young birds moving on out

The Purple Martin young seem to have all hatched out but the birds continue to be active in and around the colony as well as over the creek and marsh. In contrast, the local Barn Swallows essentially disappeared a couple of days ago. Although, I didn't mention it in my Cupsogue reports, there were large numbers of Barn Swallows in the reeds at Pike's and Cupsogue and they have been generally active in large numbers along Dune Road. Barn Swallows tend to move in family groups into the reeds along the bay after breeding and this can be considered the beginning of their migrations. Mixed in are a few Tree Swallows, the vanguard of the even bigger Tree Swallow movements along the shore in August and early September.

Yesterday morning, I put up a Great Blue Heron from the marsh. This appeared to be a first-year juvenile, probably the same one that has been hanging around all spring and summer (these birds, not being in breeding condition, do not leave their winter territory for the breeding grounds). The expected return of the breeding Great Blues has not started yet around here. In the meanwhile, kingfishers have become regular visitors on the creek and there have been a male and a female around, raising hopes that they will resume nesting in the area. When Belted Kingfishers take over a waterway around here, they seem to remain in permanent possession all year round.

This was a very successful year for Song Sparrows and Red-winged Blackbirds, both breeding all around the marsh. The anxious adults and timid young were formerly features of my morning walks in recent weeks but the birds have now scattered and are much less apparent as I move along the edge path.

Little flocks of young birds turn up in the woods. The chickadees and titmice move in family groups but another apparent assemblage consisted of a young Downy Woodpecker, a young Carolina Wren and a young N. Cardinal. Perhaps just an accidental coming-together of these very different species.

Speaking of Northern Cardinal, Mike Bottini points out that it was omitted from my account of southern birds that have appeared or increased in our area. He is quite right and I had intended to include but it got left out accidently. It seems hard to imagine but there was a time (perhaps the 1940s) when the Cardinal was so rare in this area that its appearance sent the birding community running to add it to their local lists! According to Eaton in his 1914 "Birds of New York State", it nested only in Richmond (Staten Island) and Rockland Counties but it apparently disappeared even from those sites and didn't return until much later. It wasn't known to nest on Eastern LI before the 1950s but by the time I was birding in the '60s and 70s, it had become established and was multiplying rapidly. The Cardinal is a year-round resident so it tends to be stationary on its home territory. When it does become established, it gets an early start on spring. It starts singing early and it breeds early and often. Young birds around at this time of the year are likely to be from a second or even a third brood!

Eric Salzman