LONGVIEW, TEXAS — A shrike lives down by the pond and the athletic fields. We saw him on a power line, calling. A shrike is not a bad way to start the day, especially if it’s on campus.

It’s also not a bad way to start a birding career. Today was Courtney’s first day birding. We went this morning before class. Spence wanted to come, but he decided to study for history and statistics tests instead. Good for him. Anyway, Courtney is a mutual friend of ours who seemed interested in birds and responded enthusiastically to my invitation. It appears that LOL is continuing to grow.

We birded the south end of campus. The fulgent morning air heightened colors and sounds. Jays cried loudly; Mourning Doves fluttered and glided from tree to tree. Mockingbirds, cardinals, robins, Carolina Wrens, and an exuberant House Finch poured forth song. “It’s like a symphony,” Courtney said, as if she were hearing it — really hearing it — for the first time.

Chimney Swifts twittered through the skies, and goldfinches and Chipping Sparrows ornamented the very tops of the trees (which of course meant that virtually no field marks were visible on the sparrows). I heard a couple of yellow-rumps, but there were no neotropical migrants today.

We heard and then saw a Brown Thrasher. To my astonishment, it moved quickly from low brush up to the top of a stand of tall pines, singing all the while. We listened carefully to its song, which had shorter and heavier, darker phrases than mockingbirds’ songs do. I had never seen a thrasher go as high up in trees that one did, but apparently his song buoyed him up, up, and up.

Returning to the pond, we watched a kingbird and a singing Red-winged Blackbird, both sharp and classy characters. As we neared the end of the walk, I heard a Brown-headed Nuthatch. I finally saw it sitting almost directly above us on a little dead oak twig. After sitting still and calling for a while, it took off. And we went off to class.

ydhttmwfi: Hooked

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