last of one kind, first of another

I forgot to mention the two best birds on yesterday's tour of the three E's (Eileen, Erin and Eric were the participants). The birds were Gray Catbird and Red-breasted Nuthatch. Gray Catbird because it seems as though all the other catbirds have left for the south and this one appears to be the last of its kind. Red-breasted Nuthatch because it is the first of its kind -- at least for me (and actually first of the year)!

Red-breasted Nuthatch is a northern species (Sitta canadensis) which does not so much migrate as 'invade'; that is, every few years, when the northern food crop (coniferous cones) fails, it comes south in large numbers. Since we had a big invasion (or irruption) of these birds a couple of years ago, I did not expect them back so soon. But, as was the case with the Pine Siskins, they came back sooner than expected -- at least in small numbers. Perhaps they are the forerunner of some other northern irruptive species; we'll see.

Eric Salzman

visitors

I had visitors this morning -- not so many birds but a couple of local birding humans: Eileen Schwinn and Erin, a bird-watching neighbor.

Unfortunately, I didn't have quite as spectacular a group of migrants to show them as I had yesterday; the warm weather encouraged many of the new arrivals to keep on moving. Apparently yesterday's appearance of a flock of 150-200 Pine Siskins was an outlier of a big movement of Siskins along the shore along with Am Goldfinches and Yellow-rumped Warblers. I could even see some of these flocks moving across the bay yesterday but today Siskins were not at all noticeable and the other two species were in short supply.

There were still a few Purple Finches and some House Finches as well as Ruby-crowned Kinglets, Eastern Phoebes and various woodpeckers. Also a Junco (missed yesterday), Winter Wren, Palm Warbler and Greater Yellowlegs, the last three around or actually on the pond. No eagles today but a Peregrine Falcon came across the creek later in the day along with an Osprey that caught an eel in the creek and took it over to Pine Neck to eat. 

Eric Salzman

a cold weather bird bonanza

The temperature dropped into the thirties last night and many new birds came in. Notable (and new for the season) were a Bald Eagle on the creek early on and a big flock of Pine Siskins. The eagle was almost certainly a juvenile. I was facing east against the rising sun and couldn't see any effect of white in the plumage. The bird was attacked by several American Crows and the size differential was very noticeable. The eagle eventually landed on a dead tree at the tip of Pine Neck and, after a spell, took off out over Shinnecock Bay. The Pine Siskins were at the head of the marsh in a flock of some 150-200 birds (there were other flocks coming across the creek and the bay but I couldn't be sure of the species). The first Siskins I saw were individuals mixed in with a large number of American Goldfinches but the big flock -- easily identifiable by sound -- seemed to appear out of nowhere. Last year was a big year for Siskins and I didn't expect them to appear in these numbers two years in a row.

There were other birds of interest. Mixed in with Goldfinches were several Purple Finches, male and female (there were a few House Finches as well). Ruby-crowned Kinglets were scattered around as well as some numbers of sparrows of the usual four species: White-throated, Chipping, Song and a very few Swamp. There were many Eastern Phoebes, a scattering of Yellow-rumped Warblers and at least one Palm Warbler of the brownish Western type. I had all five woodpeckers -- Downy, Hairy, Northern Flicker, Red-bellied and, yes, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker; a veritable quinfecta of 'peckers. Another new bird for the season was Hermit Thrush, not only the first Hermit of the season but the first thrush of any kind seen here (not counting Robins of course). Where have all the thrushes of yesteryear gone to?

Eric Salzman

high-flying swallows

The weather turned cooler but the only notable effect on local bird life was a surprising movement of Tree Swallows -- not thousands that move along the coast in late August or early September but definitely many dozens, perhaps even hundred of birds -- all flying high and moving in small groups over the creek. There were several Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers around as well as some Eastern Phoebes and many Yellow-rumped Warblers with associated American Goldfinches and House Finches. Once again there were few sparrows to be seen -- as if most of them had moved on with few new arrivals to replace them.

Eric Salzman

More Indian Summer

More Indian Summer following Thursday's heavy rain. Lots of American Goldfinch, particularly around the head-of-the-marsh areas, presumably feeding on some of the many flowers that have gone to seed. As usual, the goldfinches were flying with associated species, notably House Finches (which are related) and Yellow-rumped Warblers (which ae not). I looked and listened very hard to see if here were any Pine Siskins in the mix (they have been seen this year) but I couldn't see or hear any. I did see two Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers as well as Ruby-crowned Kinglet and Blue-headed Vireo, both cold weather species still active in a warm October. One lingering Gray Catbird but very few sparrows of any kind. Two Red-tailed Hawks over Pine Neck were the only entries in the raptor column

Everytime I go out these days I see different kinds of white and blue asters. This morning's haul included one white species with narrow lance-shaped leaves and another with bluish tint to the flowers and toothed leaves. Also a few fall mushrooms from the rains including some small puffballs and a few agaricus which I picked for the table.

Eric Salzman

Indian Summer 2

Southwest winds and mild temperatures continued into this morning with very little passerine activity (the big event of the morning was a bunch of Blue Jays yammering at a prowling house cat). Overhead a Common Loon came across on the standard diagonal track -- going the wrong way! Quite a few noisy Royal Terns on the creek. Two yellowlegs on the pond -- one slightly bigger than the other and with a slightly longer, slightly downcurved bill. A Greater and a Lesser? I think the differences were too small and well with the possible variability of a Greater. The usual Great Blue Heron started out of his high woodland perch with loud squawking as I came round the corner on the edge of the marsh. The wind picked up during the morning and again there were whitecaps on the bay. 

Carl Safina tells me that Merlins will sometimes hit Monarchs for target practice. Maybe that's what hit the wounded Monarch in the meadow in front of the house yesterday.

Eric Salzman

Indian summer?

Is this what we used to call Indian Summer? Early morning clouds pushed aside by warm southwest wind; you could hear the ocean surf clearly and there were breakers on the bay. But the change brought in a mild summery day. Although this turn in the weather would not seem to encourage migration, there were a lot more sparrows visible today than yesterday -- many White-throated Sparrows in particular -- plus Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Blue-headed Vireo, Brown Thrasher, Eastern Towhee, many Yellow-rumped Warblers and at least one warbler skulking with the White-throats -- probably a first-winter Magnolia (or possibly a first-winter Prairie); bright yellow breast, contrasting gray head with some kind of eye-liner. I never saw the whole bird, only bits and pieces in the shrubbery. Other birds on the creek included a Lesser Yellowlegs on the pond and a very noisy Great Blue Heron that would not settle down as long as I was visible through the dead wood at the edge of the marsh.

An oddity was a Monarch Butterfly literally fluttering on the ground and trying to take off. Monarchs do not make a very tasty snack (they inherit bitter-tasting poisons from their caterpillars which get them from the milkweeds they feed on) and most potential butterfly eaters know better than to attack a Monarch (their bright orange wings are thought to be a warning signal). So it is unusual to find a wounded Monarch. Given the scarcity of Monarchs these days, I tried to help this one take off by plucking the blade of grass it was clutching but with no success.

Eric Salzman

Where did all the sparrows go?

The sparrows that moved in yesterday in great numbers were all but invisible this morning. Where did they go? Moved on further south, no doubt. Still it was odd to see so many sparrows one day and then hardly any the next.

Instead of dowdy sparrows, we had elegant falcons: two Merlins zipping around overhead. They almost seem to be playing rather than actually chasing anything, disappearing over the treetops and then back out again with that fast distinctive flight and silhouette. At first I thought it was one extremely agile bird but eventually the two birds whirled into view at the same time.

An even higher flyer was a Common Loon on a straight northeast to southwest trajectory. Loons migrate overhead on exactly this track (in one direction or another) in both spring and fall.

Royal Terns still active on Weesuck Creek.

Eric Salzman

sparrows and kin

Big influx of sparrows last night but, in spite of my best efforts, I could only find Song, Swamp, White-throated and Chipping -- in just about that numerical order. Also Dark-eyed Junco and Eastern Towhee if you want to count them in as sparrows. I'm sure there are others around; I'll just have to keep on looking.

The Junco was the first of the season hereabouts. Ditto for the Ruby-crowned Kinglet which usually precedes the Golden-crowned (not this year). There seem to be fewer Catbirds but Common Yellowthroats and Yellow-rumped Warblers are still common.

I found another white aster with lance-shaped toothed leaves and a slight tinge of purple on the flowers. This might be the Calico Aster (Aster lateriflorus). In the meanwhile the Seaside Goldenrod is going to seed as is the Baccharis or Groundsel along the edges of the marsh.

Eric Salzman

yesterday (a few birds) and today (too mch rain)

Too much rain this morning and too many errands to run. Yesterday's birds included Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers, Blue-headed Vireos, a lot of Yellow-rumped Warblers, a few Common Yellowthroats and a good number of sparrows of four different species (Song, Swamp, White-throated and Chipping). Someone should check the Dune Road sites for sparrows; this property has a lot of habitat but no really good open sites for sparrows (if they are here, they can easily hide the in dense foliage at the edge of the marsh).

Eric Salzman

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Blues (Jays & Asters)

Before the winds came and the sky thickened, this was a bright morning. There was a Brown Thrasher (first of the season, making a trifecta of mimids for the day) and a beautiful yellow/green tanager, either a female or a non-breeding plumaged male Scarlet. Many Eastern Phoebes and many Yellow-rumped Warblers plus a couple of Common Yellowthroats. Blue Jays everywhere; the invasion of this species has been remarkable.

Peter Dorosh suggests that the asters described yesterday might be White Wood Aster and Blue Wood Aster. He's probably right about the White Wood Aster (Aster divaricatus) which has heart-shaped leaves but the blue asters, which have narrow, clasping leaves, are more likely to be Smooth Aster (Aster laevis). I'll keep working on it.

Eric Salzman

full moon and high tide

The full moon plus last night's thunder storm (I missed the eclipse) and the following south/southwest winds produced another huge high tide and made it impossible for me to circumnavigate the marsh without hip waders (I have ankle boots but the water was a lot deeper in many places). So I reversed my usual pattern and headed towards the pond and then north along the banks and into the woods. The first bird I saw was a Merlin who posed prettily on the top of a dead tree and then took off. After the Osprey, most of my raptor sightings in recent weeks have been of Merlins, thus raising the question of whether I am seeing a succession of migrating birds or simply the same bird over and over!

I was able to get into the Sandy-blasted area near the head of the marsh (notable for dead trees and acres of pokeweed) from our old right-of-way. Aside from the now-usual woodpeckers, there were not many birds. Most notable were a fair number of White-throated Sparrows. Did they come in last night or were they already there, hidden in the low dense foliage? Another unanswerable question. A Winter Wren was singing away and there were a few House Finches and Goldfinches.

Last night's storm seems to have flattened a lot of the Seaside Goldenrod which, at any rate, is passing its prime. Now coming into view are some of the blue Asters which are, like many of our common floral groups, very difficult to pin down as to species. There seem to be two different species, one with heart-shaped leaves and light blue flowers, the other with white flowers that are slightly tinged with blue or lavender.

Eric Salzman

woodpecker math

As I approached the pond this morning shortly after dawn, the first bird I saw was a Brown Creeper. The next two birds were a Blue-headed Vireo and a Golden-crowned Kinglet. Did some birds come in last night? I think so.

Besides the above, the following birds were in the area just back of the pond -- a wet swale surrounded by bushes and trees, dead and alive bushes, all bathed in warm early-morning sunshine: Eastern Wood-pewee, Eastern Phoebe (singing!), Yellow-rumped Warbler (many), an unidentified all yellow warbler (possibly an Orange-crowned but not well seen), a calling nuthatch that sounded like a Red-breasted, many Song and Swamp Sparrows plus a few Chipping. The large numbers of American Robins (many of them young birds) and Blue Jays strongly suggested that some of these had just arrived as well. A Marlin and a Cooper's Hawk may have been new arrivals or holdovers.

My woodpecker math was quite defective. We have three breeding species (Downy, Red-bellied and Flicker) and a fourth which is now quite regular (Hairy). That would make a quadfecta. The Sapsucker makes five (a pentfecta?). Of course, a Red-headed Woodpecker would be a sixth (a hexfector?) if one every showed up.

Eric Salzman

a few raptors and a couple of Wood Ducks

Although it looked like a good day for raptors, I saw only a few. A raucous Murder of Crows was directed at yet another Merlin. An accipiter on the far shore of Weesuck Creek looked small enough to be a Sharp-shinned Hawk and there were a few Osprey moving across. The Jamaica Bay Osprey that is being radio-tracked, crossed Cuba and has reached South America. All the Weesuck Creek Osprey seem to be gone -- probably on a similar migratory track; the ones on the creek are almost certainly now all migrants.

A pair of male Wood Ducks came wheeling over the creek and seemingly wanted to settle in our pond -- not once but three times. Each time they decided that my presence on the edge of the pond made that body of water off limits and they eventually disappeared.

Carl Safina reports a short-tailed grackle-like bird at his feeder which sounds, from his description, like a Shiny Cowbird. He'll try to get a picture. This is a possible vagrant along the Atlantic Coast although I have no idea if there are any LI records.

Eric Salzman

birds in the wind

Windy morning with strong gusts coming from the south/southeast pushing up high tide onto the marsh and adjacent upland edges. I got wet trying to circumnavigate the marsh -- the water on the path was deeper than the sides of my boots -- with few birds to show for it (some Royal Terns coming up the creek). A red, red sunrise appeared just below the cloud cover which shortly blotted out the sun for the rest of the day. Wind, wind, wind -- strong enough to keep the smaller birds down.

The bigger birds like this weather. A windy day at this time of year should be good for raptors and, sure enough, a Merlin appeared and began to chase everything in sight (yes, the Merlin is a bird-eating falcon). This meant Blue Jays and American Crows; nothing else was in sight. I could image a Merlin taking out a Blue Jay (they are close in size) but, even if it caught a Crow, what would it do with prey almost twice its size?

The chase went on for some time right over my head. I didn't see the Merlin catch anything but it was a pleasure to watch this aerial projectile whiz through the ether, dive bomb a tree full of corvids, bank away at the last minute, chase a crow or two almost hitting one on the back and then disappear into the trees only to come whizzing out in the open again and then again in circles, loops and dives that were truly impressive. Hunting or just showing off? A great aerial show to watch!

About the only birds still singing are wrens. Carolina Wrens indulge in some amazing song competitions at this time of year and they show off a wider song repertory than their unusual rythmic call. But the Carolinas weren't the only singing wrens. A Winter Wren was somewhat improbably tootling away in a small patch of shrubs near the corner where the woods and marsh join up. While the Carolina and House Wren have fairly well defined and stereotypical styles of singing, the Winter Wren sings a long, continuous sequence of roulades and trills. Doubly amazing to hear it in October coming from a hidden bird in a tiny patch of low shrubs in the middle of what was almost a windstorm. The wren kept working its way around the patch -- presumably to stay hidden -- while singing all the while and thus giving itself away. I finally did catch a glimpse just to reassure myself that it was indeed a Winter Wren. How odd to hear this bird in the fall after its arrival from its breeding grounds.

Eric Salzman

the Myrtles are in!

A flock of Yellow-rumped (a.k.a. Myrtle) Warblers came in this morning. This is the only warbler that we see in numbers in migration and winter. The old name, Myrtle Warbler, refers to the fact that it eats berries in the winter which enables it to survive (most of the other warblers are insect eaters and go on to warmer climes where there is year-round food for them). As usual, the warblers landed at the corner of the marsh where the trees and bushes jut out to the northeast and, also as usual, there were dozens of birds jumping all over the place for the first hour or so. Afterwards -- again as usual -- the flock melted away, presumably back to the head of the marsh and perhaps into the woods.

There was one Palm Warbler visible among the Yellow-rumps. This was the non-breeding Western Palm which also has a yellow rump but, most noticeably, yellow undertail coverts; also a eye-stripe or supercilium and faint breast streaking. It is also a vigorous tail pumper (which leads birders to refer to the two species -- which often travel together -- as 'rumps and pumps'). Palm Warbler comes in two varieties; the Eastern or Yellow Palm is more common in the spring while the Western or Brown Palm is more common in the fall. They look different enough to be two different species but they have always been considered subspecies. Both Yellow-rumped and Palm are firsts of the season in these parts.

The only other warblers seen were Black-and-white and Common Yellowthroat.

Another first of the season: the bird with the name every non-birder loves to parody, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker. Only the missing Hairy Woodpecker prevented me from getting the woodpecker quadrifecta. Lots of Red-bellied, Downy and Northern Flickers, the latter calling and moving -- often with American Robins -- in the wrong direction (i.e. from southwest to northeast). These birds must fly at night over the ocean (or along the shore) and then move inland after sunrise giving the impression of a reverse migration.

Eric Salzman

in the drizzle

Another overcast, damp, drizzly day. You might think that this kind of weather would not be good for birds but you would be only partly correct. Perhaps not good for birds, but good for bird-watchers because it forces the migrants down. Drizzle or not, eventually they have to move around and look for food and that brings them into our purview. This was the case this morning when, just before and just after a short session of drizzle, a lot of birds were moving around.

Best bird (one of the best of the year) was a PHILADELPHIA VIREO seen up close and from all angles so there was no doubt. The white eye-liner and contrast between the dark cap and lighter back resembles a Red-eye Vireo except that the back color is quite different. The dark lores separates it from Warbling Vireo as does the contrast between the dark cap and the lighter back and also, especially, the yellow wash on the front, brightest on the breast and throat. This is a bird that I've seen only a few times around here.

Swamp Sparrows everywhere and mixed in with them, the first White-throated Sparrows of the season.

Today's warblers: Northern Parula, Common Yellowthroat and a little parade of Black-and-white Warblers.

Other birds: Merlin, Greater Yellowlegs and Belted Kingfisher (all over the creek), Eastern Phoebe, Eastern Towhee and all three wrens (Winter, House and Carolina).

Eric Salzman

damp days

Several days of warmish, damp weather have brought migration out here to a virtual halt. Best bird seen: the first Winter Wren of the season in the dense vegetation around the upper marsh. This area is wren heaven -- two breeding species (House and Carolina) and a migrant or winter species (Winter), all seen here on numerous occasions.

There are a few Swamp Sparrows in the marsh, the vanguard of what is usually a major wintering bird in our marsh. No sign yet of our other winter sparrow, the ubiquitous White-throat.

There has been a single Mute Swan regularly in the creek; it may or may not be the same bird. Occasionally, it turns up with another swan -- once or twice an adult bird, once a young bird molting from its brownish juvenile plumage into white. Most of the time, it is alone. The creek used to have a resident couple which produced a brood every year but one or both of those birds have disappeared -- perhaps victims of one of our hurricanes. The current occupant (either a survivor or a new bird) seems not to have yet acquired a mate.

Eric Salzman