Randomness

I couldn't really come up with a cohesive theme for today's post. I got to the easy prairie blow-out before dawn, even earlier than last time. In the pre-dawn duskiness I heard 5 prairies and saw 2 fairly close without trying to, heard the summer tanager quietly picky-tuck-ing, and heard a black-and-white warbler singing a song I'd never heard, alternating the pitches of each wee-see phrase in a redstart-like fashion.

I then walked over to the Mt Randall trail but didn't hear the worm-eating.

I cut back out into the blowout with the early morning light but the warblers were now entirely silent. Towhees were still singing prominently though.

I found a flower I'd never seen before on the Mt Randall trail, Poke Milkweed:

Here's the remains of the turkey egg from the other day:

Juvenile chipping sparrows dawdled a little more than the adults did in the open.

Continuing the drossbird theme a catbird perched up to sing as well.

Finally I recorded a scarlet tanager singing in the pre-dawn. When I listened ot the recording it seemed to be singing more slowly than I think of them, I'll have to record one during the day as well. On the sonogram you can see how the the phrases have a wider range of pitches than the grosbeak's tighter phrases

Here's the chip-burr call note, the chip is the vertical mark and then the burr is the wider triangle that narrows its pitch range as it tails off.