The Black-throated Green Warbler (Evergreen-forest bird)

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.: [May 12] black throat, this often with dark and light beneath; again, [June 12] black streak from eyes, slate-colored back (?), forked tail, white beneath (?); another bird with yellow throat near by, perhaps female; again, June 17, black wings with white bars. 

Is it black throated green . . . ? May 6, 1855

May 7. In the meanwhile I hear, through this fresh, raw east wind, the te-a-lea of myrtle-birds from the woods across the-river. I hear the evergreen-forest note close by; and hear and see many myrtle-birds, at the same time that I hear what I have called the black and white creeper’s note.  Have I ever confounded them? May 7, 1856

May 10. Heard also that peculiarly wild evergreen forest note which I heard May 6th from a small, lisping warbler -- er er ter re rer ree  --  from high in the pines as if a chickadee (?); or was it the still smaller; slenderer white bellied bird I saw?  May 10, 1853

May 11. Hear the evergreen-forest note. May 11, 1854 

May 12.   Heard again the evergreen-forest note. It is a slender bird , about size of white-eyed vireo, with a black throat and I think some yellow above, with dark and light beneath , in the tops of pines and oaks. The only warblers at all like it are black-throated green, black-throated blue, black-poll, and golden winged, and maybe orange-crowned. May 12, 1854

May 15.  Hear the evergreen-forest note. May 15, 1858

May 26.  Evergreen-forest note still, the first syllable three times repeated, er-er-er, etc., — flitting amid the tops of the pines. May 26, 1854 

May 30. In the thick of the wood between railroad and Turnpike, hear the evergreen forest note, and see probably the bird,-- black throat, greenish-yellow or yellowish-green head and back, light-slate (?) wings with two white bars. Is it not the black-throated green warbler?  I find close by a small fresh egg on the forest floor, with a slight perforation , white (with perhaps a tinge of flesh-color (?) when full)  and brown spots and black marks at the larger end. In Brewer's synopsis the egg of the black throat is described as “light flesh-color with purple spots.” But these spots are not purple. I could find no nest .May 30, 1855 

June 1. Hear my evergreen-forest note, sounding rather raspingly as usual, where there are large oaks and pines mingled, , er - er te , te ter twee , or er te , te ter twe. It is very difficult to discover now that the leaves are grown, as it frequents the tops of the trees. But I get a glimpse of its black throat and, I think, yellow head.  June 1, 1854

June 12.  Hear the evergreen-forest note  and see the bird on the top of a white pine, somewhat creeper like, along the boughs, and golden head except a black streak from eyes, black throat, slate-colored back, forked tail, white beneath, er te , ter ter te. Another bird with yellow throat near by may have been the other sex. Is it the golden-winged warbler? June 12, 1854

June 16.  Heard around, from within the Purgatory, not only Wilson’s thrush, but evergreen forest note and tanager; and saw chip-squirrels within it  June 16, 1856

June 17.  The evergreen-forest bird at old place in white pine and oak tops, top of Brister's Hill on right. I think it has black wings with white bars. Is it not the black-throated green warbler? June 17, 1854

July 10. Evergreen-forest note, I think, still.  July 10 1854 

A Book of the Seasons,  by Henry Thoreau, The Black-throated Green Warbler

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 ©  2009-2023

A familiar warbler not recognized for some years.

May 30. 

See bird’s nest on an apple by roadside, seven feet high; one egg. Cherry-bird on a cherry; also pecking at the apple blossoms. 

Buttonwood flowers now effete; fertile flowers were not brown on the 24th, but were the 28th; say, then, about the 26th. 

Lepidium virginicum, roadside bank at Minott’s.

The myrica, bayberry, plucked on the 23d, now first sheds pollen in house, the leaf being but little more expanded on the flowering shoot. Gray says, “ somewhat preceding the flowers.” The catkins about a quarter of an inch long, erect, sterile, oval, on the sides of last year’s twigs. 

P. M. — Up railroad. 

A strong west wind and much haze. Silvery potentilla, four or five days at least. 

In the thick of the wood between railroad and Turnpike, hear the evergreen forest note, and see probably the bird, — black throat, greenish-yellow or yellowish-green head and back, light-slate (?) wings with two white bars. Is it not the black-throated green warbler? 

I find close by a small fresh egg on the forest floor, with a slight perforation, white (with perhaps a tinge of flesh-color (?) when full), and brown spots and black marks at the larger end. In Brewer’s synopsis the egg of the black throat is described as “light flesh-color with purple spots.” But these spots are not purple. I could find no nest. 

Senecio in open meadows, say yesterday. 

See a small black snake run along securely through thin bushes (alders and willows) three or four feet from the ground, passing intervals of two feet easily,—very readily and gracefully, —ascending or descending. 

Cornus Canadensis out, how long? 

Green lice from birches (?) get on my clothes. 

Is it not summer now when the creak of the crickets begins to be general? 

Poison-dogwood has grown three or four inches at ends of last year’s shoots, which are three to six feet from ground. 

Black & Yellow Warbler

or

Magnolia Warbler

(Sylvia maculosa) 

Hear a familiar warbler not recognized for some years, in the thick copse in Dennis’s Swamp, south of railroad; considerably yellowbird-like (the note) — tshe tshe tshar tshar tchit, tchit tit te vet. It has apparently a yellow head, bluish or slaty wings with two white bars, tail even, wings dusky at tips, legs light, bill dark, beneath all bright-yellow, remarkably striped lengthwise with dusky, more or less dark in different specimens. Can it be the S. maculosa, or black and yellow warbler, seen formerly? I did not see the black - —— nor indeed the back at all well. It may have been a female, not described by Wilson. Frequents the tops of trees. 

Ladies’ slipper, apparently.

H. D. Thoreau, Journal, May 30, 1855

In the thick of the wood between railroad and Turnpike, hear the evergreen forest note, and see probably the bird  See May 11, 1854 ("Hear the evergreen-forest note"); June 1, 1854 ("Hear my evergreen-forest note, sounding rather raspingly as usual, where there are large oaks and pines mingled. It is very difficult to discover now that the leaves are grown, as it frequents the tops of the trees. But I get a glimpse of its black throat and, I think, yellow head "); May 6, 1855 (“the er er twe, ter ter twe, evergreen-forest note”); May 7, 1856 ("I hear the evergreen-forest note close by; and hear and see many myrtle-birds, at the same time that I hear what I have called the black and white creeper’s note. Have I ever confounded them?”) See also A Book of the Seasons,  by Henry Thoreau, The Black-throated Green Warbler

Can it be the S. maculosa, or black and yellow warbler? See May 22, 1860 ("C. . . . appears , by his account , to have seen the Sylvia maculosa . "); July 25, 1860 ("He has the Sylvia maculosa , shot near his house . Bluish - ash above , I believe , head or crown the same , yellow throat and beneath , with many blackish spots and marks [ ? ] on sides and breast , and white spots on inner vanes of tail - feathers , the tail being blackish .")

Ladies’ slipper, apparently. See note to May 30, 1856 ("The lady’s-slipper in pitch pine wood-side.”)

May 30 See A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, May 30

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 © 2009-2021

Leaves now flutter and rustle in the breeze.

June 1.

It was so cold last night and still that I surely expected a frost and covered all our melons. But either the wind changed or clouds came over in the night, and there was no frost here. 

Here is another cool day. I sit with window shut and walk with a thick coat, as yesterday. Do we not always have these changes about the first of June?

Black-throated green warbler
Setophaga virens

Hear my evergreen-forest note, sounding rather raspingly as usual, where there are large oaks and pines mingled. er-er te, te ter twee, or er te, te ter .

It is very difficult to discover now that the leaves are grown, as it frequents the tops of the trees. But I get a glimpse of its black throat and, I think, yellow head. 

This and the red-eye and wood pewee are singing now at midday.

Within little more than a fortnight the woods, from bare twigs, have become a sea of verdure, and young shoots have contended with one another in the race. The leaves have unfurled all over the country like a parasol. Shade is produced, and the birds are concealed and their economies go forward uninterruptedly, and a covert is afforded to the animals generally. But thousands of worms and insects are preying on the leaves while they are young and tender. Myriads of little parasols are suddenly spread all the country over, to shield the earth and the roots of the trees from parching heat, and they begin to flutter and rustle in the breeze.

H. D. Thoreau, Journal, June 1, 1854

Hear my evergreen-forest note. See May 11, 1854 ("Hear the evergreen-forest note"); May 12, 1854 ("Heard again the evergreen-forest note. It is a slender bird , about size of white-eyed vireo, with a black throat and I think some yellow above, with dark and light beneath, in the tops of pines and oaks."); May 26, 1854 ("Evergreen-forest note still, the first syllable three times repeated, er-er-er, etc. , — flitting amid the tops of the pines."); June 12, 1854 ("Hear the evergreen-forest note, and see the bird on the top of a white pine, somewhat creeper-like, along the bough , and golden head except a black streak from eye, black throat, slate-colored back, forked tail, white beneath, er te , ter ter te"); See aslo May 6, 1855 (“the er er twe, ter ter twe, evergreen-forest note”); May 30, 1855("In the thick of the wood between railroad and Turnpike, hear the evergreen forest note, and see probably the bird ");May 7, 1856 ("I hear the evergreen-forest note close by;") and A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, The Black-throated Green Warbler