Dear Birders (celebrating migration),

On Tuesday, while waiting at the bus stop for a seven-year-old friend, I heard a familiar sound coming from up the road.  Once Levi got off the bus, we investigated:

A: Put your stuff in the car, we’re going for a walk down the road. 
L:  Where are we going?”  
A:  To hear an orchestra.
L:  What’s an orchestra?  
A:  A group of musicians working together to make beautiful music. 

At that point, he stopped walking down the road and just listened.

L:   BLACKBIRDS!? 
A:  Where do you suppose we’ll find them?

He knew just the spot, where a small stream ribbons its way through a young forest, near very wet woods.  Sure enough, there they were!  

A:  I’ll count them first and then keep the number to myself and you can count.  Okay, I’ve got my number.

I hand my bins to him.

L:  Wow!  These are nice binocl’rs!...I can’t count that many!
A:  It is a lot.  I counted 98...all males.

The birds flew across the road in much better viewing conditions.  

A:  Woah!  One of them changed into a Starling!
L:  Okay, so there’s...97!

We listened to their chatter and watched them eventually all fly off in smaller groups.

A:  You want to enter the data in your eBird account?...
L:  Okay.

Ali
Huntington