. The trees, in respect to these new arrivers, have been so many empty music-halls. The oriole is seen darting like a bright flash with clear whistle from one tree-top to another over the street. The very catbird's mew in the copse harmonizes with the bare twigs, as it were shaming them into life and verdure, and soon he mounts upon a tree and is a new creature. Toward night wood thrush ennobles the wood and the world with his strain. May 10, 1858
May 10.
Hear in various woods the yorrick note of the veery.
May 10, 1858
May 10. The oriole is seen darting like a bright flash with clear whistle from one tree-top to another over the street. May 10, 1858
May 11. How many little birds of the warbler family are busy now about the opening buds, while I sit by the spring! They are almost as much a part of the tree as its blossoms and leaves. They come and give it voice. Its twigs feel with pleasure their little feet clasping them. May 11, 1853
May 11. Now, some time after sunset, the robins scold and sing, the Maryland yellow-throat is heard amid the alders and willows by the waterside, and the peetweet and black birds, and sometimes a kingbird, and the tree-toad. May 11, 1854
May 11.
Was not that a bay-wing which I heard sing, — ah, twar twe twar, twit twit twit twit, twe? . . . I hear some kind of owl partially hooting now at 4 P.M., I know not whether far off or near. May 11, 1855
May 11. There are many swallows circling low over the river behind Monroe’s, — bank swallows, barn, republican, chimney, and white-bellied. These are all circling together a foot or two over the water, passing within ten or twelve feet of me in my boat. May 11, 1856
May 11.
The black and white creeper also is descending the oaks, etc., and uttering from time to time his seeser seeser seeser.
What a rich, strong striped blue-black (?) and white bird."
May 11, 1856
May 11. A partridge-nest, with eleven fresh eggs, at foot of a chestnut, one upon another. It is quite a deep cavity amid the leaves, with some feathers of the bird in it. May 11, 1859
Sounds of the deep woods
as partridge, red-tailed hawks and
owls sit on their nests.
May 12, 1855
May 11 Golden robin yesterday. May 11. 1859
May 12. Watch a black and white creeper from Bittern Cliff, a very neat and active bird, exploring the limbs on all sides and looking three or four ways almost at once for insects. Now and then it raises its head a little, opens its bill, and, without closing it, utters its faint seeser seeser seeser. May 12, 1855
May 12.
The brown thrasher is a powerful singer; he is a quarter of a mile off across the river, when he sounded within fifteen rods. May 12, 1855
May 12.
How suddenly the birds arrive after the storm, — even yesterday before it was fairly over, —as if they had foreseen its end! How much life the note of the bobolink imparts to the meadow! May 12, 1856
May 12.
I hear from across the fields the note of the bay-wing, Come here here there there quick quick quick or I'm gone (which I have no doubt sits on some fence-post or rail there), and it instantly translates me from the sphere of my work and repairs all the world that we jointly inhabit. It reminds me of so many country afternoons and evenings when this bird's strain was heard far over the fields, as I pursued it from field to field. . . .What he suggests is permanently true. As the bay-wing sang many a thousand years ago, so sang he to-night. May 12, 1857
As the bay-wing sang
many thousand years ago
so sang he to-night.
May 12. Chimney swallows. May 12, 1858
May 13. At Holden Swamp, hear plenty of parti-colored warblers (tweezer-birds) and redstarts. May 13, 1860
May 13. Methinks I hear and see the tanager now. . . . At Corner Spring, stood listening to a catbird, sounding a good way off. Was surprised to detect the singer within a rod and a half on a low twig, the ventriloquist. Should not have believed it was he, if I had not seen the movements of his throat, corresponding to each note, -looking at this near singer whose notes sounded so far away. May 13, 1853
May 13. Hear the first catbird, more clear and tinkling than the thrasher. . . .Now, about two hours before sunset, the brown thrashers are particularly musical. One seems to be contending in song with another. The chewink’s strain sounds quite humble in comparison. May 13, 1855
May 13. The air is filled with the song of birds, — warbling vireo, gold robin, yellowbirds, and occasionally the bobolink. The gold robin, just come, is heard in all parts of the village.
I see both male and female. It is a remarkable difference between this day and yesterday, that yesterday this and the bobolink were not heard and now the former, at least, is so musical and omnipresent . . .
I doubt if we shall
at any season hear more
birds singing than now.
May 13, 1855
May 13.
Hear the pe-pe and evergreen-forest note, also night-warbler.
May 13, 1859
May 13. At the swamp, hear the yorrick of Wilson’s thrush; the tweezer-bird or Sylvia Americana. Also the oven-bird sings May 13, 1856
May 14. Yorrick heard the 12th. May 14, 1859
May 14. Hear and see a redstart. Methinks I did also on the 10th? The rhythm a little way off isah, tche tche tche'-ar. May 14, 1858
May 14. Most birds are silent in the storm. Hear the robin, oven-bird, night warbler, and, at length, the towhee's towee, chickadee's phoebe, and a preluding thrasher and a jay. May 14, 1852
May 14. First kingbird. Its voice and flight relate it to the swallow.
May 14, 1852
May 14. Ah! willow, willow! These willows have yellow bark, bear yellow flowers and yellowish-green leaves, and are now haunted by the summer yellowbird and Maryland yellow-throat.
The sounds and sights — as birds and flowers — heard and seen at those seasons when there are fewest are most memorable and suggestive of poetic associations. May 14, 1852
May 14.
Saw a whip-poor-will sitting in the path in woods on the mill road, — the brown mottled bird. It flutters off blindly, with slow, soft flight.
May 14, 1852
May 14. The robin sings this louring day. They sang most in and about that great freshet storm. The song of the robin is most suggestive in cloudy weather. . . . Most birds are silent in the storm. Hear the robin, oven-bird, night warbler, and, at length, the towhee's towee, chickadee's phoebe, and a preluding thrasher and a jay. May 14, 1852
May 14. Female red-wing. May 14, 1856
May 14. Air full of golden robins. Their loud clear note betrays them as soon as they arrive.
May 14, 1856
May 14. Hear and see the red-eye on an oak. The tail is slightly forked and apparently three quarters of an inch beyond wings; all whitish beneath. May 14, 1858
May 14. Hear and see a redstart. Methinks I did also on the 10th ? The rhythm a little way off tsah, tche tche tche'-ar.
May 14, 1858
May 14.
C. says he heard a yellow-legs yesterday. May 14, 1859
May 14.
C. sees the chestnut-sided warbler and the tanager to-day, and heard a whip-poor-will last night. May 14, 1860
May 14. What is that small slate-colored hawk with black tips to wings? April 14, 1853
May 14. A male hen-harrier skimming low along the side of the river, often within a foot of the muddy shore, looking for frogs. May 14, 1855
May 14. See a pair of marsh hawks, the smaller and lighter-colored male, with black tips to wings, and the large brown female, sailing low over J. Hosmer's sprout-land and screaming, apparently looking for frogs or the like. May 14, 1857
May 14. A male hen-harrier skimming low along the side of the river, often within a foot of the muddy shore, looking for frogs. May 14, 1855
May 14. See a pair of marsh hawks, the smaller and lighter-colored male, with black tips to wings, and the large brown female, sailing low over J. Hosmer's sprout-land and screaming, apparently looking for frogs or the like. May 14, 1857
May 14. As I go down the railroad at evening, I hear the incessant evening song of the bay-wing from far over the fields. It suggests pleasant associations. Are they not heard chiefly at this season? May 14, 1858
May 15. As I sat by the Riordan crossing, thought it was the tanager I heard? May 15, 1856
May 15. Deciduous woods now swarm with migrating warblers, especially about swamps. May 15, 1860
May 15. Now, when the warblers begin to come in numbers with the leafing of the trees, the woods are so open that you can easily see them. They are scarce and silent in a cool and windy day, or found only in sheltered places. May 15, 1859
May 15. Now, when the warblers begin to come in numbers with the leafing of the trees, the woods are so open that you can easily see them. They are scarce and silent in a cool and windy day, or found only in sheltered places. May 15, 1859
May 15. See and hear for a moment a small warbler-like bird in Nemopanthes Swamp which sings somewhat like tchut a-worieter-worieter-worieter-woo. May 15, 1855
May 16 See again the warbler of yesterday. . . . Its note, with little variation, is like twit twit, twit twit, twitter twitter twe. It must be the parti-colored warbler. May 16, 1858
May 16 See and hear a redstart, the rhythm of whose strain is tse'-tse, tse'-tse, tse', emphasizing the last syllable of all and not ending with the common tsear. May 16, 1858
May 16. Hear a tanager to-day, and one was seen yesterday. May 16, 1859
May 16 I hear a hummingbird about the columbines.
May 16, 1852
May 16. A golden-crowned thrush keeps the trunks of the young trees between me and it as it hops away. May 16, 1860
May 16. A golden-crowned thrush hops quite near. It is quite small, about the size of the creeper, with the upper part of its breast thickly and distinctly pencilled with black, a tawny head; and utters now only a sharp cluck for a chip. May 16, 1858
May 16. Hear a bobolink and kingbird. May 16, 1859.
May 16. A golden-crowned thrush hops quite near. It is quite small, about the size of the creeper, with the upper part of its breast thickly and distinctly pencilled with black, a tawny head; and utters now only a sharp cluck for a chip. May 16, 1858
May 16. Hear a bobolink and kingbird. May 16, 1859.
May 16
The earth is all fragrant as one flower. And bobolinks tinkle in the air. Nature now is perfectly genial to man.
May 16, 1854
May 16
A green bittern with its dark-green coat and crest, sitting watchful, goes off with a limping peetweet flight. May 16, 1855
May 16
The whip-poor-will heard. May 16, 1858
May 16 A hummingbird yesterday came into the next house and was caught.
Flew about our parlor to-day and tasted Sophia's flowers. In some lights you saw none of the colors of its throat. In others, in the shade the throat was a clear bright scarlet, but in the sun it glowed with splendid metallic, fiery reflections about the neck and throat.
May 16, 1858
May 16.
At eve the first spark of a nighthawk. May 16, 1859
May 16. Near Peter's I see a small creeper hopping along the branches of the oaks and pines, ever turning this way and that as it hops, making various angles with the bough; then flies across to another bough, or to the base of another tree, and traces that up, zigzag and prying into the crevices. May 16, 1860
May 17. The wood thrush has sung for some time. He touches a depth in me which no other bird's song does.. . ., — a Shakespeare among birds, and a Homer too. May 17, 1853
May 17.
I hear the first unquestionable nighthawk squeak and see him circling far off high above the earth. It is now about 5 o'clock p. m.
May 17, 1853
May 17.
I hear the wood pewee, — pe-a-wai. The heat of yesterday has brought him on.
May 17, 1853
May 17. Hear the wood pewee, the warm weather sound. May 17, 1854
May 17. The sweetest singers among the birds are heard more distinctly now, as the reflections are seen more distinctly in the water, — the veery constantly now. May 17, 1853
May 17.. A chestnut-sided warbler, — the handsome bird, — with a bright-yellow crown and yellow and black striped back and bright-chestnut sides, not shy, busily picking about the expanding leaves of a white birch . May 17, 1860
May 17. At the Kalmia Swamp, see and hear the redstart, very lively and restless, flirting and spreading its reddish tail. The sylvias -- S. Americana and redstart and summer yellow bird, etc. — are very lively there now after the rain, in the warm, moist air, amid the hoary bursting buds of maples, oaks, etc. May 17, 1856
May 18. The scarlet tanagers are come. May 18, 1851
May 18. The birds are in full blast. May 18, 1851
May 18. First veery strain. May 18, 1855
May 18. See
the yellow-legs feeding on shore. Legs not bright-yellow. Goes
off with the usual whistle; also utters a long monotonous call as it is
standing on the shore, not so whistling. Am inclined to think it the lesser
yellow-legs (though I think the only one we see). Yet its bill appears quite
two inches long. Is it curved up? May 18, 1855
May 18. Observe a blackbird’s (red-wing’s) nest finished. May 18, 1855
May 18. At Clamshell a bay-wing sparrow’s nest, four eggs (young half hatched) May 18, 1855
May 18. At Clamshell a bay-wing sparrow’s nest, four eggs (young half hatched) May 18, 1855
May 18. The swamp is all alive with warblers about the hoary expanding buds of oaks, maples, etc., and amid the pine and spruce. May 18, 1856
May 18. A female goldfinch on an oak . . . When I get over the fence, a flock of twenty or more, male and female, rise from amid the stubble, and, alighting on the oaks, sing pleasantly all together, in a lively manner. May 18, 1856
May 18. A Sylvia Americana, — parti-colored warbler, — in the Holden Wood, sings a, tshrea tshrea tshrea, tshre’ tshritty tshrit’. .May 18, 1856
May 18. I hear the fine note of cherry-birds, much like that of young partridges, and see them on the ash trees. May 18, 1857
May 18. I hear of young song sparrows and young robins since the 16th. May 18, 1859
May 18. The night-warbler is a powerful singer for so small a bird. It launches into the air above the forest, or over some hollow or open space in the woods, and challenges the attention of the woods by its rapid and impetuous warble, and then drops down swiftly into the tree-tops like a performer withdrawing behind the scenes, and he is very lucky who detects where it alights. May 18, 1860
May 18. The night-warbler is a powerful singer for so small a bird. It launches into the air above the forest, or over some hollow or open space in the woods, and challenges the attention of the woods by its rapid and impetuous warble, and then drops down swiftly into the tree-tops like a performer withdrawing behind the scenes, and he is very lucky who detects where it alights. May 18, 1860
May 19. The robin's nest and eggs are the earliest I see. May 19, 1854
May 19. Heard the night-warbler begin his strain just like an oven-bird! I have noticed that when it drops down into the woods it darts suddenly one side to a perch when low. May 19, 1858
May 19. Wood pewee. May 19, 1856
May 19. Hear and see a yellow-throated vireo, which methinks I have heard before. May 19, 1856
May 19. Hear and see a yellow-throated vireo, which methinks I have heard before. May 19, 1856
May 19. The tanager is now heard plainly and frequently. May 19, 1856
May 20. I now see distinctly the chestnut-sided warbler. May 20, 1856
May 20. I see, on a locust in the burying-ground, the Sylvia striata, or black-poll warbler, busily picking about the locust buds and twigs. May 20, 1856
May 20. A barn swallow accompanied me across the Depot Field. . .wheeling and tacking incessantly on all sides and repeatedly dashing within a rod of me. It is an agreeable sight to watch one. Nothing lives in the air but is in rapid motion. May 20, 1852
May 20. Bank swallows are very lively about the low sand—bank just beyond, in which are fifty holes. May 20, 1856
May 20. Hundreds of swallows are now skimming close over the river . . . There are bank, barn, cliff, and chimney swallows, all mingled together and continually scaling back and forth, – a very lively sight . . . Swallows are more confident and fly nearer to man than most birds. May 20, 1858
May 20. Probably a red-wing blackbird's nest, of grass, hung between two button-bushes; whitish eggs with irregular black marks. May 20, 1853
May 20. Saw a tanager in Sleepy Hollow. It most takes the eye of any bird. You here have the red-wing reversed,-the deepest scarlet of the red-wing spread over the whole body, not on the wing-coverts merely, while the wings are black. It flies through the green foliage as if it would ignite the leaves. May 20, 1853
May 20. See tanagers, male and female, in the top of a pine, one red, other yellow, from below. We have got to these high colors among birds. May 20, 1858
May 21. A tanager, — the surprising red bird, — against the darkening green leaves. May 21, 1854
May 21. The catbird sings like a robin sometimes, sometimes like a blackbird's sprayey warble. May 21, 1852
May 21. Is that plump blue-backed, rufous rumped swallow the cliff swallow, flying with barn swallows, etc., over the river? May 21, 1855
May 21. The redstarts are inquisitive and hop near. May 21, 1856
May 21. A song sparrow's nest and eggs so placed in a bank that none could tread on it; bluish-white, speckled. May 21, 1852
May 21. A robin's nest and eggs in the crotch of a maple. May 21, 1852
May 21. A robin’s nest without mud, on a young white oak in woods, with three eggs. May 21, 1856
May 21. Saw two splendid rose-breasted grosbeaks with females in the young wood in Emerson’s lot. What strong colored fellows, black, white, and fiery rose-red breasts! Strong-natured, too, with their stout bills. A clear, sweet singer, like a tanager but hoarse somewhat, and not shy.
May 21, 1856
May 22. Hear the hoarse note of the tanager and the sweet pe-a-wai, May 22, 1853
May 22. The wood pewee’s warm note is heard. May 22, 1853
May 22. I hear also pe-a-wee pe-a-wee, and then occasionally pee-yu, the first syllable in a different and higher key emphasized, — all very sweet and naive and innocent. May 22, 1854
May 22. I hear also pe-a-wee pe-a-wee, and then occasionally pee-yu, the first syllable in a different and higher key emphasized, — all very sweet and naive and innocent. May 22, 1854
May 22. A summer yellowbird close by sounded we we we tchea tchea teche wiss wiss wiss. May 22, 1854
May 23. The wood pewee sings now in the woods behind the spring in the heat of the day (2 p. m.), sitting on a low limb near me, pe-a-wee, pe-a-wee, etc., five or six times at short and regular intervals, looking about all the while, and then, naively, pee-a-oo, emphasizing the first syllable, and begins again. It flies off occasionally a few feet, catches an insect and returns to its perch between the bars, not allowing this to interrupt their order. May 23, 1854
Pee-a-wee, Pee-oo.
In the woods behind the spring
a wood pewee sings.
May 23. Off Staples wood-lot, hear the ah tche tche chit-i-vet of the redstart. May 23, 1857
May 23. Hear the pepe there [Holden Swamp], and the redstarts, and the chestnut-sided warbler. May 23, 1857
May 23. This is the time and place to hear the new-arriving warblers, the first fine days after the May storm. When the leaves generally are just fairly expanding. May 23, 1857
May 24. Now the birds sing more than ever, methinks, now, when the leaves are fairly expanding, the first really warm summer days. May 24, 1857
May 24. Hear a purple finch sing more than one minute without pause, loud and rich, on an elm over the street. Another singing very faintly on a neighboring elm. May 24, 1855
May 24. Hear the wood pewee. May 24, 1859
May 24. Hear a purple finch sing more than one minute without pause, loud and rich, on an elm over the street. Another singing very faintly on a neighboring elm. May 24, 1855
May 24. Hear the wood pewee. May 24, 1859
May 24. Hear a wood pewee. May 24, 1860
May 24. In woods the chestnut-sided warbler, with clear yellow crown and yellow on wings and chestnut sides. It is exploring low trees and bushes, often along stems about young leaves, and frequently or after short pauses utters its somewhat summer-yellowbird like note, say, tchip tchip, chip chip (quick), tche tche ter tchéa, —— sprayey and rasping and faint. May 24, 1855
May 24. In woods the chestnut-sided warbler, with clear yellow crown and yellow on wings and chestnut sides. It is exploring low trees and bushes, often along stems about young leaves, and frequently or after short pauses utters its somewhat summer-yellowbird like note, say, tchip tchip, chip chip (quick), tche tche ter tchéa, —— sprayey and rasping and faint. May 24, 1855
May 24. Hear a rose-breasted grosbeak. At first think it a tanager, but soon I perceive its more clear and instrumental — should say whistle, if one could whistle like a flute; a noble singer, reminding me also of a robin; clear, loud and flute-like; on the oaks, hill side south of Great Fields. Black all above except white on wing, with a triangular red mark on breast but, as I saw, all white beneath this. Female quite different, yellowish olivaceous above, more like a muscicapa. Song not so sweet as clear and strong. Saw it fly off and catch an insect like a flycatcher. May 24, 1855
May 24. As I sit just above the northwest end of the Cliff, I see a tanager perched on one of the topmost twigs of a hickory, evidently come to spy after me, peeping behind a leafet. He is between me and the sun, and his plumage is incredibly brilliant, all aglow. It a deep scarlet (with a yellower reflection when the sun strikes him), in the midst of which his pure-black wings look high-colored also. You can hardly believe that a living creature can wear such colors. May 24, 1860
May 24. As I sit just above the northwest end of the Cliff, I see a tanager perched on one of the topmost twigs of a hickory, evidently come to spy after me, peeping behind a leafet. He is between me and the sun, and his plumage is incredibly brilliant, all aglow. It a deep scarlet (with a yellower reflection when the sun strikes him), in the midst of which his pure-black wings look high-colored also. You can hardly believe that a living creature can wear such colors. May 24, 1860
May 24. What is that brilliant warbler on the young trees on the side of the Deep Cut? Orange throat and beneath, with distinct black stripes on breast, and, I think, some light color of crown. Was it Blackburnian? May 24, 1859
May 25. Hear and see . . . the rose-breasted grosbeak, a handsome bird with a loud and very rich song, in character between that of a robin and a red-eye. . . . Rose breast, white beneath, black head and above, white on shoulder and wings. May 25, 1854
Loud very rich song,
black head, rose breast white beneath:
Rose-breasted Grosbeak.
May 25. Rose-breasted grosbeak. May 25, 1856
May 25. Blackburnian warbler May 25, 1856
May 25. In Hubbard's Grove, hear the shrill chattering of downy woodpeckers, very like the red squirrel's tche tche. May 25, 1857
May 25. Pe-pe heard, and probably considerably earlier. May 25, 1860
May 25. Wood pewee. May 25, 1855
May 25. Young phoebes in the Baker house. The bird flitted out as we entered. I reached to an old shelf and felt the warm but callow young. May 25, 1856
May 25. Cherry-birds. May 25, 1860
May 25. Apparently yellowbirds’ nests just completed —one by stone bridge causeway, another on birch by mud turtle meadow. May 25, 1855
May 25. It is interesting to hear the bobolinks from the meadow sprinkle their lively strain along amid the tree-tops as they fly over the wood above our heads. . . . and at the end that fine buzzing, wiry note. May 25, 1857
May 25. In Hubbard's Grove, hear the shrill chattering of downy woodpeckers, very like the red squirrel's tche tche. May 25, 1857
May 25. Pe-pe heard, and probably considerably earlier. May 25, 1860
May 25. Wood pewee. May 25, 1855
May 25. Young phoebes in the Baker house. The bird flitted out as we entered. I reached to an old shelf and felt the warm but callow young. May 25, 1856
May 25. Cherry-birds. May 25, 1860
May 25. Apparently yellowbirds’ nests just completed —one by stone bridge causeway, another on birch by mud turtle meadow. May 25, 1855
May 25. It is interesting to hear the bobolinks from the meadow sprinkle their lively strain along amid the tree-tops as they fly over the wood above our heads. . . . and at the end that fine buzzing, wiry note. May 25, 1857
May 25. The golden robin keeps whistling something like Eat it, Potter, eat it! May 25, 1855
May 25. Saw, . . .feeding on the edge of the meadow just left bare, along with the peetweets, a bird a size larger . . .. It reminded me of the piping plover, but was not so white; and of the killdeer, but was not so large. May 25, 1856
May 25. Most of the robins’ nests I have examined this year had three eggs, clear bluish green. May 25, 1855
May 25. A chip-bird’s nest on a balm-of-Gilead, eight feet high, between the main stem and a twig or two, with four very pale blue-green eggs with a sort of circle of brown-black spots about larger end. May 25, 1855
May 25. Red-wing’s nest with four eggs — white, very faintly tinged with (perhaps) green and curiously and neatly marked with brown-black spots and lines on the large end. May 25, 1855
May 25. Red-wings now generally beginning to lay. May 25, 1855
May 25. Saw, . . .feeding on the edge of the meadow just left bare, along with the peetweets, a bird a size larger . . .. It reminded me of the piping plover, but was not so white; and of the killdeer, but was not so large. May 25, 1856
May 25. Most of the robins’ nests I have examined this year had three eggs, clear bluish green. May 25, 1855
May 25. A chip-bird’s nest on a balm-of-Gilead, eight feet high, between the main stem and a twig or two, with four very pale blue-green eggs with a sort of circle of brown-black spots about larger end. May 25, 1855
May 25. Red-wing’s nest with four eggs — white, very faintly tinged with (perhaps) green and curiously and neatly marked with brown-black spots and lines on the large end. May 25, 1855
May 25. Red-wings now generally beginning to lay. May 25, 1855
May 26 . In the meanwhile hear another note, very smart and somewhat sprayey, rasping, tshrip tshrip tshrip tshrip, or five or six times with equal force each time. The bird hops near, directly over my head. It is black, with a large white mark forward on wings and a fiery orange throat, above and below eye, and line on crown, yellowish beneath, white vent, forked tail, dusky legs and bill; holds its wings (which are light beneath) loosely. It inclines to examine about the lower branches of the white pines or midway up. The Blackbumian warbler very plainly; whose note Nuttall knows nothing about. May 26, 1855
May 26. I lay on my back again in Conant's thick wood. Saw a redstart over my head there; black with a sort of brick red on sides [of] breast, spot on wing and under root of tail. Note heard once next day, at Kalmia Swamp, somewhat like aveet aveet aveet aveet. May 26, 1855
May 26. The vireo days have fairly begun. They are now heard amid the elm-tops. May 26, 1857
May 27. The vireo, too, is heard more than ever on the elms; his note begins to prevail. May 27, 1853
May 27. The red-eye is an indefatigable singer, — a succession of short bars with hardly an interval long continued, now at 3 p. m. May 27, 1854
May 28. Do I not hear a short snappish, rasping note from a yellow-throat vireo? May 28, 1855
May 28. The F. hyemalis, fox-colored sparrow, rusty grackles, tree sparrows, have all gone by; also the purple finch. The snipe has ceased (?) to boom. I have not heard the phoebe of late, and methinks the bluebird and the robin are not heard so often (the former certainly not ). Those tumultuous morning concerts of sparrows, tree and song, hyemalis, and grackles, like leaves on the trees, are past, and the woodland quire will rather be diminished than increased henceforth. May 28, 1854
May 28. I see a tanager, the most brilliant and tropical-looking bird we have, bright-scarlet with black wings, the scarlet appearing on the rump again between wing-tips. May 28, 1855
May 28. I get the nest of the turtle dove . . . close to a frequented path of the cemetery and within reach of the hand. May 28, 1858
May 28. By boat to Great Meadows to look for the bittern's nest . . . From time to time I hear the sound of the bittern, concealed in the grass, indefinitely far or near, and can only guess at the direction, not the distance. I fail to find the nest. May 28, 1858
May 28. I have seen within three or four days two or three new warblers which I have not identified. May 28, 1855
May 28. Along the edge of Warren's wood east of the Deep Cut, see not only the chestnut-sided warbler but the splendid Sylvia pardalina.[canada warbler] . . .Not shy; on the birches. May 28, 1860
May 28. Examined my two yellowbirds’ nests of the 25th. Both are destroyed, —pulled down and torn to pieces probably by some bird, — though they but just begun to lay. May 28, 1855
May 28. Hear for a long time, as I sit under a willow, a summer yellowbird sing, without knowing what it is. It is a rich and varied singer with but few notes to remind me of its common one, continually hopping about. May 28, 1858
May 28. Hear a rose-breasted grosbeak. May 28, 1859
May 28. Hear the wood pewee. May 28, 1858
May 28. While we sit by the path in the depths of the woods three quarters of a mile beyond Hayden’s, confessing the influence of almost the first summer warmth, the wood thrush sings steadily for half an hour, now at 2.30 P. M., amid the pines, — loud and clear and sweet. While other birds are warbling betweenwhiles and catching their prey, he alone appears to make a business of singing, like a true minstrel. May 28, 1855
May 29. The leaves now conceal the warblers, etc., considerably. You can see them best in white oaks, etc., not maples and birches. May 29, 1860
May 29. What is the new warbler I see and hear frequently now, with apparently a black head, white side-head, brown back, forked tail, and light legs? May 29, 1857
May 29. But what is that bird I hear much like the first part of the yellowbird’s strain, . . .a very deeply forked or divided tail with a broad black tip beneath, and toward the roots a fire—brick-color,
May 29. There are a great many birds now on the Island Neck. May 29, 1855
May 29. The birds sing more lively than ever now after the rain, though it is only 2 p. m. May 29, 1857
May 29. I hear from vireos (probably red-eyes) in woods a fine harsh note, perhaps when angry with each other May 29, 1860
May 29. The red-eye, its clear loud song in bars continuously repeated and varied; all tempered white beneath and dark yellow olive above and on edge of wings, with a dark line on side-head or from root of bill; dusky claws, and a very long bill. The long bill and the dark line on the side of the head, with the white above and beneath, or in the midst of the white, giving it a certain oblong, swelled-cheek look, would distinguish on a side view. May 29, 1855
May 29. There is also the warbling vireo, with its smooth-flowing, continuous, one-barred, shorter strain, with methinks a dusky side-head. May 29, 1855
May 29. Also the yellow-throated vireo—its head and shoulders as well as throat yellow . . .and its strain but little varied and short, not continuous. May 29, 1855.
May 29. Yet the kingbird — lively bird, with white belly and tail edged with white, and with its lively twittering— stirs and keeps the air brisk. May 29, 1853
May 29. I see the tanager hoarsely warbling in the shade; the surprising red bird … It appears as if he loved to contrast himself with the green of the forest. May 29, 1853
May 29. I see the first swamp sparrow of the season, and probably heard its loud song. May 29, 1855
May 29. A cuckoo’s note, loud and hollow, from a wood-side. May 29, 1856
May 29. See and hear the cuckoo. May 29, 1857
May 29. I see the tanager hoarsely warbling in the shade; the surprising red bird … It appears as if he loved to contrast himself with the green of the forest. May 29, 1853
May 29. I see the first swamp sparrow of the season, and probably heard its loud song. May 29, 1855
May 29. A cuckoo’s note, loud and hollow, from a wood-side. May 29, 1856
May 29. See and hear the cuckoo. May 29, 1857
May 29. I hear the quails nowadays while surveying. May 29, 1852
May 29. The republican swallow at Hosmer's barn just begun to lay. May 29, 1859
May 29. Cherry-birds on the apple trees May 29, 1856
May 31. See a greater telltale, and this is the only one I have seen probably; distinguished by its size. . . . It keeps nodding its head with an awkward jerk, and wades in the water to the middle of its yellow legs; goes off with a loud and sharp phe phe phe phe. May 31, 1854
May 31. I find a chewink's nest with four eggs (fresh) on the side-hill at Jarvis’s wood-lot, twenty feet below wood-chuck’s hole at canoe birch. The nest is first of withered leaves, then stubble, thickly lined with withered grass and partly sheltered by dead leaves, shoved [?] up a huckleberry bush. May 31, 1858
May 31. See a yellowbird building a nest on a white oak on the Island. She goes to a fern for the wool. May 31, 1855
May 31. A yellowbird’s nest of that grayish milkweed fibre, one egg, in alder by wall west of Indian burying(?)-ground. May 31, 1858
May 31. A ground-bird’s nest (melodia or graminea.), with six of those oblong narrow gray eggs speckled with much brown at end. May 31, 1856
May 31. As I return in the dusk, many nighthawks, with their great spotted wings, are circling low over the river, as the swallows were when I went out. May 31, 1856
May 31. See a yellowbird building a nest on a white oak on the Island. She goes to a fern for the wool. May 31, 1855
May 31. A yellowbird’s nest of that grayish milkweed fibre, one egg, in alder by wall west of Indian burying(?)-ground. May 31, 1858
May 31. A ground-bird’s nest (melodia or graminea.), with six of those oblong narrow gray eggs speckled with much brown at end. May 31, 1856
May 31. As I return in the dusk, many nighthawks, with their great spotted wings, are circling low over the river, as the swallows were when I went out. May 31, 1856
Last night the eastern wood pewee was not heard,
but tonight it was peeweeing in the creeping darkness of the evening.
Spring is coming to an end and the thickness of summer will soon take its place.
[Avesong May 24, 2009.]
See May 14, 1852 (listing in order from May 1 to 12: "Robin 1 Catbird 1 Black and white creeper 1 Purple finch 1 Myrtle-bird 2 Chipping sparrow 2 Indigo-bird (?) 2 Brown thrasher 3 Whip-poor-will 3 Warbling vireo (i Green bittern 6 Oven-bird 7 Bank swallow 7 Small pewee 7 Summer yellowbird 7 Peetweet 7 Chimney swallow 8 Maryland yellow-throat 8 Golden robin 8 Martins 8 probably long before. Snipe (?) 8 Night-warbler 8 Yorrick (?) 8 Pigeon or turtle dove 9 Female yellowbird 10 Bobolink 12 Quail 12")
See May 14, 1852 (listing in order from May 1 to 12: "Robin 1 Catbird 1 Black and white creeper 1 Purple finch 1 Myrtle-bird 2 Chipping sparrow 2 Indigo-bird (?) 2 Brown thrasher 3 Whip-poor-will 3 Warbling vireo (i Green bittern 6 Oven-bird 7 Bank swallow 7 Small pewee 7 Summer yellowbird 7 Peetweet 7 Chimney swallow 8 Maryland yellow-throat 8 Golden robin 8 Martins 8 probably long before. Snipe (?) 8 Night-warbler 8 Yorrick (?) 8 Pigeon or turtle dove 9 Female yellowbird 10 Bobolink 12 Quail 12")
A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau
"A book, each page written in its own season, out-of-doors, in its own locality."
~edited, assembled and rewritten by zphx © 2009-2019
No comments:
Post a Comment