Gullible

90 blue-gray gnatcatcher
91 ring-billed gull
92 wood thrush
93 barn swallow
94 common nighthawk

Five species seen or heard in the last two weeks: gnatcatcher (on a wildflower walk in Rock Bridge State Park), wood thrush (same, Three Creeks Conservation Area), barn swallow (around the countryside), nighthawk (nighttime streets of Columbia), and ring-billed gull (strip-mall parking lot in Madison, Wis.). I first glimpsed the gulls at a small lake, then a few days later had up-close views in a parking lot a mile from the lake. Though half a dozen gulls cruised around for edibles, a single crow easily kept them at bay when they discovered a sandwich, and also flushed them from lightpole perches. A gull is slightly larger, and they had numbers, but the crow ruled the asphalt kingdom.