Chipmunk? Flycatcher woods?

A fast-moving four-legged creature -- decidedly smaller than a squirrel and without the bushy tail -- scooted across the path in front of me this morning at the edge of the property. I suppose it was a Chipmunk or some sort of frog/toad amphibian although I've never seen any of these creatures on our place! Always a first time I guess.

Yesterday's new bird was an Eastern Kingbird. This was not the first Kingbird seen this year and, in past years, they used to nest here quite regularly. This was in the same patch of woods frequented by the Great Crested Flycatcher which is still around. Eastern Wood-pewees sometimes turn up here as well along with migrating empids. We can call this Flycatcher Woods.

An occasional short buzzing call amidst the various swallows over the marsh can be assigned to the Rough-winged Swallow (Bank Swallow also buzzes but in longer phrases). Most of the swallows are Purple Martins and Bank Swallows but Rough-winged and an occasional Bank are sometimes mixed in. Both Common Yellowthroat males are still singing away but the Yellow Warbler seems to have vanished.

Eric Salzman

birds in pairs

There are definitely two male Common Yellowthroats transmitting their "witchity, witchity, witchity" calls from opposite ends of the property. There was another warbler as well that I couldn't identify; it was up at the head of the marsh but quite far away and it flew before I could get a closer look. It may have been a female Yellow Warbler but there is the possibility of something more exotic.

There may also be two pairs of Green Herons working on nests. One bird flew out of a nearby oak tree where we have been seeing activity for a while now. The other flew with a fairly substantial branch in its beak into an oak tree on the other side of the house. I don't know how territorial Green Herons can be but we've certainly had a lot of Butorides activity (yes, Butorides is another way of saying Green Heron).

Great Crested Flycatcher came in this afternoon into the woods right next to the house and was constantly on call. As readers of this blog will be aware, this is one of my favorite birds. It was formerly mainly a woodland denizen but it has spread into areas where woods and houses intersect. It nests in old woodpecker holes (and nest boxes) which gives it quite a bit of immunity to the depredations of stray cats.

The Purple Martins and Barn Swallows on the marsh are now accompanied by Rough-winged and Barn Swallows in small numbers. A lot of fancy flycatching flying over the marsh these days.

Eric Salzman

full house on the pond

The first-summer Yellow-crowned Night-Heron was back on the pond this morning (at least I think it was the same bird) along with a pair of Willets, two (male) Mallards and a Great Egret. Pretty full house.

I didn't hear or see the Yellow Warbler but there were at least two Common Yellowthroats -- one in its usual spot near the head of the marsh but the other one in the hurricane brush near the mouth of the pond.

In the mammal category were half a dozen Deer, a startled Muskrat and, for the first time this year, a Cottontail Rabbit. The question is are these Eastern Cottontails or New England Cottontails? My guess is that the Eastern Cottontail has replaced the New England Cottontail on Eastern LI within the past century or so.

Eric Salzman

tail end of migration?

I could swear that I heard a Black-throated Green Warbler yesterday morning. Singing. Just once but in the classic Black-throated Green pattern of high and low buzzes. It's late in the season but not impossible for a late migrant to be coming through. Yellow Warbler and Common Yellowthroat continue around the upper marsh edges and Red-Vireo continues to grace us with its presence and its Q-&-A song ("Who's there?" "I'm up here." "Who are you?" "I'm a bird." Etc.). It sings all morning and then quiets down around noon. Same with Pine Warbler.

Great Crested Flycatcher finally showed up in full voice this afternoon. I thought I had heard it once or twice earlier in the season but this afternoon's performance was definitive. This is a big, handsome flycatcher with a slightly raspy (and unmistakeable) call. It is actually an outlier of the big and confusing tribe of Myiarchus flycatcher -- a northern relative of a tropical bunch of birds.

Two smallish loons flew over -- Red-throated Loons, I'm sure (they breed in the far north and are classic late migrants). The belching Green Herons -- they really do belch -- having been moving around a lot and calling. Lorna found what looks like a nest-in-progress in an oak tree very near the house. My guess is that they will end up in the area but maybe not that close.

Unless they are nesting in the area, we usually hear Screech Owls much later in the season: August or even September. There was one calling night before last -- somewhat distant but unmistakeable.

Eric Salzman

Fauna-thon 2015

Saturday was Fauna-thon day, a kind of East End wildlife blitz. I spent the morning with a couple of colleagues at Hunter's Garden and the Bald Hill trail, both good areas for both nesting birds and late migrants. The weather was sunny but cool and windy, not the best conditions for bird activity. One notable late migrant was a Swainson's Thrush -- a bird I haven't seen in several years -- on the Bald Hill Trail. There were a few other late long-distance migrants including Parula and Magnolia Warblers. both heard but not seen. Also Blackpoll (barely heard) and the resident warblers: Pine, Ovenbird and Common Yellowthroat. Most of the other nesting birds were present including Scarlet Tanager, Baltimore Oriole, Eastern Wood-pewee, Downy and Red-bellied Woodpeckers, Veery, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Brown-headed Cowbird, Common Grackle, etc.

Missing were the Yellow-billed Cuckoo and the Great Crested Flycatcher, both of which are (or used to be) regular breeders here. A little solo excursion on the side of the nearby Bicycle Path produced Yellow Warbler, Northern Mockingbird, House Wren, Chipping Sparrow and Orchard Oriole.

There were two notable non-avian creatures: Lead-backed Salamander and Juvenal's Duskywing, The latter is a large springtime butterfly of the Pine Barrens with white markings on its wings. Notice that the insect is named for the Latin poet Juvenal (but why?) and not for its immaturity.
 
Eric Salzman

herons & warblers

A first-year Yellow-crowned Night-Heron was standing motionless in the neck of the pond this morning making it my personal Y-c N-H of the year. It seems odd, but the Yellow-crowned, in one plumage or another, is more common here than the Black-crowned although the Black-crowned nests in island colonies on the other side of the bay while the Yellow-crowned only nests in individual pairs who knows where?

The Green Herons are still belching away -- distinctive burping or belching sounds seems to be a big part of their courting rituals -- and occasionally seen flying out from the oak trees near the house. In spite of my concerns, it doesn't look as though the human and dog activity around the house is scaring them away -- so far, at least. We'll keep monitoring the situation.

Our local three warblers seem to be well established on territory and they sing extensively every morning. They are Yellow Warbler and Common Yellowthroat (both on the fringes of the upper marsh) and Pine Warbler (active in the upland woods where there are apparently still enough surviving Pitch Pines to keep their interest). The male Pine Warbler, although not as brilliant yellow as the Yellow Warbler or the American Goldfinch, is still a rather striking mustard yellow especially on the throat and breast with a yellow eye-ring and spectacles and fairly bright white wing bars. It is as typical of our Pine Barrens as the Osprey is of our waterways.

Eric Salzman

more new birds

The season of new arrivals is not quite over yet. Yesterday there were two Spotted Sandpipers over Weesuck Creek, the first I've seen this year. And there were at least two singing Common Yellowthroats trying to establish territory around the fringes of the marsh this morning; if any of these birds had come in earlier, I didn't see or hear them before (last year, I think the first Common Yellowthroat was two weeks earlier).

A singing Red-eyed Vireo was perhaps the second or third of the season. Other recent arrivals continue: Pine Warbler, Yellow Warbler, Green Herons. The two courting Green Herons have now been joined by a third bird but the first pair appear to be staying together and to continue their search for an appropriate nesting tree. I don't think they will nest as close to the house as I had thought; there is too much activity and they can't be happy with the occasional but regular appearance of the dog. 

Eric Salzman

narrow escape & prospecting herons

Yesterday morning, I came very close to running over a Box Turtle. Luckily, I caught a flash of orange underneath and was eventually able to coax it out from under. It was a handsome black-and-orange adult, the first Box Turtle that I've seen this year.

Some of the missing birds have arrived in the past few days: among them, Green Heron, Yellow-crowned Night-Heron, Great Crested Flycatcher and Pine Warbler. The herons are a pair and they appear to be prospecting for a nest site, moving from tree to tree in front of the house, assessing each one for suitability. So far, I have no idea what their choice will be but we have had them nesting before and it would be no surprise to have them try again. Where the Yellow-crowned Night-Heron nests is more of a mystery; they are often around during the spring and early summer so I assume they are regular nesters somewhere in the area.

Still missing: Common Yellowthroat, Wood Thrush, Hermit Thrush

Eric Salzman