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