a quiet morning

Today's big event was on the creek with a Great Black-backed Gull attempting to steal a fish caught by a Double-crested Cormorant. The Cormorant, which had the good sense not to try and fly off with its catch, simply dove out of reach of the gull but, inevitably, it emerged a short distance away still holding the fish in its beak and was once again attacked by the Black-back. I never saw the end of the story; after several of these encounters both gull and cormorant eventually vanished up the creek -- the one still attacking, the other diving to save its dinner from outright piracy.

There was a Common Tern perched again on one of the boat yard pylons and presumably being fed by its companion, a second tern fishing out in the creek. Do these terns form or strengthen their bond away from the nesting area -- perhaps even while still in migration? Still no swans visible anywhere on the creek and only a few Mallards with no sign of nesting or young. The Willets are active along with a Greater Yellowlegs and possibly a Lesser as well. In the heron cohort, Lorna saw a Green Heron carrying a stick into a Pitch Pine and heard a soft call so they may be nesting or preparing to nest. There is also a late Great Blue Heron in the area along with a visiting Black-crowned Night-heron and the usual duo of white egrets. The Great Blue may yet resume nesting in our area but is probably headed upstate; the others nest on islands on the opposite side of the bay.

Back on land, I was surprised by a female Scarlet Tanager. This has been the best year ever for Scarlet Tanagers and there have been males or females here almost every day for well over a week. An unidentified warbler call from low bushes may have been a Common Yellowthroat variant; I never did get a look at the bird. On the other side of the property, there is a Common Yellowthroat singing its more common song on territory near the head of the marsh. The only other warblers noted were a Northern Parula and a pair of Pine Warblers.

Eric Salzman