Early spring in Maple Swamp

This has been a very early spring following on a dry, mild winter and nowhere is this more obvious than in Maple Swamp. The weather this morning was damp and the ground-water levels are strikingly low with pond and swamp levels looking like mid-summer. But plants are leafing out, violets, dogwood and oaks are in flower and the first signs of spring are abounding.

I went out this morning with Frank Quevedo, the director of the South Fork Natural History Museum and Nature Center (SOFO) and Barbara Blaisdell, board member and treasurer of same, and the place was quite bird-lively -- with both migrants moving through and residents on territory. The most common bird by far was (not surprisingly) the Myrtle Warbler, better known these days as the Yellow-rumped Warbler -- quite resplendent in its breeding plumages. But it was only one of a surprising 11 species of warbler, to wit: Nashville, Blue-winged, Northern Parula, Yellow, Black-throated Blue, Black-throated Green, Pine, Black-and-white, Common Yellowthroat and Ovenbirds, the last four locals singing on territory, the rest migrants moving on through. There were many White-throated Sparrows plus Chipping and I even caught a glimpse of a Swamp Sparrow as well a House Wren skulking in the underbrush. Catbirds have returned from their winter hiatus and are singing away; ditto, both orioles, Baltimore and Orchard as well as their less dramatic cousins, the Common Grackle, Red-wing Blackbird and, somewhat ominously, the squeaky Brown-headed Cowbird. In the flycatcher department: Eastern Phoebe and Great Crested but no Pewees or empids yet. There was only a single singing Wood Thrush and no noticeable Veeries at all. Lots of Tufted Titmice and Black-capped Chickadees plus two or three pairs of very vocal Hairy Woodpeckers, a few Downies, some Red-bellied and a single Flicker. The only vireos seen were Blue-headed (where are the Red-eyed?). An American Kestrel was a surprise sitting on the top of a dead stub in a wooded area. A pair of Red-tailed Hawks (more expected in an upland wooded area) were patrolling and there was at one gobbler a-gobbling (a.k.a. Wild Turkey).

Eric Salzman