birds of a feather

In the past few days I've been looking out for the Bank Swallows that have recently been hunting over our marsh and pond but instead I'm finding Tree Swallows. This morning there were two Tree Swallows over the Weesuck Creek shoreline directly opposite my vantage point on the west side of the pond. These birds were -- and I choose the verb carefully -- playing with a white feather, tossing it into the air and pursuing it with determination. Tree Swallows are known to love feathers which they use to line their nests and there is an excellent source of white feathers right on our shoreline where the Mute Swans and their cygnets habitually roost; from the dock next door you can see the hollowed-out dune grass lined with white swan feathers and, on occasion, occupied by the swans themselves (I think they may spend the night there). According to Pete Dunne's "Essential Field Guide Companion" -- a book I highly recommend as an aid to serious birdwatching -- the Tree Swallow "carries (usually white) feathers aloft and, releasing them, playfully pursues them in the air" which is exactly what these swallows were doing. They are good flyers (almost as good as the Barn Swallows) and put on quite a show until eventually the feather was carried way into the marsh by a gust of wind and the birds moved on. I assume that this behavior is associated with courting and/or breeding season activities which would imply that these birds are nesting somewhere around. They are cavity nesters using mostly tree holes or bird boxes. Perhaps they are using boxes on Pine Neck on the other side of the creek. On this side the only possibilities would be old woodpecker holes or perhaps one of the Purple Martin boxes or gourds set up at the far corner of our marsh near the town dock. It that possible? Would the martins allow it? Must go over there some time and check it out.

Two other marsh/creek birds that show up occasionally were both seen this morning: Green Heron and Belted Kingfisher. They are, one hopes, nesting somewhere in the area but they seem to here only irregularly. Also a single Willet was on guard duty at the top of the scraggly cedar on the pond. He (I assume it's a he but there's no way to tell) seems to be getting used to me and has stopped coming after me. But there is one common local creature that he loves to chase. Yes, the American Crow. The Willet, like the Eastern Kingbird, goes right after marauding crows. Willets are not quite as aggressive as the kingbirds but they are big, have a long and threatening bill and make a lot of noise. All the commotion brings in the Red-winged Blackbird males which come out of the reeds one by one, like RAF Spitfires in the Battle of Britain, dive bomb the crow and peel off as the next spitfire enters the fray. The crow seems to get the message and hightails out of the marsh, the blackbirds head back to home base and the Willet returns to its sentinel post in the scraggly cedar.

Eric Salzman