Field Notes from the Past #4

Being a continuation of field-journal entries from the springs of 1962 and 1963 when I was a budding ornithologist of just 15 or 16 growing up in the rural village of Galien in Berrien County, Michigan.

April 8 [1962], Sunday

I got up at 4:30 [EST] this morning to go birdwatching. My greatest thrill was when I saw a male [Eastern] Bluebird perched on the wires along the railroad track[s]. The bird was not more than seventy-five [feet] from house #2. Later in the morning the male was seen perched on the edge of the hole of house #2. In the second he entered the box A female Bluebird then appeared and also entered the box. If these birds nest, it will be my first pair of bluebirds to nest in the boxes.

The first [Rufous-sided, =Eastern] towhee, [Eastern] phoebe, and Great Blue Heron of the year were seen today.

I saw my first Baldpate [=American Wigeon] and Blue-winged Teal today. Several were seen in a small farm pond with two Mallards.