Bird calls

Nature article by Earl Plato
“teacher-teacher-teacher” That was what we heard deep into a wetlands with knee boots. Naturalist Ernie Giles, Debbie a botanist and me a nature lover sloshed along. South of Niagara Falls is an extensive wetlands called Willougby Marsh. No visible trails. Ernie our fauna and flora expert stopped. There we three marvelled at the tallest Jack-in-the-Pulpit I had ever seen. Almost four feet tall! A Cooper’s hak soared over on this bright but very humid day. It was late June. Ernie Giles the complete naturalist. Keen eyesight, keen hearing and a wealth of knowledge makes up this man. Ernie stopped. He heard scratching sounds. He motioned to Debbie and I to stop. Look below. That was what we saw. An ovenbird was emerging from its nest. My first. This warbler gets it name from its peculiar ground nest. What we saw that day resembled a miniature Dutch oven. The ovenbird is olive-brown above and white below with dark streaks. Some call it a wood warbler. Ernie smiled at us two teachers. “Do you know its call?” it’s a loud staccato song - “teacher, teacher, teacher.”
We watched as the ovenbird oblivious to us entered its side entrance. A neat bird for this old teacher.
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“Peter, Peter, Peter” That was a familiar call. I walked down the lane at Bruce Beach on the Lake Huron shore. Across the road in a thicket I recognized the call of a Tuffted titmouse.This sparrow-sized social bird adopted us on this last week ofuly of 2009.
Loud and clear just outside our beach cabin came the morning greeting - “Peter, Peter, Peter” Another neat bird. Look it up if you don’t know it.