We stopped at Fort Hill yesterday hoping to see some butterflies or some new wildflowers and were greeted by the Northern Bobwhite calling his distinct call, “Bob WHITE!”
When I was a little girl my Dad, who was a bird lover, taught me many of the different bird calls. When I heard this “Bob WHITE!” I turned to Phil and said, “It’s a Northern Bobwhite. I remember the call from my Dad.” I have not heard it in probably 50 years, nor have I seen a Bobwhite in probably that long.
We stood there as one Northern Bobwhite flew out of the brush, followed by another one. One landed on a nearby tree where we got some good photographs. He stood on the branch and sang out “Bob WHITE!” for about 20 minutes!
You can see his exquisite colors in the first photograph and him singing away in the second photograph.
We looked up on our bird identification app and Fort Hill is the only place on Cape Cod that anyone has seen a Northern Bobwhite this year!
Such an unbelievable treat!
Thank you! I’ve always wanted to see one! Very very cool!
Yes, it was very, very cool! 🙂
When I was a kid vacationing in Cape Cod (the 60’s) these birds were EVERYWHERE! In little coveys of about 12 birds on the ground.
I am glad they are back because I haven’t seen them around in 40 years.
I live next to Sandy Neck Park in West Barnstable and had the
unbelievable treat of hearing the loud and clear “Bob WHITE”
song this afternoon, coming from my neighbor’s yard. I could
not see the bird but was very excited because as others have
said, this is a childhood memory from summers in East Dennis
during the 1950’s and 1960’s. Fingers crossed our Northern
Bobwhite population is growing once again!