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I'm a woman entering "the third chapter" and fascinated by the journey.

Monday, June 18, 2012

Another life bird

My post on the rest area in southern Ohio didn't include the most exciting thing that happened to me in my brief stop: I sighted a bird that I couldn't identify. It was sparrow-sized, primarily black with white wing bars, and reminded me of a mockingbird, but the size and color were wrong. Sighting the bird largely from below as it flitted from beech tree to beech tree also didn't give a particularly good look at most distinguishing characteristics. Today after lunch I finally got around to using a bird key and have a tentative ID; the previously unknown-to-me creature was most likely an American redstart. The Cornell Lab of Ornithology lists the bird as common, but that's not the case in my yard. The sort of edge habitat found in roadside rests in forested areas is ideal for tree-gleaning insectivores, though. Yet another reason to love public green spaces.

1 comment:

David said...

I saw my first "previously unknown-to-me" redstart this year too!

Congratulations. :)