the modest birder (19) birds singing, etc.

February 2, 2012, 11.05 sunny, 40s: while cleaning the feeders, I heard a "whispered", husky song and after making it clearer by pressing my hearing aid, is sounded like a subdued House finch. about 10 mins with very short intervals. About 7 Housef. of which 4 males, came to the feeder as I watched from the bench.
later saw a Redbelly drumming.

2-9-12, 12.30+ sunny, 38: It is not exactly a song but today the two Redtails that began to occupy their nest on the adjacent farm along 113 two weeks ago, were soaring above the trees in ever wider and higher intersecting courtship circles while calling their repeated high-pitched cheeeeew. (nothing of the books' 'harsh" about it).
at 3pm there were also the clear tones of a Titmouse and the double note of the Carolina Wren.

2-16-12: because some blogs report frequent singing, I have taken to watching perched finches etc. but all of them appear closed mouthed.

2-22-12: 10.30am, 48: earlier there were three male Cardinals on and near the feeders, but as I replenished them one of them was singing down the creek, across the road, sustained for several minutes.
at 2, 56 degrees, went out to see if there were more singers. Forgot my hearing aid.
Later I went down to the creek and walked zigzag up and sat on the bench, but all was silent except for a Downy calling. (The 20 or so early species crocus I brought from Super House on the campus, have multiplied to more than a hundred down the slope, some even in the stone wall).

March 7: while waiting for a stray Broadtail Hummer to appear in a yard in Cape May Point, I heard a soft warble, pretty sustained, much like a Starling as a ventriloquist, but all I could find were Robins. But then, with only one ear functioning.... But it was a Robin after all, for at home, on 3/12, 2 Robins were singing, close to each other in the same tree, in the same sort of way, though louder and they interspersed it with the shrill alarm notes. The "song" was a series of stjilps with a few warbles, each series longer than the normal song.
March 9: a Song sparrow on a fence post in Stone Harbor singing loudly and turning in all directions. A lot of effort that was also clearly visible.
March 10: a male Housef. offering a seed from the feeder to a female. 2 Kestrels copulating in a tree on the edge of Wegman pkg lot.
March 12: a Carolina Wren singing by the creek.
March 13: This time for sure: a Starling singing and not as ventriloquist but with beak wide open for the high notes; an odd collection of picked up sounds but also a nice warble. The bird in full sun on the feeder post and like a modern singer all shiny in metallics, black, purple and even green as the wings vibrated.
March 14: it's like the old recipe for rabbit stew: If you want the hear the birds singing, first be outside (with your hearing aid)! Yesterday and today we were working on the garden (resp. 74 and 69 degrees with blue skies and calm). One or two Cardinals are singing most of the morning and one, farther away, this afternoon but not very long. The Carolina Wren comes to the feeders, but sings mostly by the creek and across the road. And a Titmouse was in great form high in the trees from left to right with about 10 minutes of its four high fluted notes. Underneath, very softly a brown creeper was trying out its one toned wheez line, with interruptions, for about a minute. I actually was surprised it was a Brown Creeper as for some reason I didn't expect this inconspicuous and discreet bird to make any sound. The Red bellied Woodp. was quarking a few times and then, farther off let go with its repeated ieng notes.
March 17: blue after a thick fog, 39 going up to 70. garden work: planting swiss chard seedlings and sowing a mix of lettuces, arugula etc. as well as Chinese peas. With birds singing: the Cardinals, but also in the jungle across the road, a White Throat, a House Finch and a Brown creeper. The forsythia is out also.
March 18: as we were reading on the front lawn in the afternoon sun (74 degrees) it sounded like spring. A Brown Creeper was whispering between examining the cracks in the oak bark in the hedgerow between us and the eastern neighbor, more than one Cardinal was singing, one of them overlaid by the flute of a Titmouse and the summer song of the Car. Wren. The more pleasant singer was the House Finch which did its three part line for about 20 minutes in the middle stories of the hickories; sitting nearly upright and in the sun it was so slender that it looked like a warbler but neither have I seen one here so far, nor did I recognize it as the song of a likely warbler: too much variation! But it moved out of the sun to show its colors.
March 19: Blue and 52 at 9.30. I was looking at BBC news with a check of the feeders. A half moulded Goldfinch was singing on top of the feeder post, its neck vibrating, beak fairly open for the high notes.
March 20: as I was working in the garden, at approx. 1-2pm (74 degrees, mostly sunny with high white clouds) a veritable concert all around (i.e. when I turned my hearing aid in any direction) there was a veritable concert. Both House and Gold finches (the latter also did their flight call while foraging on the branches); Juncos, Titmice and even a Chickadee (a first), several Cardinals, a Carolina Wren (almost "inside" my ear) and several woodpeckers with their serial calls, incl. one that sounded like a flicker, but I haven't seen one of those since last year.
March 21: 2 flickers high in an oak on a dead limb, one of them calling.
March 23: as we were leaving for a birding trip to Delaware, at 6.30am, a Robing was singing loudly an long as if it was territory announcement time. In Del. a singing Song, Field and Swamp Sparrow. We also heard three different Towhees calling.
March 25: 1st Towhee, male (on the feeder).
March 27: 1st Chipping Sparrow, 1 male only

April 1: grey and 49; the Towhee still alone, but sat on the feeder post and called.
April 3: 3 female Cardinal chasing each other thru the spruce and away while 1 male was feeding in the "covered bridge."
April 4: A male Redbelly gave a (not very sharp or high) roll and flew to a branch, soon to be followed by a female from the opposite direction. Copulation, after which the female flew to the brush by the creek and the male to the suet.
A male Cardinal peeled a seed and brought it to a female.
April 5: 2 Mourning Doves on the stone wall in a "parakeet act" before copulating
April 6: Sth jersey. On Jake's Landing Rd. 2 Yellow-throated and 1 Pine Warbler singing, but hard to locate and not only by me with my less than flexible neck. Then Marijke, my daughter, camping near the Dismal Swamp in NC sent me a picture of a Yellow-throated on a bare branch right in front of her. And she's not even Irish.
April 10: a Housefinch was singing softly while I was working in the gdn in the aft. A cool day with a chilly wind.
There were only 2 Bluejays in stead of the usual 3. They were courting and one brought something to the other.
Apparently the Redtails have abandoned their nest and they have not been around on their daily visits.
April 12: Copulating Cowbirds. Not what we need. But also a pair of the small downies, the feeding maneuver before copulation.
April 14: 5.30pm, 72, Car. Wren; Redb.wp. drumming, a flycatcher's 2 (or 3) not call, but I couldn't find it.
April 15:,33.30 pm. 82degr., Car. Wren, a Cardinal and a (Y. Runp?) Warbler. At 7.30 more singing: Towhee (sustained), 2 Cards, Titmouse, a Robin and one in constant alarm call, Redb. drumming.
April 16: 10-11am, 84 (went to 89!) Towhee, the Warbler, Cardinal, Song and Field Sp, Cowbird and a very loud que-arrk (of a Sapsucker?)
April 17: 70,  like yesterday, but no que-arrk or Warbler, but songs of Car. Wren and the Redw. Blackb. that came to the feeder from time to time, was singing at the neighbors (why go the New Jersey?).
Appril 27: 60, very windy. We went to New Jersey and were on Jake's Landing Rd, by 9am. Some birds were singing, mostly intermittently, among them a White-eyed Vireo and a Warbling Vireo as well as the Yellow-throated and Pine Warblers that have been there for a while now. But even a Cardinal was singing only between foraging. At 3pm, on the way home, we drove up and down the dirt road in Belleplain in absolute silence; stopping to scan the trees, not one bird was detected though at home this is the time that they forage again and often sing.

May 1: 48-74, grey after rainy night. At 10.30 while working in the garden a real chorus of bird song: cardinal, Robin, Song Sparrow, Housefinch as well as a non-resident singer with 4-5 clear and laud melodious flutes like a Veery or a Swainson Thrush.
May 2: 50-51, some soft rain. At 9.30 a soft 2-note see-see, repeated a few times, a Black and White W.?  At 10.30 a clear Housefinch; at 2.30 a clear Chipping Sparrow.
Last week the male Redb.wp. was foraging and flying off across the creek. Today both Redb. were foraging and flying off in the same direction, almost alternatively (they did so at least until May 27 when the leaves began to hide the tree trunks, but sometimes the rooted in the soil of the herb terrace).
May 3: 50-62, rain overnight. From 9.30-11, as I worked in the garden, 2 Cardinals, 2 Robins, 1 Titmouse, 3 Catbirds; 1 Yellow W.  and 1 Indigo Bunting across the road where a 20+ acre field has not been mowed since 2008 and now had thick brush with some 6+ft. junipers and several 10ft bushy trees.
May 4: 52-78, grey after some rain, sun in aft., rain at night with rumbles.  9.30-11.30 same as yesterday + Chickadee, with Mocking Bird and Redwing Blb. across the road.
     7-730pm: 1 Towhee, 3 Catbirds, 1 Robin, 1 Chipping Sparrow, 1 Orioles and 1 Woodthrush.
Haven't heard the Car. Wren since 4/17.
May 5: 58-70, hazy. 7.30-8am: Cardinal, Titmouse, Oriole, Robin, Towhee, Ch. Sparrow and a ventriloquist Blue Jay.
May 6: 54-68, looking like rain. 7am Robin and Red-eyed Vireo; 7 pm a Woodthrush.
May 11: 46-67, blue with high clouds, breezy. 2pm 1 Catbird and 1 Towhee singing steadily.
May 12: 52-78, blue, calm. 10am: a Scarlet Tanager, a Housefinch and a Chickadee foraging with an occasional song.
May 17: 59-74, n.breeze in Del. In the woods off rte 9, a lot of song 8.30-10.30 am and near Finis Pool and woods at noon: C.ythroat, Yellow, Prothonotary Ovenbird and La. Waterthrush; Wh. and Red-eyed Vireo, Orchard O., both Tanagers.
May 18-23: a pair of cardinals have been chasing each other. was the first nest disturbed?
a Robin feeding a single fledgling even tho there were 4 eggs; another Robin gathering nesting material.
May 20: 54-78, sunny, wile gardening, around 10am, 2 (or 3) B. orioles were dominating the song of Catbird, Cardinal and Housefinch.
May22: 56, grey, 7am, Woodthrush, Rose-br. Grossb., and a lot of different chipnotes.
May 24: 60-80, partly sunny, Belleplain dirt road etc. 6-30-10.20am, best song period 8-930; Worm-eating, Kentucky, Yellowthroated and Hooded warblers, Ovenbird, La. Waterthrush, Wh, and Red-eyed and Blue-headed Vireos, Acadian Flyc.,  Phoebe; a Yellow-breated Chat, a Peewee, lots of Marsh Wrens, a Va. Rail calling at Jake's Landing at noon. A Seaside Sparrow (3 songs) on Nummy Island in afternoon.
Bought a set of Birdsong Cd's, mostly to verify what I heard without seeing. It's confusing, but after repetitions, I think my memory of my birding buddy Charles' idents served me well.
May 28: 67-84, blue and humid, 4.30-530am a Robin almost continuously; 6am a Woodthrush's ee-oh-lay ending in a gurgle, while moving around; 7am Robin, Towhee, Cardinal, Rose-br. Grosbeak, 10am catbird wiht a Titmouse and Car.Wren down the creek.
May 31: 61-81, blue and calm (lots of bugs). Birding in Delaware, Odessa-Bombay Hk. Birds singing (8.30-10.30): Red and Wh.-eyed Vireos, C. Yellowthr., Yellow and Prothonotary Ws, Ovenbird, both Tanagers, Towhee, Blue Grosb., Acad. flyc., Great Cr. Flyc., Orch. O., Horned Lark, Song, Swamp, Field and Grasshopper Sparrows, Ind. Btg. Some songs on Ch.s identification.

June 3: 47-69, blue, humid. t-storm at 1.30; readbellies feeding fledglings.
June 6: 49-72, blue early, overcast by aft.noon; in mng a Robin singing continuously, oblivious to its apparent soar throat; a Goldf. singing now and then.
June 9: 59-81. sun/clouds; the "hoarse" Robin giving first 3 notes only, sounding a bit like a R.e. Vireo; 2 other Robons, a Towhee, a Goldfinch and something else far in the background, as I was fertiling the veg. herb. and containers.
June 11: 63-80, mostly overcast; at 4.30am 2 birds singing, one a Robin, the other more melodious, the Rose-br. Gr.beak probably.
June 14: 62-76, sun with high clouds. Robins, Car. Wren (only occasionally); the Towhee singing for 15 minutes at 8am in the hickory above the herb terrace.
June 15, 58-76, while working in the garden midmorning, the neighboring Mocking b. was doing its Cardinals and Robin stuff while a Card. was singing down the creek with a chewinking Towhee. Across the road a Goldf. and a Chestn. sided W. were singing while foraging and a Chipping Sp sang occasionally. One or more of the Catbirds around the house were joining in from time to time after I disturbed them.
June 21, 67-89 (after 2 days in 90s), at 5.20am a Catb. in front and a Card. in back; at 8.30 a Robin and a card. briefly. Around 10am a Catbird, a Ch.Sp., and a family of 4+? Chickadees all foraging Chickadee style; a Redb.Wp and a Nuthatch also foraging.
June 23: 62-83, from 7 to 8.30am a surprising concert: a Catb. in the bushes around me, a Towhee along the drive, a Robin nearby, a Goldf. a bit farther off, an Oriole and a Woodthrush came by pausing to sing while foraging and after that a Car. Wren around the house.

July 4, 68-92, humid in the middle of a heat wave; there has been no sustained singing and only a Catbird mumbles occasionally. The Car. Wren one time did three different songs in a row one aft. but mostly gives only its call, as does the Towhee. The Summer Silence has set in.
July 12, 59-87, blue and crisp: 6.30am the woodthrush was singing while foraging from my left in a half circle, in the brush, to my right. The eeh-oh-lay sounded a bit raspy, espec. in the "lay" that was actually a shortened slur. The last few days the Towhee has also been singing while foraging (at different times of the day); the first 2 notes clear as if it was a call and the thrill faster than in May and sometimes half inaudible or swallowed.