Today there was a really weird assemblage of birds in my neighbor's tree. The first one was this kinglet, above. I usually see kinglets in the yard, but in April, not late May. This bird didn't get the memo, apparently.
Then, a few minutes later, this:
This one is Wilson's warbler. 'Tis the season, I suppose, but I hadn't seen one in years.
Cue the next one:
Cedar waxwing, which I see singly basically never, and in my yard basically never.
And then finally, way in the top of the tree, for only a minute:
I'm pretty sure this is some kind of tyrant flycatcher, but it's hard to narrow it down beyond that.
This says something about the value of a single mature tree, even of a despised species like Norway maple. This particular tree looms over my yard and rains branches down on it, and moreover produces a million seedlings every year. But I still would hate to see it go.
