The Big Sit, Part 4

A woodland curtain surrounds the meadow. Where they meet makes an interface between two environments. Such places provide rich bird-watching opportunities. The little mown path leading along this border hosts my Big Sit. That's where I try to keep an eye out for quick movements in both venues.

Eastern Phoebe

Some birds like this Phoebe, a type of flycatcher, use the fringe as a survey and launch station for pursuing insects over the meadow.

Least Flycatcher

Its relative the Least Flycatcher is more at home hunting mid-canopy through the trees.

Red-eyed Vireo

Red-eyed Vireos spend most of their time in the upper crown. Something unusual brought this one down to my eye level.

Blue-headed Vireo

The typical songbird plumage on the wings and body of a Blue-headed Vireo shifts into a slaty backdrop for its bizarre eye rings with a tropical touch.

Eastern Towhee

The Towhee's plumage brings that exotic look to Halibut Point all spring and summer.

Dark-eyed Junco

Juncos, on the other hand, are seen primarily early and late in the year, usually in sparrow-like flocks on the ground. Their simple feather pattern and pert yellow beak make a smile-worthy sight at close range.

Indigo Bunting

Male Indigo Buntings, one of the spectacles of the breeding season, spend the rest of the year garbed in sensible earthy hues.

Yellow-rumped Warbler

Yellow-rumped Warblers similarly tone down their appearance except for that eponymous blaze on their rear ends.

Carolina Wren

Carolina Wrens can be counted on to warm the woodlands year round with their thumb-sized flashes of color and out-sized vocalizations, "Teacher-teacher-teacher."

Hermit Thrush

The names of the preceding birds give clues about their characteristics and habits. The Hermit Thrush, a bird of dense forest understory, may be named for its retiring though not secretive ways. A few of them will stay in the area for the winter, switching their diets from insects to subsist on berries, in the manner of another cold-hardy migrant, the Yellow-rumped Warbler. This versatile adaptation gives the species a boost as well as added pleasure to the all-season ramblers of Halibut Point.

Discovering a Hermit Thrush in winter isn't as likely to come from holding to a stationary observation point. That kind of rewarding bird observation will shift to a Big Sit on the shoreline where the winter ducks are arriving.