Field Notes from the Past #24

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.

May 9 [1962], Wednesday

I found the first [Yellow-breasted] Chat of the year today, singing in a woodland swamp. I heard the bird singing long before I was able to locate it. The bird seemed to enjoy play[ing] “hide and seek” with me, for every time I thought I was near the bird and would be able to see it, it moved on a little farther. It kept giving a rapid “wa-wa-wa-wa-wa-wa-wa” which gave me the impression that he [sic] was laughing at me because of my stupidity.

I was walking along a fence row when I stumbled upon a [Red] Fox scratching at the ground not more than 25 yards away. The fox looked up when it saw me, but kept on scratching at the ground, paying no attenchen [sic] to me. Shortly, the fox trotted off thru the brush.

I saw many Palm and Myrtle [=Yellow-rumped] warblers today, which I believe were on migration.

I strated [sic] the nesting study of the [Purple (=Common)] Grackles today but gave up almost before I had begun. The study was much more difficult than I had suspected, because of the density of the trees and the position of some of the nests.

I saw two House Wrens hopping around amoung [sic] the bushed bordering a small marshy pond.