blue sky

Both Saturday and Sunday were classic fall blue-sky days: bright sunshine, moderate temperatures and windless mornings with wind picking up later in the day. The Osprey migration noted at the end of last week virtually ceased. Whereas, there were five or six birds over Weesuck Creek almost continuously from early morning until late in the day on Thursday and Friday, there were few birds over the weekend. Some noisy Crow and Blue Jay agglomerations suggested the presence of some unwanted (from a corvid point of view) raptors but I only saw a single Sharp-shinned Hawk high-tailing it over the creek in the wrong direction trying to escape the jays. 

The weather suggested the possibility of migrants but there were only minimal movements. The most notable birds were Eastern Phoebes (on both days), flocks of Cedar Waxwings pausing to gobble some Tupelo berries and then moving on, Red-eyed Vireo, Brown Thrasher, a Nashville Warbler (this morning; in good plumage), at least one Northern Waterthrush, several American Redstarts and Common Yellowthroats, a female Indigo Bunting (also this morning), small flocks of American Goldfinches and House Finches, as well as American Robins and N. Flickers moving in the usual wrong direction (southwest to northeast). Actually the big bird events of the last few days have been the drop-ins of hundreds of Common Grackles all around the house -- both in the open areas and in the adjacent woods -- with their not-to-be-forgotten jangle of choral creaks, squawks and squeaks. This is an amazing phenomenon but grackle be-ins are not exactly what most bird watchers are watching for.

There have been a few butterflies but the big insect presence has been dragonflies: mostly those big Common Green Darners which always appear in large numbers over the marsh at this time of year but also including Black Saddlebags and a small red Meadowhawk, probably either a White-faced or a Ruby.

Eric Salzman