S6E26 - Songbird Sojourn, Part 1 (Tufted Titmouse)

[00:00:35] So it's early June 2023 and I'm back in Allegheny National Forest I'm at my campground, now we're hearing a Tufted Titmouse, that one there

[00:00:56] We have a lot of other birds, I seem to be perfectly happy with how cold it is right now I just woke up with it being about 4 degrees Celsius Which I don't know, 40? Low 40? On the Fahrenheit scale? Somewhere around there

[00:01:22] Maybe 50? They've been singing since probably 4.30 Anyways, I'm gonna get going and check out our first spot in 2023

[00:01:49] The Tufted Titmouse is a songbird that is common in deciduous forests throughout most of its range

[00:02:44] But is also a frequent visitor to backyard bird feeders It is a little grey and white bird with dark beady eyes and a distinctive crest that gives it its Tufted moniker The song of the Tufted Titmouse is generally a loud, clear, Peter, Peter, Peter Though it can vary quite a bit It can also make calls that are reminiscent of their chickadee cousins

[00:03:19] My name is Rob and this is Songbirding

[00:04:06] Yellowbelly Saps up here So I'm in the parking area for the buzzard swamp Seems to be the most active e-bird hotspot of Allegheny National Forest

[00:04:36] But I am the only person here There goes a blue jay Got a lot of red-eyed vireos in the background Chestnut-sided warbler

[00:05:17] There's an eastern tohi calling The tui It was incredibly cold this morning You can still see my breath Probably only 50 or so In the Fahrenheit scale

[00:05:52] There's a lot of trails I could take from here I'm gonna go take a look at the map and see what leads us to the actual wetlands As you can hear this place is hopping There's our eastern tohi Of a bird

[00:06:46] Where the map is at It's a little One of those Ones that has kind of a roof Which means It has a nest In here Because these things always have Phoebe nests generally I'm pretty sure that's what I'm looking at Phoebe flew out just as I walked over here So we've got the Songbird Sojourn interpretive trail

[00:07:17] That sounds promising I don't see any names for the other trails Maybe we'll start with that Since it seems to loop Around to the actual wetland Maybe when I'm done walking that

[00:07:46] It'll be warm enough for me to Put some sunscreen on Some oven bird I try to make sure I Don't get too sunburned or anything But it's so cold that right now putting sunscreen on Just would be so cold I don't need to be even colder

[00:08:14] Let's go on a Songbird Sojourn

[00:09:01] Oh interesting It's like a really slow oven bird Hearing some yellow billied sapsuckers too

[00:09:56] This trail is not very well marked

[00:10:36] Oven bird They got that teacher teacher teacher teacher song

[00:10:41] Oh hearing a Tuft of Titmouse come in

[00:11:07] That peer peer

[00:11:38] That's a Tuft of Titmouse call So I'm hearing a distant Hermit thrush

[00:12:01] We've got nice and loud Red-eyed vireos It's our usual background song And these subtle tones of the

[00:12:31] Hermit thrush As well Another oven bird

[00:12:52] This trail goes through the forested area

[00:13:24] One thing immediately different than Southern Ontario Is I'm seeing a lot of club moths These look like tiny conifers On the ground everywhere I can't recall Really seeing them much at all In Southern Ontario

[00:13:45] I think I heard a distant black-throated green warbler There's an oven bird again With the teacher teacher teacher song This trail is 1.5 miles Of course when my brain saw 1.5 I thought Well that's not that long

[00:14:16] That's because I was thinking kilometers So probably more like Hmm 2.2 Probably 2 Probably more like 2.5 or so Kilometers I'm guessing Wow A lot of club mosses here

[00:14:52] Got doodling oven birds Left and right Along this trail They have interpretive signage For various bird species

[00:15:24] Which is nice to see Notice that the Common yellowthroat one Even talked about the Wichity Wichity Wichity song Although it was in a location Where we probably aren't going to have Common yellowthroat Hopefully they thought to put up an oven bird sign Here somewhere Says a lot of those

[00:15:57] Like that one Hearing some distant chickadee songs Oh! Black-footed green warbler

[00:16:28] There's a nice loud one We've got some loud chickadees now

[00:16:33] Oh! This whole place is ferns

[00:17:11] All I can see is ferns Besides the trees of course Oh! Blue Jay

[00:17:49] Black-footed green warbler Oven bird

[00:17:51] And quite the soundscape in here

[00:19:10] That's a new one

[00:19:59] Really interesting mix of ferns in here Some of the bigger

[00:20:29] I think they're called elephant ferns And the smaller Maybe lady fern? I'm not sure An awful lot of club mosses Once you get into the Burn closed off areas Where there's too much canopy for the ferns to be as

[00:20:59] Widespread Looks very nice this time here What's that called?

[00:21:29] It was probably Yeah Sounds like an oven bird That's just got a Bit of different acoustic situation going on Songbirding the Allegheny National Forest Is a Songbirding Studios production And was recorded, engineered, narrated And created by me, Rob Porter

[00:21:59] With cover art and logo design by Lauren Hilton And Creative Commons music from Josh Woodward