Orchard Oriole, Charles River Peninsula, Needham, MA

This was the kind of day when you step out of the house in the morning and immediately hear northern parula and black-throated green warblers singing from the tree-tops across the street. And I had to go to work. But after dinner I rushed out for a quick check on CRP nesting boxes (no news) and was happy to discover continued growth in oriole numbers, including the two orchard males (still fighting) and many more Baltimores establishing territories. Perhaps tomorrow morning I'll do my annual oriole song map.

Here's a Baltimore in the blossoms.

I've been seeing a pair of eastern kingbirds for the past few days. They seem inseparable but I can't tell whether they are two males competing or a real romantic item. Here's a video with a lot of display activity but nothing conclusive. I've slowed a section down to get more details on their chatter (there is an oriole in the background sounding rather spooky at low speed).