an e-mail in the fog

Eileen Schwinn sent me an e-mail from Weesuck Avenue asking me if I had seen a posslble Spotted Sandpiper in our pond (she thought she had seen one from the foot of Weesuck where you can look a ways up the neck of the pond). I was about to send her a reply stating that she was probably looking at a Least Sandpiper (they are also dark-backed, they sometimes bob like a Spotted and they have a similar stiff-winged flight). Fortunately, instead of sending her a misguided missive, I decided to go down and have a look for myself. The pond was at dead low tide and, sure enough, there was a Least Sandpiper. AND not one, but two bobbing Spotted Sandpipers in full adult breeding plumage! Not to mention two Black-crowned Night Herons, a Green Heron and a dabbling female Blue-winged Duck. I wasn't paying much attention to the duck when it took off, showing its pale-blue speculum. Both the Blue-wing and the Spotted Sandpiper were the firsts of the year.

Earlier, in the fog of early morning, a pair of Osprey were carrying on over and around Weesuck Avenue and out into the creek. At one point, they were both perched on the last street light -- one on the wooden pole, the other on the metal light itself. A few minutes later, they were circling around each other over the creek in an almost balletic fashion. A lovey-dovey pair? Or were they just sizing each other up? Afterwards there were a couple of big chases up and then down the creek that did not look at all lovey-dovey. Perhaps one of the locals had had enough of these intruders poaching his (or her) territory.

In the stillness of a foggy morning, sound travels far. I could hear a Common Yellowthroat calling on Pine Neck; I have yet to hear a single one on this side. Another song floating across the creek was a melodious Baltimore Oriole. Definitely on our side was the calling Great Crested Flycatcher and a somewhat distant but distinct Eastern Phoebe. Also what I think was the short song of a Magnolia Warbler. Eileen reported a Blackpoll Warbler from Weesuck Avenue but I have yet to see or hear one here (only in the Manorville Hills). And, finally, my first dragonfly of the season was on the pond; it was a quick flyby, moving too fast to be identifiable as to species but definitely a libellule.

Eric Salzman