October 28: fog

This was a delayed post from Thursday, October 28 .

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There's been a lot of fog this week. It came in with the warm weather from the south and it has been so thick that the other side of Weesuck Creek has been completely invisible. This morning the fog finally lifted over the creek and brought out the sun and the vivid colors of Pine Neck. The sudden change in weather pulled me out of the house and down the path to the water where I put up a American Woodcock -- not once but twice. It was the best bird of the week!

I reached the water in time to see some fishing Ospreys and to watch a couple of Common Grackle blitzes, brief and noisy, with hundreds of birds dropping to pay us a visit. The Grackles (there were some Starlings mixed in but it was mostly just Grackles) seem to move in a chaotic fashion but in fact they have their own systematic organization. The first scouts land and spread out over open areas and then gradually move into the woods. In the meanwhile, new arrivals come winging in, always leap-frogging over the grackles already on the ground and taking over the territory next door. Eventually, the whole flock turns over in this fashion or just takes off to look for another likely area to blitz.

Although the fog lifted over the creek, it remained stalled over the bay and Dune Road, usually quite visible, was simply not there. The change in weather has put a dead stop to migration (the odd Woodcock excepted); the hordes of Yellow-rumps and the various sparrows have as good as disappeared leaving only a few isolated individuals of each species. One bird that was not stopped by the change in weather was the American Robin with small groups flying over in no particular direction right into the peasoup; it's easy to tell when the Robins are on the move because they have very recognizable flight calls which presumably help to keep them together. If you hear a series of mysterious little 'sss' sounds coming from the skies, it's probably Robins on the move. One bird that warm weather brought back was the Royal Tern, also recognizable by its calls reverberating through the mist. Other birds that can be identified by sound are the two kinglets (but you have to be able to hear high frequencies to recognize the Golden-crowns) and the American Goldfinches which are still here in numbers.

The stormy weather that punctuated the fogs this week brought down tree branches and a lot of leaves but enough remain to make a colorful display. We don't have the sugar maples that make New England autumns so colorful but the Red Maple and Red Oaks take on a lot of color along with various shrubs and vines. Poison Ivy makes a particuarly beautiful display even more beautiful than its companion, the harmless Virginia Creeper. The Tupelos also show a lot of color but they color out early and are mostly stripped of their leaves by now. The whole effect of fog, wind, water and autumn color (plus white egrets and Great Blue Herons) makes a magnificent show, evoking traditional Chinese or Japanese landscape art.

Eric Salzman

sparrows at Ponquogue

October is sparrow month. I often like to say that our place has a good variety of habitat but that we lack classic sparrow grasslands or grassy edges. Strictly speaking that isn't really true. Although our "front lawn" -- the rapidly disappearing open space/meadow in front of the house -- hardly qualifies, the marsh is actually a kind of grassland. The dominant plants in the marsh proper are Spartina alterniflora and Spartina patens and we also have plenty of Phragmites australis and all three are grasses. And we do get the so-called marsh sparrows in the marsh: Saltmarsh (the most common), Seaside, Nelson's (in migration and winter) and even LeConte's (once; a veritable vagrant). Our common breeding sparrow, the redoubtable Song Sparrow, uses the marsh edges and sometimes ventures into the marsh itself to feed.

But the big influx of sparrows in October is marked by the arrival of large numbers of Swamp and White-throated Sparrows which along with Song Sparrows (some of which are undoubtedly new arrivals) feed in the bushy edges of the marsh and sometimes move further up into the woods where they will stay all winter. The White-throat even sings on warm days and it has one of the prettiest songs of any bird consisting of a melodic note or two followed by a bouncy rhythm. It also has a very noticeable loud 'chink' for an alarm call. Swamp also has a soft, warbler-like (or Phoebe-like) chip that is very recognizable. They are our most common sparrows at the moment.

Another sparrow that is rather common in migration and winter is the Chipping Sparrow but it isn't much noticed because (1) it is here all the time (it is a common breeder), and (2) it loses its distinctive red cap and white eye stripe in its non-breeding plumage and has a rather non-descript look. A less common sparrow at this time of year is the striking White-crowned Sparrow, one of the biggest and best-marked of its tribe (although most of the White-crowns that we see are young birds that have red-and-gray stripes instead of black-and-white stripes). Savannah, Field, Grasshopper and Vesper Sparrows, all breeders on Eastern Long Island, also turn up in migration and sometimes winter as well but take a little searching. Savannah is most common on Dune Road and in wintertime you can see its rare cousin, the Ipswich Sparrow which is a larger, plaer version of the Savannah. American Tree Sparrow is a northern breeder that winters here in some numbers.

Among the better sparrow finds are Fox Sparrow, and Lincoln's Sparrow (like a Swamp but more neatly marked and streaked), both seen in migration from time to time. Among the rarities that wander regularly to the East Coast, count Clay-colored Sparrow, Lark Sparrow, Henslow's Sparrow (a declining grassland species which formerly bred on Long Island and still turns up now and then) and Harris' Sparrow. Closely related to the sparrows (some people count them as sparrows even though they don't look 'sparrow-y') are the Eastern Towhee and Dark-eyed Junco, the former a local breeder and fairly common migrant, the latter a common migrant and winter bird. Finally, among birds that are not sparrows but look like one, I might mention the Dickcissel which does occur here in migration.

Over the years I've managed to spot and/or identify quite a few of the above list, mostly in and among our high tide bushes (Iva and Baccharis as well as Phragmites) which are currently in seed and attracting good numbers of sparrows, warblers, goldfinches and other birds. But this is tough sparrow birding. You see the bushes twitching and catch a bit of movement. But what is it? It is a real struggle to catch these birds in the brief instants that they perch out in the open on one of the bushes. Sparrows are hard enough to identify if you get a good look but they are also quite shy. The best local places to look for sparrows (and have a fighting chance to figure out what they are) are on Dune Road between Ponquogue Bridge and the Inlet. The road going to the old Ponquogue Bridge and the adjacent parking lots have a variety of sparrows at this time of year. Although they are flighty, they tend to return to the grassy edges where they can be studied at length. Patience is the prime requirement.

Eric Salzman

flocks

Maria Daddino sent me an e-mail reporting 100s of grackles all around her house and, as I was reading it, I looked out the window and what did I see? Common Grackles all over the place. When I went outside, the grackle din was deafening. They were not only spread out over the open areas around the house but they were on the ground all through the woods. Literally hundreds of Common Grackles, Quiscalus quiscala, feeding on the ground and engaging in a grackle gabble of extraordinary dimensions. What they talking about? Grackle gossip? Travel plans? There is obvious communication in these big flocks as they roam the territory. decide to drop in on Maria or Eric, and then, just as inexplicably, take off for someone else's back yard. All decisions seem to be made collectively -- by acclamation one might say if grackle squeaks and squawks can be thought of as acclamatory!

A couple of years ago I saw a flock over Riverhead that seemed to cover the sky -- literally tens of thousands of birds streaming overhead. There were a few other birds mixed in -- Red-winged Blackbirds, Brown-headed Cowbirds and Common Starlings -- in the flock but mostly it was grackles, grackles, grackles.

Grackles aren't the only blackbirds to flock up. The Red-wings tend to roost up at night and fly out to find food in fairly substantial pods. American Crows are getting flock-y as well and flocks of crows are called, rather charmingly, murders (this seems to be an old name going back to medieval England). There was a Murder of Crows making an awful racket and flying around the place for quite a while this morning and you can see why, on the eve of Halloween, they might stir up dark thoughts. There must have been two dozen birds in that crow bunch and it certainly seemed as though they were up to no good. Perhaps they were stirred up by a predator. Although I didn't see any hawks around this morning there was at least one feral cat which might easily have suggested mayhem to the collective corvid mind.

There was also a little mixed feeding flock of smaller birds moving through the woods, another sign of approaching winter. The birds in this collectivity consisted of the two kinglets, the two nuthatches, the two titmice (chickadees and titmice), two woodpeckers (Downy and Red-bellied) and at least one very shy Catharus thrush, probably a Hermit.

Eric Salzman

lots of birds and a good mushroom

Did I suggest in my last post that things are getting quieter down at the marsh at sunrise? This morning there were literally hundreds of birds moving in every direction but the flocks were so dominated by a few species -- Yellow-rumped Warblers, American Goldfinches, Red-winged Blackbirds plus a few sparrows -- that it was impossible to pick out anything else. What I couldn't see however I could hear: an Eastern Towhee, kinglets, nuthatches, chickadees, Blue Jays and Crows. If there were rarities, there were well hidden amidst the flocks of familiar avifauna.

Although this was not a good summer for mushrooms (too dry), fall rains have brought out a number of species, including some great edibles. In addition to the Hen-of-the-woods (Grifola frondosa) and the Honey Mushroom (Armillaria mellea), there has been a burst of Wood Blewits, one of the tastiest of the wild fungi. Wood Blewits have the distinction of being an example of a species that has a stable and recognizable English name while the scientific name (which is supposed to be universally recognized and therefore more stable than the common name) keeps shifting. I have seen it called, among other things, Clitocybe nuda, Lepista nuda, Tricholoma nudum, Tricholoma personatum, Lepista personata (the last two probably designating a closely related but different mushroom). In any case, our Blewits are light purple with firm flesh, densely packed gills, a smooth rounded cap, a short stem and a bulbous base.

Eric Salzman

The Sun Also Rises on Weesuck Creek

Our outlook is easterly and, if we get up in time, we get to see some gorgeous sunrises (our sunsets are mostly hidden by the woods around and behind the house). It's getting easier every day to meet the sunrise. This morning's official time was 7:15 am but, since the sun has to clear Pine Neck and, usually, a bank of clouds, the actual emergence of the fiery orb is usually a few minutes later. Yesterday morning, it looked like the Appalachians had moved off shore. A superb mountain silhouette lined the sky just beyond Pine Neck and Dune Road and the sun had to climb above to offer us the gift of its rays. This morning the cloud cover was more broken and the light effects more spectacular as the sunlight reflected color from the red/orange end of the spectrum off the clouds even before the giver of light could be seen. Giver of light and giver of warmth and dryness as well. If you're birding on these chilly mornings, the appearance of the sun makes a distinct difference; the birds come out to catch the warmth and, if there has been a lot of dew, to dry off. It's a very special moment.

You can probably guess that, if I'm writing about the sun and not the birds, these were slow mornings. The Birds of October were still present (Yellow-rumped Warblers, American Goldfinches, both kinglets, both nuthatches, chickadees, various sparrows) but these were the slowest mornings since the beginning of the month. Even so, there were at least two Merlins flying over early yesterday, a Red-tail today and the reappearance of Royal Terns after a week or two of absence. A Hermit Thrush popped up yesterday morning on the path that borders the property on the north side. Also Northern Bobwhite have been heard calling in the past few days and again this morning.

I've been thinking about Wednesday's Lincoln Sparrow. Although I have listed it as a first for the property, I'm sure that I have seen this bird before. The standard guide books don't mention it but Lincoln's and Swamp Sparrows, not always so easy to see well in their preferred habitat of dense shrubs at the marsh edge, are very similar. Just to confuse things a little more, most of the books show migrant and winter Swamp Sparrows as streaked. Every year we get an October influx of Swamps and many of them show at least light streaking. The difference is that the Lincoln's Sparrow streaking is dark and distinct and appears in as a well-marked band of streaks over a buffy ground; the rest of the underparts are white (not always so easy to see). The underparts of the Swamp Sparrow -- with or without faint streaking -- are rather dingy grayish.

Eric Salzman

add-ons

Add to the list of popular food items in or around the marsh: Seaside Goldenrod; Poison Ivy and Red Cedar berries.

Add to the list of Weesuck Creek birds: LINCOLN'S SPARROW!

The big flocks of birds present since the beginning of the month (Yellow-rumped Warblers, American Goldfinch, Black-capped Chickadees, Tufted Titmice, Swamp and Song Sparrows) are scattered all through the shrub layer at the marsh edge and into the area of mixed Iva, Baccharis and Phragmites. The big attraction for these birds are the seeds and berries of all these plants. The Golden-crowned Kinglets are here too, often feeding out in the mixed Phragmites/Baccharis zone, but as far as I can determine, they are picking off tiny insects and not eating seeds like the others.

It was another very birdy morning with the Lincoln's Sparrow appearing only at the very end of some extended bursts of activity. As I was rounding the corner to head back to the house, a sparrow popped up to the top of a bush. I glanced at it sideways. Oh, I thought, another Swamp Sparrow. Except that Swamp Sparrows don't have neat, dark streaks on the breast. Like a Swamp Sparrow, this was a smallish bird with a noticeably small bill, a broad gray eyebrow and a touch of an eye-ring. But it had strong streaking on the back as well as the front and at least a touch of buffy under thosee breast streaks (not as strongly colored as shown in the books but enough to contrast with the white -- not grayish -- underparts). This is a new bird for the property, #235 according to my best count to date!

There were lots of other birds in the vicinity. After have gone missing for a couple of days, Eastern Phoebes and Palm Warblers reappeared along with both nuthatches and a beautiful Nashville Warbler hunting below eye level.

Eric Salzman

mostly in the marsh

As I was coming out of the woods around the upper edge of the wetlands, the tide was dropping and I decided to venture out into the open marsh. Almost as soon as I had passed beyond the phragmites and out into the Spartina patens, a Wilson's Snipe jumped up and zig-zagged its way to the opposite side of the marsh. Wilson's Snipe (formerly Common Snipe and again Wilson's before that) is the American cousin of the European bird (which I saw this summer in Latvia). It was a first of the season for me.

But that's not all. Almost as soon as the Snipe had flown, something else darted low through the grass and into the higher Spartina alterniflora bordering the main water flow through the area, protesting vocally as it went. I'm not even sure if it was running or merely flying low but it disappeared entirely and no amount of coaxing or tromping around in the muck and mire could make it show itself. My guess is that it was one of the smaller rails but beyond that I cannot say.

A bit later in the day, after morning cloudiness had given way to blue skies and sunshine (and with the tide definitively gone out), I went back to the area and almost immediately flushed a Wilson's Snipe! No sign, alas, of the mystery bird.

One unusual sighting was that of a Northern Parula apparently feeding on the Marsh Elder. This plant, otherwise known as Iva frutescens, is in full display right now with its packets of white feathery tassels at the end of each of which there is a seed. Along with the Baccharis halmifolia or Groundsel (and also possibly the Phragmites or Big Reed), these plants offer nutrition to the flocks of Yellow-rumped Warblers, Black-capped Chickadees, American Goldfinches and at least three species of sparrows (Song, Swamp and White-throated) at this time of the year. Is it possible to add Parula Warbler to that list? Another unlikely denizen of the area early in the morning are Golden-crowned Kinglets which I have now seen and heard almost every day in the marsh edges. Are they also feeding on the seeds of these plants or do they find that these dense shrubs provide good cover at night?

There's one bird that has arrived in recent days and that I've now seen several times but, inexplicably, have forgotten to mention. The bird is the Black Duck which is a sometime breeder on the East End but is much more common as a migrant and winter bird on the South Shore bays. I saw a flock of six of them yesterday and again this morning.

Eric Salzman

Kinglets close up

Today seemed like it might be a hawk day (there were several around in the morning causing more than one Blue Jay ruckus). So I brought my spanking new spotting scope down to the pond to look for birds coming across the creek in the early afternoon. On good hawk days in the fall, the raptors fly west or southwest and most of them move across Weesuck Creek and come right over our place (sometimes they veer off to follow the Shinnecock shore to the southwest). But, ironically enough, my attention was distracted from any serious hawk-watching by a flurry of birds in the dead cedar directly opposite on the far shore of the pond. I ended up watching, not giant hawks and eagles, but tiny Golden-crowned Kinglets (our smallest bird, hummers always excepted) crawling around in the bare, moss-covered branches. I was even able to see the scarlet (the books say 'orange') crowns of the male birds -- a stunning color that is further enhanced by being surrounded by yellow and black -- truly a crown for a little king!

There were literally crowds of birds all along the marsh this morning with -- surprise! -- Yellow-rumped Warblers by the dozen...literally hundreds of birds in all. Either because the torrent of Yellow-rumps was so overwhelming as to command attention or because other birds have actually moved on, many other species seem to have disappeared or dropped drastically in numbers -- no Catbirds, no Phoebes, no Red-eyed Vireos. Both kinglets were present along with Blue-headed Vireos, Red-breasted Nuthatches, a few Swamp Sparrows and numbers of Robins and Flickers. The only other warbler seen was Common Yellow-throat. Also American Goldfinches, Chickadees and Titmice.

When large numbers of small passerine birds are on the move, the accipiters are rarely far behind. Both Cooper's and Sharp-shinned Hawks (Accipter cooperii and Accipiter striatus) are bird hawks and both species were skulking around in the woods, occasionally perched out in the open and were often chivied by the Corvid Corps: i.e. our Homeland Security crows and jays that regularly patrol the site. The hawks migrate along with their food supply and, unlike the buteos and falcons (Merlin excepted), they are well adapted to working in the woods.

Eric Salzman

wind & no wind

Yesterday's power winds from the northwest suggested (1) a major effort to strip the leaves off the trees (not quite successful), and (2) conditions conducive to getting some big birds into flight (also not very successful). Instead the first birds I saw were some of the smallest around: both kinglets, goldfinches, a smattering of warblers (almost all Yellow-rumped), both nuthatches and even a single high-flying Tree Swallow struggling desperately to make headway against the strong gusts. Plus a few Robins, Flickers and Blue Jays. Where were the hawks? Even the gulls seemed to be lying low.

By contrast, this morning was quiet and sunny and there were lots of birds -- all of them Yellow-rumped Warblers. Well, almost all. The kinglets and nuthatches were still around and there was a small run of sparrows. The most interesting observations were vocal: a calling Eastern Towhee (never saw it but the call is unmistakable) and several unusual sounds that I could not trace.

Eric Salzman

sparrows at Ponquogue

Went down to Ponquogue with Eileen Schwinn this morning to look for sparrows. The grassy and shrubby areas around the road from Dune Road to what's left of the old Ponquogue Bridge (just east of the new bridge) has always been our best hunting grounds for sparrows in fall migration in the Shinnecock area and this morning was no exception. We found Dark-eyed Juncos, White-crowned and White-throated Sparrows, Song, Field and, best of all, at least one LINCOLN SPARROW -- the last-named a slightly more petite version of the Song Sparrow with a small bill, a very even row of strong breast streaks on a buffy ground (cleanly cut off and white below), a distinctive gray supercilium and a buffy malar on both sides. The Juncos, White-crowned and Lincoln's Sparrows were all firsts of the season for me. Lincoln's Sparrow is a bird that I've seen out here only once or twice before; the only dated record that I could find was also in mid-October in the same area.

What we did not find was the possible Clay-colored Sparrow that Eileen saw here yesterday. We did find other birds besides sparrows, notably Northern Harrier, Northern Flicker, Northern Mockingbird, Eastern Phoebe, Golden-crowned Kinglets (on the ground in the sand!), a White-breasted Nuthatch (on a telephone pole!), the expected collection of Yellow-rumped Warblers and one Palm Warbler. There were a few small ducks in a pond just to the east of the road but I never did get a fix on them (they were probably teal but which kind I'm not sure).

Eric Salzman

blackbirds in a roost, Osprey on the creek, sparrows in silhouette

The main sign of life this morning down at the marsh was the huge racket being made by the Red-winged Blackbirds in their roost in the big stand of Phragmites on the Bay Avenue side of the marsh. This roost, which forms every fall, has been growing in past weeks and there may be as many as a couple of hundred birds overnighting there. For all the noise this morning -- chuckles, whistles, clucks and gurgles -- not a single bird was in sight; everyone was well hidden deep inside the thick stands of reeds. At one point, a Merlin came winging over and, almost immediately, all the jabbering stopped as if turned off by a switch. Only when the falcon was good and gone, did it pick up again. Normally, this blackbird confabulation would result in a few birds hitching their way up the reeds and then, little by little, smaller and larger groups would begin leaving, culminating in a major exodus that would empty out the roost. As I was waiting and watching, a few birds popped out and flew around a bit -- scouts perhaps? -- but apparently they didn't like what they saw as most of them flew right back in. Gradually the noise died down and I fully expected the whole mass of birds to exit at any moment. But it didn't happen -- not at least on my watch. Eventually I just gave up, left the marsh and resumed my rounds. Sooner or later these birds must have flown out to look for something to eat but apparently their decision-making process was deadlocked early in the morning.

Did I suggest in a recent post that the Osprey migration had fallen off? Well yesterday there were as many as 7 or 8 birds flying over the creek or sitting on branches or tree stubs opposite. They were catching fish too with as many as four Osprey tearing into their catch of the day at any given time; other birds were seen flying with a glint of silver reflected from the sea creature caught in their talons -- on their way, one presumes, to find a place to dine on their take-out repast. And while I was Osprey-watching, a Peregrine Falcon popped out of the Pine Neck woods and worked its way across the mouth of the creek and across our marsh eventually disappearing over the trees.

Also of note from yesterday were two sparrows sitting in the dead cedar on the far side of our pond. Unlike the common Song Sparrows and the now widespread Swamp Sparrows, these were small, flat-headed, Ammodramus-type sparrows. Since they were seen only in silhouette and I couldn't see any of other field marks, I can't completely rule out competing possibilities but the odds are very good that they were Grasshopper Sparrows, a bird I have seen here in migration only once before: in mid-October, 2007.

Eric Salzman

another good morning

When you get four days in a row of high activity during migration season, the question comes up: are these new birds that just came in last night or did they arrive on Friday or over the weekend and are taking a pause in their journeys to rest and bulk up? Unless you actually see them coming in at first light (which happens sometimes), the question is difficult to answer. There are, to be sure, resident birds; these are the ones that hang around all year long and they were singing and calling this morning as though spring had finally arrived (it certainly felt like it). On the other hand, the changing composition from day to day of the birds that make up the morning rush suggests that new ones have been arriving. Admittedly, there is always the possibility that migrants may use a larger area as a waystop and the changes may merely reflect local movements in the area. Without actually banding or otherwise marking the birds, it's impossible to be completely sure.

In any case, there were a lot of birds, dominated once again by 'rumps & pumps' -- many Yellow-rumped Warblers and smaller numbers of tail-pumping Palm Warblers (including a couple of Yellow Palm Warblers in the mix). Two birds that appeared in noticeably larger numbers were Blue-headed Vireos and White-throated Sparrows; until this morning the White-throats were unaccountably scarce (now we can expect them to be with us all winter).

Among the more unusual birds were another trifecta of warblers. One was the not-uncommon Blackpoll Warbler in its fall Pine-Warbler-like guise (wingbars, yellow wash on the breast, streaked on the back). The second is the Common-Yellowthroat-like fall MOURNING WARBLER with its plump, short-tailed look, grayish-olive head with complete (or almost complete) eye-ring, light lemony yellow wash all the way underneath; although the head was not distinctly grayish there was some contrast between the head coloration and the back which the Yellowthroat lacks). I've seen this plumage a number of times now and am more and more convinced that it is an immature Mourning Warbler.

The third warbler is still more challenging. This was a Vermivora warbler with an olive-gray back, an indistinct eyeliner and a rather even dull yellowish cast underneath. I don't believe this was a Tennessee Warbler which, as I observed the other day, has a much more greenish back, less yellow in the vent, a stronger eye line and a shorter tail. So I'm calling this one an ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER. The bird was feeding fairly high in the trees but I don't think that rules out this species in any way; Orange-crowned Warblers, in spite of their reputation for frequenting low, open areas, can often feed higher up. This is not a bird I see here very often but I have two good records from almost the same date in mid-October, 2009. In my opinion, both Mourning and Orange-crowned Warblers are more common than is generally realized; they are just very easy to overlook or misidentify.

Other warblers seen were the usuals: American Redstart and Common Yellowthroat. There was a Baltimore Oriole flyover and a few Brown-headed Cowbirds mixed in with the very numerous (and very vocal) Red-winged Blackbirds. Plus a number of Eastern Phoebes, a few Cedar Waxwings as well as both nuthatches. I actually saw a White-breasted Nuthatch nuthatching -- that is, hacking at a nut (actually an acorn wedged in a crack in the bark of a Pitch Pine). Several birds were seen feeding on the seeds of the ultra-common Marsh Elder (Iva frutescens): Yellow-rumped Warbler, Palm Warbler, Swamp Sparrow and American Goldfinch. These are all birds that like the marsh environment and get through the winter here by feeding on these abundant seeds.

Marsh Elder's counterpart at the edges of the marsh is Groundsel-Tree (Baccharis halimifolia) which is just now developing its wind-blown seed bundles (each seed is attached to a light feathery white bristle that allows the seed to be dispersed by the wind; it is these striking white bundles that make such a spectacular display at this time of the year. There are also a lot of butterflies and dragonflies on the move, the former mostly Monarchs, Red Admirals and Mourning Cloaks, the latter including the big Green Darners, at least two kinds of Saddlebags (red and black) and one or more species of the late-season red Meadowhawks -- neat medium-sized libellulidae (the fancy name for dragonflies) that are next to impossible to pin down as to species.

Eric Salzman

...and on the third day

The third morning after Friday's big rush was again active. This time there were three pairs of eyes instead of one with the East Quogue A team -- Eileen Schwinn and Mike Higgiston -- in attendance.

New for the season: a Brown Creeper climbing up the shingles of a neighbor's house, a Field Sparrow out in the marsh with other sparrows, and White-crowned Sparrow seen by Mike Higgiston on a neighbor's hedge (but not seen by me).

The only really unusual bird was a possible Mourning Warbler, this one with a thin eye ring but very washed out and looking more like an immature Common Yellowthroat than a Mourning Warbler (it never occurred to me before that there could be a confusion between Mourning Warbler and Yellowthroat but with the immatures this is a real issue!). I'm calling this one a Mourning Warbler because the yellow underparts were brightest on the belly and the head was quite gray. For comparison, several immature Common Yellowthroats were also seen with the difference being that the head and back were more or less uniform in color and the yellow underneath was brightest under the chin and tail and washed out on the belly.

There were, unsurprisingly, many many Yellow-rumped Warblers and they were accompanied, as usual, by some Palm Warblers and Ruby-crowned Kinglets. One other warbler seen: American Redstart. One other kinglet seen: Golden-crowned.

Also on the day list (as on previous days): singing Mockingbird and Carolina Wrens, Catbird, Eastern Phoebe, a couple of empids (one with a noticeable eye ring, one without), Tree Swallows high overhead, Blue-headed and Red-eyed Vireos, a few Robins and a couple of Flickers, Song, Swamp and White-throated Sparrows, Goldfinches and House Finches. Also a handful of Osprey fishing on the creek and three early morning N. Harriers working the marsh (or was it the same Harrier circling around and coming back over and over again?).

Eric Salzman

some good second-day warblers

The second day after a big migration push -- such as the one that took place yesterday -- can sometimes bring some interesting new arrivals and this morning was no exception. A plump, short-tailed, gray-headed warbler with broken eye-rings bouncing around in low shrubs at the marsh edge was a MOURNING WARBLER; like many fall Mourning Warblers (presumably immatures), this one had a slightly yellowish throat but there was a clear demarcation of the hood running across the breast. In case there was any question about the ID, the bird obligingly called; its rather scratchy/dinky 'twit' sound rules out its Western twin, MacGillivray's Warbler. Another good bird was a TENNESSEE WARBLER (small, short-tailed, olive-green on the back and greener on the crown and rump with a thin but strong eye line and supercilium) rummaging around in the Baccharis and Iva bushes; again, a first-fall bird. And a third in this outstanding warbler trifecta was a CAPE MAY WARBLER in the lower branches of an oak tree at the woodland edge. This was a heavily streaked bird with the black streaking over a strong yellow ground. The streaking extended all the way up to the throat and the yellow ground covered the underparts from the face and neck all the way down to the vent; only the undertail was white. This bird could have been a breeding plumage male except for the lack of chestnut facial patches; even so, there was the barest wisp of color -- a kind of rusty visual echo -- where the patch should have been.

As expected, there were still quite a few Yellow-rumped Warblers around accompanied by somewhat smaller numbers of their usual entourage: tail-wagging Palm Warblers and bouncing, cracking Ruby-crowned Kinglets (they make a cracking noise and some even show their ruby crowns). Golden-crowned were not very far away and again easy to see at lower than eye level. The warbler list included Pine, Blackpoll, American Redstart, and Common Yellowthroat. Other birds of the morning included Blue-headed Vireo (no Red-eyed!), a single Eastern Phoebe, a solitary calling Fish Crow flying over, a very few Catbirds, Song and Swamp Sparrows, Am Goldfinches and House Finches, many American Robins on the move and big flocks of Red-winged Blackbirds and Common Grackles. There were two Greater Yellowlegs in the pond first thing in the morning and a flight of about a dozen yellowlegs -- probably all of this species -- came overhead a bit later. Also later in the day there were flocks of D-c Cormorants and Canada Geese on the move. And it was a decent raptor day as well with several N Harriers, at least one Am Kestrel and one Merlin and quite a few accipiters, both Cooper's and Sharp-shinned -- all noted in an hour or so of raptor watching. A few Osprey also turned up but, for the first time, there were none perched on the dead stubs at the far end of Pine Neck. The big Osprey push of the past week or two seems to be over and I have the impression that the local Osprey family may have taken off for winter quarters. Also missing: Royal Terns; not a one seen or heard.

Eric Salzman

a big morning

This was the big migrant morning that we've been waiting for. It was, not surprisingly, overwhelmingly dominated by Yellow-rumped Warblers. As the sun came up, dozens -- make that hundreds -- of birds appeared at the edge of the marsh, mostly popping up out of the phragmites, groundsel and marsh elder and into the cedars and oaks nearby. These warblers (we used to call them Myrtles, a name I still prefer) were accompanied by fair numbers of tail-wagging Palm Warblers (including at least one 'hypochrysea' or 'Yellow' Palm Warbler, a subspecies that we see more commonly in the spring) plus the season's first (at least in my view) Ruby-crowned Kinglets. I also had my first good views of Golden-crowned Kinglets, a few of which were also working the marsh edge instead of the tall pines and oaks they usually prefer. I've suspected their presence in recent days but this was the first time I had a look at them and, since they were uncharacteristically low, I could actually see the golden crowns!

That's not all. My favorite (my nomination for Best Bird of the Day) was a singing Purple Finch perched high on the big tupelo at the head of the marsh. It was in a female-type plumage (this is one case where the female plumage makes the bird easier to identify) but it was, no doubt, a first-year male.

Other warblers were American Redstart and a Pine Warbler type with streaks on the back -- not a Pine Warbler at all but a Blackpoll in fall plumage (also the first seen this season). Both Red-eyed and Blue-headed Vireos were well represented. Other birds included a morning burst of Am Robins with a few N. Flickers mixed in, a number of Eastern Phoebes (there's one fluttering around outside the kitchen window as I type this), Eastern Wood-pewee, some high-flying Tree Swallows, both nuthatches (the White-breasted was the first of the season; the Red-breasted has been here for a while), Marsh and Carolina Wrens (both singing), Song and Swamp Sparrows plus the usual mimids (Mockingbird & Catbird), corvids (crows & jays) and larids (gulls, that is; no terns at all).

There were V lines of D-c Cormorants overhead all morning. The recent parade of fishing and migrating Osprey continued with up to 5 and 6 birds on the creek at a time. Judging by the noisy crows and jays, there were probably more than a few raptorial visitors around but I saw only three: a Red-tailed Hawk soaring over Pine Neck, another being chased across the creek by a pack of crows, and a Northern Harrier that came winging its way over the creek seemingly unnoticed by the jays and crows (who also ignore the Ospreys).

And not to forget: two Box Turtles active in the warm weather: one with bright yellow markings and a bright orange eye (presumably a male) and a slightly smaller one that was mostly black with orange highlights and dark eyes (presumably a female). I know you can tell the sexes apart by looking at the plastrons but, as they completely ignored me, I preferred to just let them go their own way.

Eric Salzman

phrags and a Merlin

Although conventional wisdom holds that phragmites -- the tall reed that seems to spring up everywhere but especially in wet spots and marsh edges -- is of no use to wildlife, I find that many birds use it as a place to bed down for the night or as a resting place during migration. When I walk the marsh edge at sunrise (getting easier and easier to catch these days), I often see birds stirring themselves and coming out of the phragmites to warm up or dry off in the sunlight and feed. There were Black-capped Chickadees, Yellow-rumped Warblers and American Goldfinches in that category this morning. Also, Red-winged Blackbirds commonly roost in these reeds and, on occasion, Downy Woodpeckers seem to feed on the stems. So perhaps the phragmites is not as utterly useless as some claim (or perhaps the birds are just adapting to it).

Other birds seen this morning included Eastern Phoebe, two or three Red-breasted Nuthatches, Pine and Palm Warblers and all three mimids (Catbird, Brown Thrasher, N. Mockingbird). At one point, there were two Osprey feeding on their catches (good-sized fish) next to one another on dead stubs at the far end of Pine Neck opposite plus three more birds circling over the creek. But the outstanding bird of the morning was a perched adult female Merlin at medium height on a stub overlooking the pond: a dark brown bird with a creamy stripe extending back from the eye, a weak 'moustache' (really sideburns), heavy dark streaking on the breast, striped tail and, when it finally took off, a low, powerful flight. This is the classic female (could be an immature I suppose) of the 'columbarius' subspecies, the common eastern Merlin, also sometimes called the Taiga Merlin, indicating its far-north breeding ground.

Eric Salzman

weather, birds, mushrooms & asters

The continuous streak of lousy weather has made things difficult for birds and birders alike. The rain itself has been a problem but not so much as the high winds and high tides which have flooded out all the paths around the edge of the marsh and even up into some trails that usually stay dry. This morning's tide was high but not quite as bad as that of recent days and there was little or no rain or wind. I managed to catch up with one flock of mostly Tufted Titmice (Titmouses?) accompanied by American Redstart, Northern Parula, Black-and-White Warbler, a few Yellow-rumped Warblers, an Eastern Phoebe, a Brown Thrasher and, by sound only, a Northern Waterthrush. Also a Red-breasted Nuthatch or two, the usual Am Robins, Crows and Blue Jays plus a medium-sized Accipiter (probably a female Sharp-shinned Hawk) that was being chased across the creek by the crows.

I tried to track down some high-pitched sounds that I'm pretty sure were emanating from some Golden-crowned Kinglets but I could not verify this. However Derek Rogers, the preserves manager for the Nature Conservancy, reports a flock of migrants this morning at Pine Neck, just across the creek, that included the uncommon Yellow-throated Vireo as well as Golden-crowned Kinglets and other warblers and vireos.

Mushrooms, not necessarily edibles, have sprouted everywhere -- notably the yellow form of the Amanita muscaria, the notorious Fly Mushroom (that's the one, usually shown as red with white spots on top and a troll underneath; it's more hallucinogenic that deadly poisonous but I'm not recommending it). And there are a few pockets of blue asters as well as some of the smaller white asters, all adding to the fall colors that are starting to come in.

Eric Salzman

birds of October

Some of the birds of October arrived last night following the tropical rainstorms of the previous few days.

The morning dawned bright, cool, clear and blue-skied and the birds took advantage; migration, which had been bottled up all week was released. Many of the species that appeared were first-of-the-season arrivals. In this category were some old friends: Yellow-rumped Warbler, Blue-headed Vireo, White-throated and Swamp Sparrow. Other migrants on view were Yellow-billed Cuckoo, E. Phoebe, a couple of Traill's Flycatcher-type empids (i.e. Willow or Alder Flycatcher), Red-eyed Vireo, Palm Warbler, American Redstart, Black-and-white Warbler, Common Yellowthroat (male with full black mask), at least one Baltimore Oriole, a few Tree Swallows overhead, and numbers of Black-capped Chickadees, Red-breasted Nuthatches, Song Sparrows, N Flickers, Gray Catbirds and American Robins (most of them probably migrants rather than local birds).

Considering the weather, the raptor flight was disappointing. There were a few high-flying Osprey (obvious migrants) plus a big Blue Jay row that ended when a large female Cooper's Hawk came streaking out of nowhere and, Blue Jays in hot pursuit, high-tailed it out of sight.

Eric Salzman

wind, rain and mushrooms

This morning brought a furious wind storm but, for the first couple of hours at least, no rain at all. Then, when the rains came in late morning, the winds mysteriously stopped. In weather conditions like this, only some of the larger birds were willing to take to the air; most creatures simply hunkered down.

The rain of the past few days has produced something that has been missing all summer: mushrooms! I found a very fresh chicken mushroom (Polyporus or Laetiporus sulfureus), a glorious Hen of the Woods (Grifola frondosa), a few boletes and russulas, and, next to a neighbor's driveway, a burst of Honey Mushrooms (Armillaria mellea), all good edibles. I took a few of the larger caps of the last-named and found a new and highly sinful recipe for them (suffice it to say that both butter and sour cream were involved). When I went back today, the heads the entire crop had been decapitated -- whether by the gardeners (in an unnecessary burst of diligrence) or by another, unknown mushroom picker, I cannot say. For many years, I was the only birdwatcher in East Quogue and now there are several. Perhaps the same is true in the field of mycology, the study of mushrooms, or, more precisely, mycophagy, the eating of mushrooms (to be a successful mycophagist you have to be at least something of a mycologist!).

Eric Salzman