coming and going

Although the weather was cool with northeast winds, the sun did manage to push through some dramatic morning clouds. But there was no migrant burst comparable to yesterday's autumn push; Red-eyed Vireos and Eastern Towhees were the only new arrivals that I found. What was noticeable was how many species have disappeared or dropped considerably in numbers: the finches (both Gold and House), Red-winged Blackbirds, Common Yellowthroats, all the terns on the creek. I spooked an Osprey on a dead snag taking apart a fish and several Osprey were moving high overhead, clearly in migration; I think the local Osprey have all left for Cuba (or wherever they go). Belted Kingfisher continues to patrol the creek and the pond; not sure if it's the same bird or a succession of migrant kingfishers. Flickers and American Robins continue to arrive in some numbers and the Blue Jays are still all over the place, snagging acorns and screaming their inevitable Blue Jay screams. Fall asters are beginning to show: small white ones and classic light blues. A much less lovely sight was a headless rodent with a long rat-like tail. I think it was too big to be a rat but it was a good candidate for a muskrat. Muskrats disappeared here after Sandy -- I suspect all their lodges and burrows were flooded out and many of them must have drowned. I've been waiting for their return ever since. What predator would decapitate a muskrat? I suspect an owl or a hawk. Eric Salzman

fall is really here

The turn of the weather from mild/humid to cool/clear/dry with northwest winds made for a big morning with an exciting burst of migrants. But, wouldn't you know it, this was the morning that I had to quit 30' or 40' after setting out in order to meet another sudden pressing obligation. What I did see was inspiring enough. The most startling thing was the reappearance of the male WESTERN TANAGER which has obviously been here at least since I first saw it a couple of days ago. This time, it appeared that the red head was beginning to wear a bit into winter plumage but I didn't have the time to investigate further. I should mention that Scarlet Tanagers also molt into winter plumage (the beautiful bright green-and-yellow bird I saw yesterday could have been a molted male Scarlet) but the process produces a bird with blotchy yellows and reds, not at all like the Western's transition from breeding to non-breeding which involves mostly the loss of the head color. Two new birds: (1) Blue-headed Vireo (one of my favorites with its green back, blue/gray head, wing bars, white breast with yellow sides and dashing white spectacles; and (2) Swamp Sparrow. Both of these birds are regulars at this time of the year. Also seen in the course of literally a few minutes were Eastern Phoebes, Eastern Wood-pewee, Blue-gray Gnatcatchers and Black-and-white Warbler (I'm sure there were more warblers in that morning burst but I couldn't hang around long enough to find out) . Hordes of Blue Jays are still present and still apparently doing their job which, for jays, means finding acorns and scolding raptors. Acorns I could see but I never got a good look at the raptors. I was able to take a walk later in the day but the morning burst had dissipated. I'll try again tomorrow. Eric Salzman

lots of Blue Jay scolds

We don't think of Blue Jays as migrants as they are with us all year round -- depending, it is true, on the acorn crop. This morning dozens of jays were flying in from the south on a southwest/northeast trajectory. This may not sound like a migratory path but I have seen other large diurnal fliers on that path, notably Robins and Flickers, both of which are at least somewhat migratory. Many land birds migrate along the shore or even out a ways over the ocean at night and when night turns to day, they head inland for some R&R. The Blue Jays flock up after breeding season and, if the acorn crop north of us is not so good, they take off -- sometimes in good numbers -- to look for oak forests with a good acorn crop. Well, this year that's us! Not surprisingly, the parties or scolds of Blue Jays (yes those collective nouns are used for Blue Jay flocks) found and chased away a Merlin. Ken Thompson sent me the records for the Fire Island Hawk Watch and it strongly confirms Carl Safina's observation that Merlin migration in these parts peaks in late September. The winds were from the north/northwest but surprisingly mild. The most striking new arrival was a glowing yellow Scarlet Tanager -- probably a male in winter plumage rather than a female -- but I also saw an American Redstart and a Red-eyed Vireo. Perhaps if the north winds continue (as they are predicted to do) we can expect a few more new arrivals. Eric Salzman

fog, wrens & turkeys

Monday's post-Jose weather brought back almost all the birds which had seemed to disappear during the high winds and extra high tides: the flocks of finches, Gold and House, Gray Catbirds, Song Sparrows, chickadees and titmice, all four woodpeckers, etc. On the creek and marsh there were Forster's Terns as well as Royals (haven't seen Forster's in a while), Belted Kingfisher, Greater Yellowlegs, Great Blue Heron and the two egrets. Also at least two Merlins, confirming Carl Safina's statement Saturday that this is the Merlin's migrational peak time. Yesterday morning was, in contrast, completely socked in; not only was Dune Road and the bay invisible but I couldn't see Pine Neck or Weesuck Creek and even the nearby Aldrich Boatyard and the Town Dock had vanished. The only close-up warblers I could find were some of the many Common Yellowthroats and a couple of Northern Waterthrushes, both responding to my 'pishing' and popping up right in front of me. As I doggedly continued making my rounds (getting wetter and wetter in the process), the fog began to lift and the regulars cited above began to reappear. This morning's fog cover was not as low or heavy as yesterday but its windless silence was overwhelmed by the roar of the ocean surf. Early morning humid air is a great conveyor of sound, it seems! Surf sound perhaps but not bird sound. On the land side, everything was quiet with the Carolina Wrens being the only singers left from the bird chorus. And there are a lot of them singing from both sides of he creek, both sides of the marsh and all sides of the woodland edges. Sometimes two of the wrens seem to butt syringes as they challenge a rival with their loud songs; I'm sure these song contests are territorial combats. One strange feature is that, unlike their breeding season songs which are repetitive and sterotyped, these birds show a wide repertoire of wren tunes and challenge their rivals to duplicate them. There are at least two Wild Turkey flocks visiting us. One has five or six young and a single big fat hen. The other has fourteen birds of almost the same size with (I think) two hens, distinguished by their slightly heavier, fatter bodies and more alert behavior. The young ones are almost grown and may even be able to fly. Although the past few weeks have not been exceptionally rainy, there have been plenty of mushrooms including some good edibles (russula, lactarius). But the most amazing mushroom event was a huge fruiting of a yellow Tricholoma. White-spored mushrooms with yellow caps, yellow gills and yellow stems are not so common and this one was either Tricholoma equestre or T. flavorvirens, a mushroom associated with sandy soils and pine/oak woods. Lorna insisted that the raw mushroom smelled of horseradish but I could barely detect this; in any case the smell disappeared in cooking. It made a superb mushroom soup and there was enough left over to make a creamed mushroom dish and freeze the rest. Eric Salzman

warm weather for the first cold-weather bird

I was hoping for something of turnout this morning. It didn't happen but, warm weather or no, I did get one early late-fall/winter bird in the form of a Ruby-crowned Kinglet. Also Eastern Wood-pewee and a party of eight or ten scolding Blue Jays chasing around a Cooper's Hawk. The Wild Turkey flock now seen every day consists of one hen and six almost fully-grown poults. On the creek: Belted Kingfisher, Royal Tern and usual gulls continue to dominate but a Greater Yellowlegs has appeared calling loudly and circling over the marsh. At yesterday's Climate Change Symposium at SOFO, Carl Safina noted that, from his experience watching and banding hawks at a South Shore hawk watch, Merlins peaked about this time of the year. Shortly thereafter, I saw three Merlins flying over Vineyard field at the back of the SOFO buildings where the symposium was taking place. A smallish (or perhaps medium-sized) Box Turtle, lured out by the warm weather, had a black carapace and only quite reduced orange markings. Apparently orange is not the new black for some of these reptiles. Eric Salzman

a good new warbler (& a thrush)

Continued gusts of wind from the northeast suggested lingering effects of Jose but the sky was blue and -- probably because of the winds -- there was not a drop of dew. There were birds around but these conditions made them hard to see. A few of the birds that went missing during the storm conditions were back including Gray Catbirds, House Finches and Red-winged Blackbirds. They were probably just hunkering down. But there were new birds. One of the newbies -- a bird I haven't seen around here in quite a few years (it used to be regular) -- was a Swainson's Thrush. Always a pleasure! An even more unusual visitor was a YELLOW-THROATED WARBLER, a southern species (it has only recently started nesting on Long Island) with a sharply defined bright yellow throat and upper breast, white below and a complicated face pattern consisting of an eye stripe, a lower half eye ring and a white patch behind the eye. We have had brief visits from one or two singing birds in the spring many years ago and a fall bird in the first week of September, 2007. The late September appearance up here of this beauty of a southern bird -- which should be migrating even further south by now -- might well be connected with Jose! Eric Salzman

in the wake of Jose

The tail end of Hurricane/Tropical Storm Jose prevailed this morning with fairly strong gusts of winds from the northeast and alternating cloud cover and sunshine. The stormy weather seems to have cleared out a good many birds including most of the blackbirds (Red-wings, Grackles), Gray Catbirds and House Finches. Eastern Goldfinches continued in numbers however, probably because of the wide-spread wind-blown seeds that they prefer: a few thistles and lots of Pilewort and Baccharis (or Groundsel) which have feathery attachments to their seeds; I think the House Finches are more addicted to the bigger seeds of Ivo and other marsh plants. Surprisingly there were a few warblers with fair numbers of Common Yellowthroat including at least one dead male -- cause unknown; it was a young one with a black mask coming in. Also American Redstart and Northern Waterthrush. But the best warblers were two Palms, one each from the two Palm Warbler races: the Western race which, curiously enough, is more common in the East in the fall and is yellow only under the tail and the Yellow or Eastern race which is overall yellowish. Both were enthusiastic tail waggers with eye stripes and faint breast streaking. And both were the first ones that I've seen in this fall season (yes, it's now officially fall). An Eastern Wood-pewee and an Eastern Phoebe just about complete the cast for the morning's performance. Almost all these birds were at the edge of the upper marsh where they were somewhat shielded from the winds by the woods behind. Eric Salzman

an eventful passage

The passing of Jose didn't seem to produce anything exotic around here but it did produce a couple of unusual encounters. One was yesterday morning when I was coming out of the marsh. The strong northwest winds seemed to have driven most of the birds away -- even in the rather protected area near the head of the marsh -- so I was surprised to see a whole cadre of mostly small birds hovering anxiously and rather noisily around a low dense bush. Almost every local species was represented including a Ruby-throated Hummingbird and, even more surprisingly, at least four or five American Redstarts (all in the 'yellowstart plumage). I tried to peer into the middle of the bush but I couldn't see anything nor did the bird's actions and my experience with owls suggest that a Screech Owl was hiding in a bush just a few inches off the ground. Was there a predatory cat sneaking around? If so, it was a completely stationary cat as the birds did not change the direction of their anxiety even as I approached. Suddenly I saw what it was. Wrapped round some bare branches sticking out from the bush were two Garter/Ribbon Snakes. Had the snakes been routed from their den by the extremely high tides? They were a few feet above the ground and right out in the open but curled up in the dead branches where their yellow and black stripes afforded them -- at least to me if not to the birds -- some measure of camouflage. Oddly enough, after about 15' or 20' the chiviers all suddenly departed leaving just the chivied and myself to contemplate the situation. The snakes, ever so slowly then started to move which I took as my signal for departure. There were a few warblers and flycatchers that stayed around through the storm. In addition to Common Yellowthroat, Black-an White Warbler and the surprising number of Redstarts, Lorna saw a warbler with a bright yellow breast and no wing bars hanging out with a feeding flock of Titmice and Chickadees; I looked hard but couldn't find it. I did see both Eastern Phoebe and Eastern Wood-pewee weathering the weather. This morning, the winds were still blowing fitfully. As is my usual practice I took my dog out for a walk shortly after 6 am. As we all know, at this time of the year, it's still quite dark at that hour but Rimsky (the dog) doesn't care as he is mostly interested in what he can smell. Suddenly he started to bolt and I had to hold on to his leash for dear life. Rimsky is 14 years old and rarely exhibits such eager chase behavior these days, even for his favorite 'chaseables' -- deer, Wild Turkey, etc. But these are all daytime creatures. His new item of interest was a nocturnal forager: a Virginia Opossum! In the old days, we let our dogs run free and one of Rimsky's predecessors got into a horrible nocturnal tussle with one of these beasts. I grabbed a flashlight and made my way into the woods to find the dog standing triumphantly over its dead prey. I collared the dog and brought him back into the house but then I had to make several return trips into the woods to show everyone in the family the bleeding carcass of our resident marsupial. Except the last time I went out -- with daughter Eva as I recall -- there was no possum. I shone the flashlight into the understory of the woods and there was the 'bleeding' possum calmly trotting away. I had completely forgotten that these animals can 'play possum' with about as realistic a performance as you can imagine. In any case, Rimsky didn't get the chance to try the experiment again. Eric Salzman

a dark & stormy morn

A dark and stormy morn. Gulls and Royal Terns seemed to be enjoying it but most everything else was hunkered down. Surprisingly though, I spotted four warbler species: Common Yellowthroat, Black-and-white, Prairie and Northern Waterthrush, the lastnamed a bird that hasn't been seen around here in several weeks. Hurricanes and Tropical Storms do sometimes send exotic birds our way. Thanks to Irene -- a few years back, I admit -- we had a Bridled Tern on the creek and it's on my 'property' list! Eric Salzman

birds & seeds

The past couple of days have not been particularly good for migration but substantial flocks of House Finches and somewhat smaller groups of Goldfinches continue to work the Marsh Elder (Iva). The Baccharis or Groundsel -- Iva's sister plant at the edge of the marsh -- is in bloom right now and will start producing seed shortly which will keep these seed eaters busy for a while. The Catbirds are still feasting on the Tupelo berries along with a few other berrypickers but that resource won't last lomg. Warblers seen include Prairie, Black-and-white, Yellow, Yellowthroat and American Redstart. Two flycatchers: an Eastern Pheobe with freshly molted yellow/cream colored underparts and an Eastern Wood-Pewee with a peaked head, a vested breast and buffy wingbars (indicating s first-year bird). Still no empids, alas. A Ruby-throated Hummingbird was poking at the feathery seedhead of a Phragmites; could it have been eating a seed or just finding a tiny insect therein? Lots of noisy Royal Terns on the creek. An encounter between Blue Jays and a raptor provided a little spice to the morning's activities. I didn't get a good view of the raptor but I think it was a Merlin -- jut a hair bigger than the jays. Eric

fall flower show

The Seaside Goldenrod is coming into bloom making one of the most colorful natural floral displays that we have. As I've discussed before, goldenrod is a much maligned plant because it blooms at the same time as ragweed; since the ragweed has almost invisible green flowers and the goldenrod (especially Seaside Goldenrod) has brilliant yellow colors on the gold side of the spectrum), the goldenrod gets blamed unjustly for ragweed hayfever. The color, of course, should give it away. Goldenrod is colorful because it is insect polllinated; ragweed is not colorful because it is wind pollinated and it is the wind-blown pollen that causes the hayfever. I know because I had it for years (seemed to have outgrown it though). Other plants in bloom right now include Pearly Everlasting, Groundsel (Baccharis), thistle (sp?), Clematis and an aster-like low plant blooming all over the dunes at Smith Point (one of the Golden Asters?). Monarch Butterflies are coming in in some numbers (a few down here; many more on the beach); a hopeful sign. As the weather turns warm and sunny again, there are many dragonflies in flight but it's a tough job to ID them. Eric Salzman

duel of the kingfishers

Heavy fog this morning blotted out Pine Neck just across the creek and even after it lifted somewhat, most of Shinnecock Bay and the Dune Road barrier beach was completely invisible. Given this background, it was surprising to hear and see Royal Terns magically appearing out of and vanishing back into the mist, calling loudly all the while. But the big event was a tremendous chase between two Belted Kingfishers, in and out of the fog but mostly on our side which was relatively clear. The chases were made all the more dramatic by the typical New Year's Eve rattles given by both birds as a sort of battle cry. One of the birds was clearly a female but I believe the other was a male. Was it love or war? The female seemed to be doing most of the chasing. Bird #1 would land on a branch on our side (overlooking the mouth of the pond) and Bird #2 would dive bomb it and chase it off its perch over the creek. Bird #2 would then circle around and land again on a dead branch on our side and the action would repeat itself. My guess is that the female was protecting her fishing grounds against an intruder. Kingfishers do not seem to have nested in our vicinity in recent years but they appear in migration and can even be found in the mild winters -- as long as the water is open. Eric Salzman

vireos, vireos, vireos

The new 'new' arrivals have all been vireos. Today's was a handsome Yellow-throated Vireo in the dense vegetation at the head of the marsh. The bird was so close to me -- it was barely above my head -- that it took me a while to get the binoculars on it: bright yellow throat and breast, white belly, two broad wingbars, olive back and -- bingo! -- yellow spectacles. Always a good bird to find out here. Yesterday's 'new' arrival was actually an old acquaintance that has not been doing well recently: Red-eyed Vireo (new only in that it's the first R-v Vireo on the place in fall migration). I've actually already had Warbling Vireo and White-eyed Vireo before this Red-eyed showed up and now Yellow-throated to add to the vireo list. Everything else (both days) was quite familiar: Royal Terns, all three mimids (including several Brown Thrashers), all four woodpeckers (including Hairy), Ruby-throated Hummingbird, the last gaggle of Wild Turkeys (six young 'uns and one fat hen standing guard), a few warblers (Yellow, Yellowthroat, Black-and-white, American Redstart). And, oh yes, a fast flying Merlin that disappeared over the treetops. Eric Salzman

a late singer and a life-and-death chase

The bird of the morning, a White-eyed Vireo (first of the season), announced its presence with a continuous bout of singing, unusual for any migrant at this time of year but easily identifiable by the 'chick' sounds inserted in and between the musical phrases. And, sure enough, up pops the bird, a good-looking breeding-plumaged specimen, right in front of me. The other big event of the morning was a series of chases by Blue Jays and, somewhat surprisingly, several Northern Flickers, of a dangerous looking Cooper's Hawk that seemed to want to hide in the foliage but was invariably found out. The Jay and Flicker are big and willing to take on the Cooper's but the smaller birds evidently were following the old adage that discretion is the better part of valor and kept to cover. There were a few warblers: several American Redstarts, Black-and-white, Yellow and Common Yellowthroat. All three mimids (Mockingbird, Catbird, Brown Thrasher) are still here and active. Ditto for the three woodpeckers, including those Flickers who are now mostly migrating birds. A few high-flying Tree Swallows and a bunch of Royal Terns completes the list. Eric Salzman

Smith Point

This is the year of the CAPE MAY WARBLER! I joined Eileen Schwinn's E.L.I.A.S. (Eastern LI Audubon Society) walk this morning at Smith Point (the western end of the Fire Island Wilderness Area and the eastern end of Smith Point County Park). The clear, cool weather with NW winds was perfect for migration. The number of warblers was not large but they were good ones. The Cape May was a male still in breeding plumage with the yellow neck, chestnut ear patch and heavily streaked breast. After many years of Cape May drought, I have seen a breeding male at Hunters Garden in the spring and I had a small group of Cape Mays on my East Quogue property for almost a week at the end of August. My guess is that a Spruce Budworm outbreak in the boreal forest has produced this bounty, the first in years. The first bird of the day was a tail-wagging Palm Warbler, seen in a bush on the edge of the parking lot. I would call this an early arrival but perhaps not as early as the ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLERS seen at the end of the day. This bird is known as a late migrant -- it is very rare before mid- or even late September and, like the Palm, it sometimes overwinters. There were two birds in a small thicket which I first thought were Tennessee Warblers. But they had lightly stripy breasts and the undertail coverts were yellow; one of the birds had a vague yellow wash on the upper breast and both had an eye-ring broken by a dark eyeliner with a pale whitish eyebrow above. The jizz was Vermivora and the species Vermivora Celata or Orange-crowned. Most of the warblers on the move were American Redstarts in the yellowstart plumage. A number of flycatchers were seen including Eastern Wood-pewee, Eastern Phoebe and two species of empidonax: two or three Least (big-headed, grayish with bold tear-drop eye rings) and at least two YELLOW-BELLIED FLYCATCHERS (olive above, complete eye-ring, one with a quite bright yellow belly, the other with a washed-out yellow belly). Lots of Northern Flickers on the move along with a few American Robins, one Red-eyed Vireo and small flocks of Cedar Waxwings and American Goldfinches. One dark falcon on a fast overflight was probably a Merlin. Many Sanderlings along the shore chasing the waves. Larger waterbirds included several Great Blue Herons, 'V' flocks of Double-crested Cormorants and a fair number of Osprey. A big feature was the quite considerable movement of Monarch Butterflies. A few years ago this might have been considered a mediocre monarch migration but, after the recent scarcity of this well-known insect, it was a treat to see these numbers. There were other butterflies including Red Admiral and a 'grass' skipper, probably the Common Banded Skipper. Also quite a few dragonflies. Unlike the big dragonfly movement on Friday in East Quogue -- which consisted mostly of Green Darners and a few Black Saddlebags -- these were mostly unidentified smaller species. Alas, I have not reached the point where I can identify dragonflies in flight with the exception of the large and distinctly patterned Green Darner and the two Saddlebag species. Eric Salzman

mystery warbler

Eileen Schwinn came over early this morning to help relocate yesterday's Western Tanager. Alas, we didn't find it but, in recompense, we had a nice influx of migrants topped off by this 'mystery' warbler (or, if you prefer, 'confusing fall warbler'). We saw this bird three times. Or was it three different look-alikes? And what was it? The photo on the left seems to indicate an immature first-year female Mourning Warbler with a yellow throat above a grayish breast band. But there are a couple of confusing elements. One is that the breast band in this photo is actually a shadow from one of the bare branches; as shown by the other photos, the yellow extended pretty evenly from the throat to the undertail. However, I will admit that there are traces of streaking on the breast visible in the right-hand photo, Another problem is that, as the middle photo shows, the bird has a thin but complete eye ring, not the more expected broken eye ring. On the other hand, the uniform olive-green coloration of the head and back and the uniform yellow of the breast mitigate against the few other possibilities! A Great Crested Flycatcher was a migrant as the local birds have long since departed. The Brown Thrashers are still here along with many Gray Catbirds. The mimids, along with Robins and a pair of Veeries (new for the season) were eating Tupelo berries which are ripening fast. Common Yellowthroats all over the place suggest that these birds are starting to move down from the north. Ditto for Ruby-throated Hummingbirds (see Eileen Schwinn's pretty photo of a glittering young hummer below). Eric Salzman

a Wow! bird

I had a Wow bird this morning. While making my rounds and approaching the head of the marsh I caught a glimpse of brilliant yellow flashing high in the treetops overlooking the marsh. As the bird moved out of its leafy cover, I could see that it was a tanager with a glowing yellow body and a red head (!) as well as clearly marked wing bars (one white, one yellow). Only one bird fits that description: WESTERN TANAGER! This way-out-of-range bird is considered a mere vagrant in the east but it does turn up. I once led a walk in Sandy Hook, New Jersey, where we found a female Western and a few years ago there was a winter bird that frequented a feeder in Baldwin, L.I. But this morning's bird was an early September migrant male in full breeding plumage: a gorgeous sight to behold and a genuine first for the property (not to mention the first that I have seen on Eastern Long Island). My total over the years for this locality is no less than 243 species (and that doesn't include two parrots and two hypotheticals). I called Eileen Schwinn and she came rushing over but we failed to refind the bird. Oh well, that's the fun of bird-watching: you never know! This unexpected arrival was part of one of the best migration mornings in quite a few years. A vireo with a broad white eye stripe, olive/gray head and back (without contrast), and white underparts shading to yellow underneath was a Warbling Vireo -- a bird that nests locally but is not seen much around here. My longer list for the morning included Double-crested Cormorant, Great Blue Heron, Great Egret, Mute Swan, Mallard, Osprey, Wild Turkey (a small covey of five poults and one fat hen), the usual gulls, Royal Tern, Chimney Swift, Ruby-throated Hummingbird, Belted Kingfisher, the three breeding woodpeckers, Eastern Phoebe, Warbling Vireo (but not Red-eyed), jays and crows, fair numbers of Tree Swallows (spin-offs from the huge barrier beach migration), Bank Swallow, chickadees and titmice, the two resident wrens, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, American Robin, all three mimids, Black-and-white Warbler, American Redstart, Common Yellowthroat, Western Tanager (!), Northern Cardinal, Song Sparrow (no longer on territory), Red-winged Blackbirds and Common Grackles (no longer on territory but in flocks), House Sparrow, and both finches (Gold and House) in good numbers. Eric Salzman

avant le deluge

There appear to be two immature Ruby-throated Hummingbirds that chase each other around in the vicinity of the head of the marsh. I had previously thought that this might indicate the intensity of the 2017 hummingbird migration but the daily appearance of these two belligerent birds in the same spot (where I have seen hummers all summer) suggests that they might be locally bred. Siblings perhaps. A curious feature was that, between chases, one of the birds was constantly poking into the lichen which adorns the bare limbs of the many Sandy-killed trees in the area. R-t Hummingbirds use lichen to decorate and camouflage their nests but nesting season is long past. Perhaps the lichen is a good place to find insects and/or water. Tuesday afternoon we sat on the front deck and watched an Eastern Wood-pewee do his or her toilette on a bare branch in the open area in front of the house. This field is usually patrolled by Eastern Phoebe but this bird was clearly a pewee.A curious feature was the buff color at the bend of the wing, a feature not mentioned in the flycatcher section of any of the bird guides. The bird took 20" to half an hour to do a really thorough job. I guess that's what it takes to keep on flying! Yesterday when I started out on my morning walk, everything was dry and, although the sky was cloudy, I thought I had plenty of time for my usual ramble. But, suddenly, the sky darkened, turning day into night. Uh-oh! I turned my steps back towards the house and hustled back in just as the thunder rumbled, the lightning flashed and the skies opened up. Eric Salzman

old & new warblers and an angry Osprey

At least one Cape May Warbler survived the rain and is still present in the usual spot at the bend in the marsh. It was an immature and looked to be feeding on the Red Cedar berries (or perhaps the insects that inhabit the Red Cedars). A new warbler was a Chestnut-sided Warbler immature (white below, lime-green on top), the first of the season. Yellow, Yellowthroats and Black-and-white are still with us. Another 'new' bird of the season: two Brown Thrashers in the shrubbery between the woods and the marsh. A few Tree Swallows have been moving overhead, all in a northwest-to-southeast direction. They are probably spillovers or laggards from the big barrier beach migration. They're the first swallows I've seen in a while Yesterday afternoon, a noisy, angry Osprey was dive-bombing a large perched raptor in a dead tree on Pine Neck. The perched bird appeared to be even larger than the Osprey and it was, I suspect, an immature Bald Eagle. I didn't have a clear enough look to be absolutely certain and I didn't have the time to wait for it to take off. Eric Salzman

cool weather with warblers

Strong winds out of the north have kept up for a few days now and the temperatures have dropped noticeably. This change of weather seems to have brought in migrants from the north and then pinned them down. As a result, we've had the same warblers in residence for several days now. All of them have been present in the feeding flocks along the edge of the marsh (which catches the early morning sun, is sheltered from the wind and has lots of food), hopping around, zipping and chasing from bush to bush and tree to tree: Yellow, Yellowthroat, Prairie, Northern Waterthrush, American Redstart, Black-and-white and, yes, Cape May. There are at least three different Cape Mays around; mature male, mature female and at least one juvenile, all distinguished by their differences in plumage (but all have the distinctive greenish/yellow rump patch). As before, the finches, Gold and House, were also active in considerable numbers. A mystery sparrow was a small young Spizella, streaked on the breast with a light-colored bill and a noticeable eye ring. Logically it should have been a Chipping Sparrow (which breeds around here) but I think the field marks suggest rather a juvenile Field Sparrow. An amusing touch: the Prairie Warblers (and only the Prairie Warblers) constantly tries to chase away the House Finches. Why? Are they in competition for food? None of the other warblers seem to care but Prairies are remarkably aggressive. Speaking of aggressive, there has also been a Ruby-throated Hummingbird in the mix, perhaps also trying to chase away some of the competition. Also still around: Green Heron, Royal Terns, Eastern Phoebe. Eric Salzman