tree afire

“Saw a tanager in Sleepy Hollow," wrote Henry David Thoreau in his journal on May 20, 1853. "It most takes the eye of any bird. You here have the red-wing reversed, the deepest scarlet of the red-wind spread over the whole body, not on the wing-coverts merely, while the wings are black. It flies through the green foliage as if it would ignite the leaves."

Ignite the leaves indeed! It’s always a jolt to see a scarlet tanager, hidden away in the top of a tree, singing its raspy song. When you finally train your binoculars on the songster, it can take your breath away. These tanagers are only passing through the Tennessee Valley, although they do nest in the Smoky Mountains to the east. I saw the first one of the season with Rachael Barker. It was high in a tuliptree at the end of my driveway near the mailbox. Special delivery. It set the morning afire. And then again, this past Saturday, one was bouncing around a tree high over the Visitor Center at Ijams.

Thoreau was correct: it most takes the eye of any bird. And when it gives the eye back, you know that nothing quite like it will enter your field of view the rest of the day.


Photo credit: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0