celebrating Independence Day with birdsong

I did a July 4th walk this morning for Sofo (South Fork Natural History Society) at the Grace Estate, a walk that was focused on birdsong. It was not obvious that either birders or birds would show up but in fact there was a reasonable turnout and, with a little effort, we were able to pick out some typical songs and calls. Although peak singing season is past, there is often a revival of song in early July and I was banking on that when this event was scheduled. Many, perhaps most advanced birders do a lot of their birdfinding by sound but a lot of people who enjoy watching birds struggle with the challenges of identifying the songs and calls. So the idea was to offer some help in how to recognize the common songs of our local birds and also to explain the distinctions and differing functions between songs and calls. But it's difficult to do a field exercise in avian vocalizations if the birds are not vocalizing or sounding off only once in a while.

The walk started at 8 am on Northwest Road by the wooded wetlands near Scoy Pond. At that hour of the morning, the air was still cool and a few birds -- Yellowthroat, Catbirds, Chickadees -- were singing. Further up on the trail, near Scoy Pond, we had glimpses of singing Yellow Warblers and calling Downy Woodpecker as well as glints of American Robins, Red-winged Blackbirds and distant Great Crested Flycatchers, Eastern Wood-pewees, Red-eyed Vireos and Red-bellied Woodpecker. Other birds heard were far-off Baltimore Orioles (probably young begging orioles), Brown-headed Cowbird, Northern Cardinal, Blue Jays, Crows and a calling raptor, probably a Cooper's Hawk. Plus a few unidentified calls and at least one mystery warbler (a possible Am Redstart but it didn't sound like one). Plus croaking frogs at the end of the pond.

At trail's end, on the bay opposite Barcelona Neck and the entrance to Northwest Harbor, we had good views of singing Prairie Warbler, always a nice find. Prairie Warbler is the singer with the unforgettable little rising chromatic scale repeated over and over again. This bird, seemingly offended by our intrusion, followed us a ways down the trail as he (yes, it was a male) escorted us out of his territory!

No Ovenbird, and only one or two Wood Thrush calls. By the time, we headed back on the trail, the heat of the day had overtaken both birders and birds. A veritable heat wave was upon us and the birds mostly closed down. Next time, I'll try to schedule this walk earlier in the season and earlier in the day!

Eric Salzman