1905.
May 5
  Clear wind E. in A.M., S.W. in P.M. Heavy hoar frost this morning.
Ther. 33 degrees - 64 degrees.
  Arrivals Yellow-throated Vireo (1 in full song W. Bed. opp. Ball's Hill, 7 A.M.);
Scarlet Tanager silent (male at farm in blossoming plum tree at noon);
Wood Thrush (male in full song in Barrett Run at farm about sunset.
It sang like the bird that was there last summer).
  Despite the remarkably cold weather & the equally remarkably
backward condition of vegetation the May birds are arriving
every night and most of them considerably in advance of their
usual dates. They are coming scatteringly, however, and there has
been no real rush since the 3rd. Besides the new ones noted
above there was a marked increase to-day in the numbers
of Nashville Warblers, Yellow Warblers, Redstarts, Maryland Yellow throats
& Grosbeaks.
  At 8 A.M. saw a pair of Downy Woodpeckers in young oaks
behind Ball's Hill behaving very strangely. They kept flying from
tree to tree flapping their wings slowly & feebly like butterflies,
sometimes moving on a level plane sometimes, in long loops,
occasionally sailing from tree to tree in a long, deep loop.
Their wings had strange fur-like appearance due, probably, to
the way they were held or flexed. They both uttered a low
hoarse clattering cry almost incessantly. No doubt this was a
love performance but they were male & female & both "showed off" in
the same way. Both sexes drum, also.
  At 8.30 A.M. as I was near the Barrett spring I heard
twice & perfectly distinctly the long quavering laugh of a Loon.
The bird was apparently flying north over Birch Field.