Welcome Home

On Thursday night I got home about 6:15.  I stopped the car by the mailbox to get the mail.  Before I started the car up again to go into the garage I noticed a little chipping sparrow popping around in the driveway by the puddles.  I lifted my field glasses to get a better look.  Besides the chipping sparrow there was a white throated sparrow as well. I have never seen a white throated sparrow in my yard before. But then I saw some yellow rumped birds too.  Yellow rumped warblers were moving frantically about as warblers like to do.  Dang things don't sit still for a minute. I saw another kind of warbler too but I couldn't get a good look at it because of the rain on the windshield.  I started the car, wiped the windshield, and moved up closer to the puddle before shutting off the engine.  After a minute, the warblers returned. I was so excited to see three more kinds of warblers; all kinds I had never seen before. It was like having movie stars visiting.  I saw a chestnut sided warbler.  It took me a while to figure out that one.  I would look at it, search my field guide and look again. Eventually I saw the milk chocolate color under the wings.  I saw a common yellow throat.  Those are easy to tell because they wear a black mask and have a yellow throat.  The most exciting was a black and white little birdy with a very pretty splash of yellow and orange on the front.  Our creator must have been in a creative mood when the Blackburnian warbler was made.  After admiring warblers for about ten minutes from the comfort of my car, the rain started coming down harder and the warblers ran for cover.  I think I miss a lot of migrating birds in the yard because I have to go to work every day.  Later in the evening, I saw another bird I've never noticed in the yard before-two juvenile rose breasted grossbeaks were eating from the feeder.