action on sea and land

The creek was exceptionally busy (and noisy) this morning with 5 or 6 Osprey in the air over the creek and at lest two more perched on one of the nests and/or tree limbs --and all of them calling. There are two Osprey pole nests on Pine Neck and I would guess that both of them are successful. Also three terns -- Royal, Common and Least -- occasionally calling and following fish runs into the creek. Not to mention Great Egret, Snowy Egret, Great Blue Heron, Spotted Sandpiper and many Purple Martins including flying young.

With regard to Purple Martin 'dreads', Bob Murray writes from Westhampton as follows: "I have been the host of a Purple Martin colony for many years and have seen this before. I think it is the prelude to an early departure for South America! My colony would explode and sail around like crazy before returning to the gourds and houses that I had in my back yard on the water." He was commenting on the Purple Martin 'dread' that I observed yesterday morning in the gourd colony -- now several dozen birds -- by the Town Dock just on the far side of our marsh. Bob Adamo suggests that they might be responding to a predator invisible to me such as a snake. Maybe. But these gourds are on slippery poles set in an open grassy area and I suspect that the immanent departure theory may be the right one. 

Land bird activity was at a height as well: lots of Am Robins, at least half of which are young birds with breast spots. An Am Goldfinch singing in short bursts of song fooled me into thinking it was a warbler. All four local woodpeckers were on the scene including the less common Hairy Woodpecker. I had good looks at a male Hairy at eye level showing not only his red spot at the back of his head but also the seldom-noticed puffy buff patches between the substantial bill and his eyes (the Downy has them too but they are much more obvious on the Hairy) plus the entirely white outer tail feathers (the Downy usually has black spots).

Eric Salzman