warblers and finches

Eileen Schwinn came over yesterday (in the rain!) and again this morning (humid and overcast but no rain) to search for the Connecticut Warbler. Wr didn't find it or much of anything else in yesterday's downpour. Today the place was full of birds trying, one presumes, to make up for a lost day. Alas, no Connecticut but we did see American Redstart and a handsome WILSON'S WARBLER, not quite as rare as the Connecticut but always a good bird to locate.

Otherwise the American Goldfinches have virtually taken over the place. These tiny finches were extremely common around the head of the marsh and adjacent areas that were impacted by Sandy. The reasons are not hard to find. Goldfinches are about as vegetarian as any bird and, to their delight, this area is now full of ripening seeds and berries: Thistle, Pilewort, Groundsel Bush, Marsh Elder, Poison Ivy, Tupelo, and Pokeweed among others. Because these food sources ripen in late August and early September, the Goldfinches adjust their breeding schedule so that mating and nest building takes place in July and the young hatch out and mature in August, long after most other birds have finished with their nesting duties and are starting to move around or even migrate. The Goldfinch female lays four to six eggs and most of these birds are now out of the nest and flying on their own. The visible population has tripled or quadrupled and the fledglings are beginning to feed themselves. They are easily recognizable as they zip around with abandon, often chasing each other and stopping to perch high on dead branches to survey the scene; some are still begging from the adults but most seem to be feeding themselves. Their twittering calls are often given in flight: per-Chick-o-ree is the usual mnemonic, easily recognizable by its rhythmic character as the birds perform their dipping flight. Many of the males are still in breeding plumage (golden yellow with a jaunty black cap} and sometimes scraps of their pretty little song can still be heard.

The Goldfinches are joined in their endeavors by the larger and somewhat less jaunty House Finches. Again their flocks, although much smaller, now consist mostly of young birds although they are usually in the company of at least one red-splashed adult male.

Eric Salzman