Warbler wrapup, 2023

 

In the past, I've fretted about my year's warbler numbers going up and down, but I think I've finally realized that one observer, in one small yard in Somerville, is just way too small a lens.  That said, my numbers were decent this year -- 26 individuals, across nine species.  And I was even away for a critical window, from the 6th to the 9th of May (I was in Cape May, New Jersey, where, ironically enough, I saw almost no warblers, despite some diligent looking).

Magnolia was the winner this year, with six individuals, across a range of days.  Common yellowthroat was just behind, with five, then four black-and-whites, and four ovenbirds.  Those patterns have been pretty typical over the years.  But unusually this year, I had three new species for Somerville:  Canada, Tennessee, and bay-breasted.  Unfortunately, I only got pictures of the Tennessee, and they were of a quality I would describe as sub-masterpiece:

These sightings were all from my yard, since I scarcely ventured out into Somerville to look for warblers elsewhere.  And beyond warblers, there wasn't much -- more hummingbirds than usual, a few flycatchers, and that was that.  The last flycatcher showed up on June 8th, which seemed unusually late.  Somebody forgot to make themselves a calendar alert, I guess.

Neither Moscow nor mallard

 

Weird stuff fetches up by the Mystic.  I've seen, over the years, a chicken, a greylag goose,  and now today, the latest in feral waterfowl, a Muscovy duck.  This is not a bird that's particularly on my radar, and so I would know nothing about it if it weren't for Wikipedia.  So, for the record, this creature is a duck native to the Americas south of the Rio Grande, known to scientists as Cairina moschata, and known in the barnyard as Mucovy duck, or Barbary duck -- because, of course, it has nothing to do with either Moscow or the Barbary Coast.  It has long been domesticated, and like all domesticated fowl, comes in a wide variety of formats.

Now, you can say it's not a Massachusetts species, and still less a Somerville species, but I don't care -- it's going on my list.