Holy Titmouse Tongues, Batman!

Birds sighted today: Wild turkey, Canada Goose, Palm Warbler, Yellow-Rumped Warbler, Rufus-sided Towhee, Wood Duck, Mallard Duck, American Robin, Cardinal, Chickadee, Red-winged Blackbird, Tufted Titmouse, Goldfinch, Tree Sparrow, White-Throated Sparrow, Savannah Sparrow, Brown-headed Cowbird.
Mammals: Muskrat, Vole

Tufted Titmouse, tongue and all.

So...in my last post I lamented the fact that I could never get a clear photo of a titmouse. Well...today changed that. Not only did I get a photo of a titmouse, I got of photo of its tongue too.

Morning over the marsh

I also found a grove of trees that was positively lousy with Palm and Yellow-rumped Warblers. They were everywhere.

Male Palm Warber

Male Yellow-rumped Warbler

And later watched a Muskrat fishing for tender plant shoots underwater. I listened to it crunching away at its meal and got to watch it groom itself, wiping the water from its head, face, and whiskers.

Muskrat

Muskrat

The tree swallows were out in full force, males sparing with each other. Others have already settled down and gotten around to the business of raising families.

Male tree swallow

Tree Swallows sparing.

Tree Swallows, male and female

There was also a male turkey courting a very young looking female.....It seems a bit late in the season for this sort of behavior. The young female left the scene, not interested, but the male Turkey was so involved in fanning his tail and ruffling his feathers and displaying that he got too close to a female Canada Goose, whose mate chased him halfway across the field. This Traveler nearly laughed herself to death.

Brown-headed Cowbird, blurred in the colors of tthe setting sun.

Gray Squirrel, showing the remnants of the white tufts it grows on its ears in the winter. If anyone else has gray squirrels that grow such tufts let me know. I have two groups of gray squirrels that visit my feeders: those with tufts and those without.