Where are the fogs of yesteryear?

A couple of weeks ago there was a piece on the editorial page of the New York Times bemoaning the disappearance of autumn fogs. Well, that editorialist can find the autumn fogs of yesteryear right out here. We've had some serious fogging this week. It doesn't make the birding any easier but the birds seem to manage. The most startling moment came yesterday morning when several dozen Carduelis finches suddenly appeared out of the fog in two or three discreet flocks and, after wheeling about a bit, landed in bunches on two or three tree-tops and, after shuffling up and back, took off and disappeared into the fog. The neat thing about these flocks is that they were mostly made up of Pine Siskins -- perhaps 75%. It seems as though the Pine Siskins now outnumber the Am Goldfinches!

There have been other good birds around. Philadelphia Vireo again this morning -- a different bird from the last one (I think) with a whiter belly but with the classic green back, gray head, eyeliner, yellow throat and yellow undertail. And another Olive-sided Flycatcher yesterday morning fly catching from a high perch near the head of the marsh.

Also: Royal Tern, Great Blue Heron, Great Egret, Belted Kingfisher, Lesser Yellowlegs, Northern Flicker, Hairy, Downy and Red-bellied Woodpeckers, Eastern Phoebe, two Brown Thrashers, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Red-breasted Nuthatch, Common Yellowthroat, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Swamp Sparrow.

On Tuesday, Derek Rogers of the Nature Conservancy in the Zoe de Ropp Sanctuary across the creek compiled a list of almost the same species plus two marsh species that I missed over here: Marsh Wren and a beautiful 'Sharptail' Sparrow (see Derek's photos) which, in spite of the strong breast streaks, he identifies as Nelson's. Note that the orange on the malar is the same color as the orange on the breast and also that the orange breast is very sharply defined, both features pointing to Nelson's (rather than Saltmarsh). I see Marsh Wren regularly but I haven't seen a Nelson's Sparrow in a couple of years. On the other hand, the Pine Neck (de Ropp Sanctuary) marsh is much bigger than our marsh.

Eric Salzman