raptor on a wire

I had just delivered our car to the car doctor on Montauk Highway and was walking back home when Eileen Schwinn came by in her Jeep and asked me if I'd like to go down to Dune Road. I accepted immediately and we cruised on down to the Quogue Bridge and then east on Dune Road all the way to Shinnecock Inlet. It was not a particularly birdy day (more details below) but as we were coming back from the Inlet and about to take the Ponquogue Bridge back to the mainland we were literally stopped by a large raptor sitting on a wire right above the road. This was a trim, slender bird with long wings, a long tail, brown-backed with a brown-streaked breast; it did not have the facial markings of a falcon and seemed too slim to be a Goshawk. It didn't look like any Cooper's Hawk that I had ever seen (I often see them perched) but I was going to ID it as one anyway when suddenly it took off. White rump! It was a Northern Harrier, the first one that I have ever seen perched above (their usual perch is on the ground; I've also seen them soaring high above in migration when they are equally difficult to identify).

In fact, we ended up seeing four Harriers in all.

We have had Red-tailed Hawks at the property but there were no other raptors seen on Dune Road.

Fair numbers of Brant, a few Red-breasted Mergansers, Black Duck and Mallards (Bufflehead were reported but we didn't seem them).

A few sparrows: Chipping, Savannah, Song, White-throated and Dark-eyed Juncos (first I've seen this season). Also a scattering of Great Egrets, Yellow-rumped Warblers, Black-capped Chickadees, House Finch. 

Eric Salzman

how to quiet down the birds

There were dozens, perhaps hundreds of birds, at the head of the marsh this morning all chittering or chinking away when suddenly every single one disappeared and silence covered the scene. It was, of course, a bird hawk -- a Sharp-shinned Hawk to be specific -- chasing some poor little passerine. I don't think the hawk (probably a first-year female) actually caught anything; it landed in full view on a dead branch not very far off from where I was standing and proceeded to do its toilette. Eventually a few skulking Blue Jays peered out from cover but most of the rest of the previously lively avian crew simply vanished and remained out of sight even long after the Sharp-shinned had taken off.

Before they were gone, I did see (and hear) large numbers of White-throated Sparrows, Yellow-rumped Warblers and American Goldfinches. Other birds which I thought had already moved on turned up as well including Great Blue Heron, Great Egret and Royal Terns on the creek; Ruby-crowned Kinglets, Common Yellowthroat, Swamp, Song and Chipping Sparrows on the marsh and marsh edges; and, most notably, the flying flock of 16 yellowlegs that has been hanging around for the past week or so. Also, big flocks of blackbirds (Red-wings and Common Grackles mostly) are starting to form and move around.

Eric Salzman

King Tides & a big Praying Mantis

Super high or 'king tides' yesterday morning and this morning filled up the marsh and pond; no chance to find any possible lurking Yellow Rails. This was in conjunction with the so-called Hunter's Moon that lit up the night. Both mornings had a lot of wind and a bit of rain came in today. There are dozens, perhaps hundreds of White-throated Sparrows on the property, many of them whistling all or part of the White-throats pretty signature tune.

A huge late-season Praying Mantis appeared at the back door of the house yesterday (see photo). This creature, lethargic in the cool weather, c. 6" in length, is perhaps the biggest mantis that I've ever seen.

There are perhaps a dozen deer on the property including two or three antlered adult males and a number of fawns just now losing their spots; presumably the rest are adult females. A herd like this is disastrous for flower or herb gardens but, since we don't garden, it helps us keep the vegetation clipped and preserves our views of the creek and bay! 



Eric Salzman

bird clave

As I was walking down the path from the house to the pond I heard a very distinct Morse code signal coming out of the marsh -- click-click click-click-click -- fast and continuous. Two stones being tapped together in rhythm, steady and sure, like a kind of avian clave! After a little double-checking with the xeno-canto web site (the go-to site for bird vocalizations of all sorts), it became obvious that this was the classic 'song' of the YELLOW RAIL! I tried to get out into the marsh to flush the bird but the tide was coming in and I didn't have on my boots.

With or without the visual sighting, I'm sure about this call! This was not the first Yellow Rail on the place. On October 15, 2002, I flushed Yellow Rails twice in two different parts of the marsh. These birds were calling but not with the classic clicking song but with another vocalization that I finally tracked down and identified as the 'descending cackle', a little known contact call. If I hadn't seen these 'Sora-like' rails with the big white patches on their wings in the early light of dawn (see my sketch below), I never would have been able to identify them. This time I had only the call to go by but the quality of the sound was perfect and the October date equally so! These birds are supposed to call mainly at night but it was early morning and overcast; my experience is that rails of all species will call under these conditions. With this evidence -- admittedly 13 years apart -- and some other clues from the years in between, I've just about come to the conclusion that the Yellow Rail is a regular -- if unseen -- migrant hereabouts.

Swarms of White-throated Sparrows and a handful of Golden-crowned Kinglets (the Ruby-crowns seem to have passed through) are also birds of October. Can November be far behind?

This was my sketch from 2002 of a small, darkish rail flushed twice from our marsh. You just do not see the brownish/yellowish coloration of the plumage in the early-morning light but the shape of the wings, the short tail and the startling white patches are definitive.

Eric Salzman

sparrows & yellowlegs

A swarm of White-throated Sparrows came in last night and were easily identified visually and aurally (by their chink-chink alarm call and by their melodious song, both of which were in evidence all over the place). Other sparrows seen were the expected Song and Swamp Sparrows plus a few Chipping.

A flock of 16 Lesser Yellowlegs -- probably the same birds seen the other day and not a new flock -- appeared over Weesuck Creek with the same soft flight calls. I still didn't get a first-class look at them (they were again flying away from me up the creek) but I think they were also Lessers. This species migrates inland in the spring but on the Atlantic coast in the fall and its winter range traditionally extends up the coast to the Carolinas at least (and, with climate change in full blast, probably much further north).

Other birds of interest: Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Eastern Phoebe, Ruby-crowned and Golden-crowned Kinglets, Yellow-rumped Warblers.

Eric Salzman

yellow legs and red seeds

A flock of a dozen-and-a-half Lesser Yellowlegs was over the creek yesterday morning. They were calling to each other with a rather soft flute-y call and, as far as I could see, had rather short bills -- for which reasons I am calling them Lessers! Lessers are tundra nesters and their breeding range is further north than the Greater so they tend to turn up later in the season when the weather starts to turn cold.

White-throated Sparrows have been surprisingly sparse but they now seem to be filtering in; when the weather is warmish (as it was the past two mornings), they identify themselves by singing. Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers, another northern nester that has been missing for the past few days, turned up again yesterday and this morning. A fairly large flock of American Robins accompanied by a few other birds was feeding on the ripening red seeds in the cone-shaped pod of a Big-leaf Magnolia. There were a lot of noisy birds in the neighborhood but they all appeared to be common local breeders or visitors -- whether annoyed at the influx of Robins or trying to join in, I couldn't say.

Eric Salzman

how many D-C Cormorants make a flotilla?

A big flock -- a flotilla really -- of tens of dozens of Double-crested Cormorants came barreling into Weesuck Creek this morning accompanied by a couple of dozen screeching Ring-billed Gulls and numbers of Royal Terns. By the time I noticed them, most of the cormorants were at the mouth of the creek directly off our shore where, to avoid being carried out by the outgoing tide, they performed an overlapping series of leap-frog maneuvers with bunches of birds flying up from behind and landing in front. This sort of cartwheel continued for at least a quarter of an hour until the entire flock up and left.

What were they doing? I would guess that they had followed or chased a school of fish into the creek and were forcing them to bunch up, making them easier bait -- not only for the cormorants but also for the gulls and terns.

Outside of this, the weather was warm and windless -- not conducive to migration. There was one big, barrel-chested accipiter that looked big enough to be a Goshawk but probably was just a female Cooper's Hawk; the Blue Jays managed to chase it away. One or two thrushes (first of the season for me) showed up back of the house and in a neighbor's backyard (where she photographed it); probably both Hermit Thrushes but neither bird's tail was visible.

There are still some Blue Asters in bloom as well as small and medium White Asters. The Seaside Goldenrod has been largely finished off by rains, cold weather, etc. 

Eric Salzman

a fishing eagle

A first-year Bald Eagle was over the creek this morning. It was on the other side of the creek, not directly in my field of vision, and I didn't initially recognize it for what it was. Then I noticed out of the corner of my eye that it was dragging its feet in the water. This bird was much bigger than both the Osprey and the Red-tailed Hawk that were also moving over the creek. In any case, Red-tails don't fish and Osprey don't fish like that (they plunge in feet first). The big bird, as soon as it hit the water, pulled out and headed right over to Pine Neck to settle on the top of one of the trees directly opposite, presumably to enjoy its breakfast. There it sat silhouetted against the rising sun while it was immediately attacked by a passel of crows. After ignoring the nasty crows for a while (and perhaps polishing off its catch), it jumped into the air and, shaking off its tormenters, flapped its way up an updraft. It was a windy morning with cold breezes out of the northeast and the bird had to work hard until it reached a high soaring spot in the sky where I lost track of it. This was the first time that I can recall actually seeing a fishing eagle in the act of fishing and it reminded me that our national bird is one of a widespread group of eight species of fishing 'sea eagles', all in the genus Haliaeetus.

Besides these three raptors there was a Cooper's Hawk which came across the creek to our side and, after making a pass at a Great Egret sitting in the open on a dead branch, it settled somewhere inside the woods. This was an adult bird in the beautiful 'blue darter' plumage. Another Cooper's Hawk in juvenile plumage flew back across the creek so there were at least two of these accipiters around.

Speaking of the Great Egret which stood its ground against the Cooper's Hawk, I think that this the same bird that I see every morning along with a single Great Blue Heron, both perched on the edge of our woods facing the marsh. Ironically, the Great Blue, usually sitting higher and much further back, is invariably spooked when I show up and comes squawking out and away. Yet, at the same time, the Egret will sit calmly and watch me sauntering by even as I pass right under its perch.

Also in the mix -- but definitely more nervous and spookable -- is a noisy Yellowlegs but whether Greater or Lesser I am never quite sure.

Eric Salzman

a cold weather flock

In fall migration (and in winter), birds seem to team up in flocks, sometimes mostly consisting of one or two species, other times in mixed groups that include locals as well as visitors. The logic seems to be that the locals know the best spots to look for food, especially in cold weather (and this morning was definitely cold weather).

There was a fairly large and very active mixed group that passed through this morning, led (as is often the case) by Titmice and Chickadees but also including long- and short-distance migrants -- Blue-headed and Red-eyed Vireos, Brown Creeper, Blackpoll, Yellow-rumped Warblers, A few Eastern Towhees were also present as well as the usual raft of woodpeckers but I'm not sure they can be considered part of the flock. Considerable numbers of Swamp Sparrows, a few Common Yellowthroats and Ruby-crowned Kinglets were present in the marsh edges and the bush areas between woods and marsh. The Swamp Sparrows seem to dominate the sparrow scene abetted by some numbers of Song Sparrow and a few -- surprisingly few -- White-throated Sparrows.

Eric Salzman

Pumps and Rumps!

Pumps and rumps! Lots of birds came in on the cold weather of the past two days. Not surprisingly, the dominant species was Yellow-rumped Warbler (a.k.a. Myrtle Warbler) with dozens, maybe hundreds of birds active mostly in the shrub layer between the woods and the pond (or marsh). With them were a number of Palm Warblers of the Western variety, with yellow undertail coverts but otherwise dull brownish gray (lightly streaked on the breast) and non-stop tail-pumping.

Otherwise, most of the other arrivals were sparrows: Song, Swamp, a few Chipping, White-throated and at least one Lincoln's. The Palm Warbler and the Lincoln's Sparrow were new for the season (Lincoln's Sparrow is uncommon in these parts -- or, at least, uncommonly identified).

Also seen: Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Brown Creeper, several Eastern Phoebes, at least one large raptor (probably a Red-tailed Hawk), American Goldfinches, and House Finches. There were many woodpeckers yesterday (all four breeding species including Hairy) but few today. Wonder why. And where did all the Yellow-belied Sapsuckers go? They were all over the place a couple of days ago.

Eric Salzman

influx of Sapsuckers; Blackpolls en route

A veritable flotilla of Yellow-breasted Sapsuckers came in last night. There were at least a dozen (probably more), mostly clustered in an around the dead trees at the head of the marsh and flying from tree to tree to tree. This bird, with its inimitable moniker, is a regular migrant and winter visiter here but I have never seen so many of them at once.

Check the picture below. Eileen Schwinn had Blackpoll Warblers in 'confusing fall warbler' plumage on Monday and managed to get a fairly good photo. If you can blow this photo up (or look at it in Preview) you can see -- barely -- most of the features that distinguish it from the very similar fall Bay-breasted and Pine Warblers. These include light breast streaking on a greenish/yellowish breast, white wingbars, heavier back streaking, white undertail coverts and yellow feet and legs. Spring males are black and white so this is quite a change. These birds are on their way to South America, flying up to 1800 miles or more, one of the longest ; many Blackpools are known to do the longest part of their fall flight over the open Atlantic!

Eric Salzman

42 species

A lot of migrants came in last night. New for the season were a few Blackpoll Warblers in their fall plumage: white wingbars, lightly streaked on a yellowish/greenish breast, strongly streaked on the back, buffy on the undertail coverts (several of these features distinguish them from the similar Bay-breasted and Pine Warblers). Blackpolls are famous for some of the longest non-stop migrations undertaken by any land bird (some of them have been known to take off from the Canadian Maritimes and hit terra firma only on the coast of S. America!). Nevertheless, a few almost always appear in the woods at this time of year.

Here's a complete list of birds seen this morning (42 species in all):

Double-crested Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Canada Goose
Mallard
Black Duck
Red-tailed Hawk
Greater Yellowlegs
Ring-billed Gull
Herring Gull
Great Black-backed Gull
Royal Tern
Mourning Dove
Belted Kingfisher
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Eastern Phoebe
Blue Jay
American Crow
Fish Crow (calling)
Black-capped Chickadee
Tufted Titmouse
White-breasted Nuthatch
Carolina Wren
Golden-crowned Kinglet
Gray Catbird
Northern Mockingbird
Cedar Waxwing (young ones catching insects high up among the standing dead trees)
Yellow-rumped Warbler (flocks eating Red Cedar berries)
Blackpoll Warbler (see above)
Common Yellowthroat (unexpected; several came in last night)
Northern Cardinal
Eastern Towhee
Chipping Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Swamp Sparrow
Red-winged Blackbird
Common Grackle
American Goldfinch
House Finch

Eric Salzman

Every creek has two sides

Eileen Schwinn came over yesterday morning to help look for the Black-backed Woodpecker. We didn't find it and we didn't find much of anything else: a single Ruby-crowned Kinglet, a few late Tree Swallows overhead. Where did all the birds go?

Today was a substantial improvement. There were many sparrows popping up from the marsh edge and perching prettily on the woodland edge. Most of them were Song and Swamp Sparrows but there was a Field Sparrow -- first for the season. Also a female (or immature) Indigo Bunting, a handsome Nashville Warbler in bright plumage and a Sharp-shinned Hawk hightailing it the wrong way across the creek; all of these were season firsts.

The acorn crop has been one of the best that I can remember and, as a result, the Blue Jay crop is equally prolific. Eileen tells me that all the Yellow-rumped Warblers (and a Palm Warbler or two) are on the east side of the creek in a couple of good-sized flocks. I haven't seen a single one on this side in two days now.

Eric Salzman

a woodpecker phantom on the creek

The closest I could come to another sighting of the Black-backed Woodpecker was a medium-sized woodpecker hightailing it across the creek to Pine Neck. The light was bad and I am far from certain that this was the target bird (based on size, it could have been a Red-bellied). But it gave me hope that the bird might be still hanging around.

This was not the first Black-backed Woodpecker record for Long Island. "Bull's Birds of New York" reports that individuals were seen in 1887, 1936 and 1963 (thanks Harry Maas). Not sure exactly where these sightings were recorded but it seems that Black-backed Woodpecker is at least as likely around here as Pileated Woodpecker!

One new bird for the season: Brown Creeper. A few Yellow-rumped Warblers and at least one Blue-headed Vireo also seen but not a whole lot else.

Eric Salzman

Black-backed Woodpeckers? Not today!

Alas, no Black-backed Woodpeckers today (not that I didn't spend the whole morning searching). This might very well be the first Long Island record of this elusive bird which leaves its northern nesting ground every few years but rarely comes this far south. Derek Rogers tells me that there was one photographed on Nantucket Island in 2009 and I saw one in Eastern Pennsylvania (just over the New Jersey line near the Delaware Water Gap) about 15 years ago.

A few new birds came in, notably a small flock of Yellow-rumped Warblers working the areas all along the marsh, pond and creek edge and, one of my favorite fall birds, Blue-headed Vireo. Other birds of note (already seen this season) were Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Swamp Sparrow, Royal Tern and Yellow-bellied Sapsucker. And a Screech Owl calling for the past two nights but invisible in the day.

Eric Salzman

a cracking good bird!

Have I got a good bird to report! Flying across the 'front range' -- the woods facing the marsh and creek -- and briefly perching in the morning sunlight on high dead branches two or three times was a BLACK-BACKED WOODPECKER: black head with a thin white stripe on the lower part of the face, black back with faint white markings on the wing and tail. No yellow on the head but could have been a female or young bird. A little bigger than a Hairy and not as big as a Flicker, this species famously prefers burned over (or insect devastated) areas on forest edges with standing dead trees -- a perfect description of the hurricane-blasted dead trees which now line our woodland. The hurricane-created landscape very much resemble burnt-up landscapes and we have seen the arrival and/or proliferation of more than one fire-adapated spcies: Fireweed (also known as Pilewort), Olive-sided Flycatcher and now Black-backed Woodpecker! Wow!

Could I have made a mistake? I don't think so. The bird was clearly a woodpecker and was flying with woodpeckers (Flickers). No other North American woodpecker has such a large, solid black crown, nape and back. The only similar woodpecker, the Three-toed, is smaller and has some obvious white on its head and back. And, as if to help out with the comparative ID, a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker appeared (plenty of white on the back and wings) making a total of six woodpeckers on the place!

A few other birds of note included Nashville Warbler, several Golden-crowned Kinglets and Eastern Phoebe, the first two of these three also being first-of-the-season birds. A good day!

Eric Salzman

migratory waves

Migration continues in waves. American Robins, which had disappeared for the past couple of days, are back in numbers along with Northern Flickers and a handful of American Goldfinches and Houses Finches. Royal Terns are still moving in an out of the creek and there are Kingfishers on the creek. The only raptor seen was a high-flying Turkey Vulture (going the wrong way!) On the other hand, Catbirds have virtually disappeared and there are relatively few Chickadees and Titmice.

One new bird for the season: Ruby-crowned Kinglet (didn't see or hear Golden-crowned). A few Swamp Sparrows mixed in with the remaining Song Sparrows. I tried to turn a small passerine that jumped out of the marsh edge into a wren but it was most likely a Song Sparrow. Great Blue Heron spooked from the same tree perch almost every day.

Eric Salzman

new bird?

Flushed a small pale Marsh-Wren type bird out of the marsh edge vegetation this morning and then, moving quickly to the spot where it dropped back in, flushed it again. Could not flush it a third time. Although I saw it twice but only briefly in flight, it seemed quite distinctive: small, fluttery, pale. There's a good chance that it was a Sedge Wren, a bird that turns up here in fall migration in October and is always rare and difficult. It would be a new bird for the property if I could confirm it.

A huge flock of Common Grackles (with a few Starlings mixed in) descended on the place in late morning, feeding on the ground all around the house and bathing in one of the cottage gutters which was still filled with water. It was very amusing to watch these birds line up for their turn in the tub -- a good splash and then out onto the roof and into the sun to dry out a bit while another one took its place in the bath.

Strong winds suggested that this might be a good raptor day but I didn't last long at my hawk-watch spot at the edge of the pond, being driven back by the strong gusts after only a single Red-tailed Hawk.

Here is a dramatic shot of Sunday night's moon eclipse -- taken just after full eclipse by John Heidecker ; I'm glad I got his permission to use it as I didn't manage to take any photos myself.

Eric Salzman

A dioecious plant

On Monday, a Savannah Sparrow showed up on Randall Lane, just about the only new bird seen recently.

In addition to the spectacular display of the Seaside Goldenrod (now ruined by the rain), there are several other wildflowers in bloom: Pearly Everlasting (the most widespread I've ever seen it), Evening Primrose (a late arrival probably delayed due to the fact that we cut the meadow around the house) as well as one or more of the small white asters. Another flowering plant that has become widespread in the wake of Irene and Sandy, is the Baccharis halimifolia or Groundsel Tree. This is not really a tree but a rather robust bush that grows at the edge of the marsh. It is a dioecious, a fancy word meaning that it has separate male and female plants. The male flowers, already past their peak, are not very noticeable but the female flowers are striking with a bundle of silky-white strands coming out of a purple sheath; the wind-distributed seeds are at the end of each strand or filament. They are just now developing and make a notable display at the head of the marsh.

Eric Salzman