some birds leave, some drop in

Where are the Siskins?

Since the spell of bad weather in the past couple of days, the flocks of Pine Siskins and American Goldfinches have vanished, leaving behind a few Goldfinches, some House Finches and no siskins at all.

There are still fair numbers of Yellow-rumped Warblers along with various sparrows: Song, Swamp, White-throated and Savannah (the latter the first of the season here that I identified for sure). A steady parade of Royal Terns on the creek suggests that their numbers are actually increasing.

A magic moment came a little later in the day when a flock of six Wood Duck came circling overhead. It suddenly occurred to me that they wanted to come into the pond but were deterred by my standing figure. I sat down (we have a couple of chairs on the bank) and almost immediately they dropped in -- four gorgeous males and two handsome females in their Sunday finest -- tucking themselves into a well vegetated corner.

But the big surprise was a Short-billed Dowitcher in the open water pond at the center of the marsh first thing in the morning. This bird flushed a short distance at my approach, revealing the lozenge-shaped white mark on its back. It landed not far away behind a clump of grass and, after a bit, it began to  feed at a near edge and showing its rather stout longish bill, head markings and some of its tail. It didn't call so I suppose I should call it 'dowitcher sp' but either way, it is a new bird for the property. Dowitchers are common enough on the ocean side of Shinnecock but they simply don't turn up on our side -- at least not until now. This is species #240 for the property!

Eric Salzman