blue sky

Both Saturday and Sunday were classic fall blue-sky days: bright sunshine, moderate temperatures and windless mornings with wind picking up later in the day. The Osprey migration noted at the end of last week virtually ceased. Whereas, there were five or six birds over Weesuck Creek almost continuously from early morning until late in the day on Thursday and Friday, there were few birds over the weekend. Some noisy Crow and Blue Jay agglomerations suggested the presence of some unwanted (from a corvid point of view) raptors but I only saw a single Sharp-shinned Hawk high-tailing it over the creek in the wrong direction trying to escape the jays. 

The weather suggested the possibility of migrants but there were only minimal movements. The most notable birds were Eastern Phoebes (on both days), flocks of Cedar Waxwings pausing to gobble some Tupelo berries and then moving on, Red-eyed Vireo, Brown Thrasher, a Nashville Warbler (this morning; in good plumage), at least one Northern Waterthrush, several American Redstarts and Common Yellowthroats, a female Indigo Bunting (also this morning), small flocks of American Goldfinches and House Finches, as well as American Robins and N. Flickers moving in the usual wrong direction (southwest to northeast). Actually the big bird events of the last few days have been the drop-ins of hundreds of Common Grackles all around the house -- both in the open areas and in the adjacent woods -- with their not-to-be-forgotten jangle of choral creaks, squawks and squeaks. This is an amazing phenomenon but grackle be-ins are not exactly what most bird watchers are watching for.

There have been a few butterflies but the big insect presence has been dragonflies: mostly those big Common Green Darners which always appear in large numbers over the marsh at this time of year but also including Black Saddlebags and a small red Meadowhawk, probably either a White-faced or a Ruby.

Eric Salzman

windy and calm

Yesterday dawned with an amazing 5 or 6 Osprey circling over the creek. They were apparently taking advantage of the strong northeast winds which pushed an already high tide into the upper reaches of the marsh edge, flooding all my marsh trails and making it impossible for me to follow the usual track on my morning walk. Larger birds like Robins, Flickers and Blue Jays -- not to mention the Osprey and the gulls -- could deal with the wind and even take advantage of it but the smaller birds all seem to have disappeared -- left the premises or stayed low and in sheltered spots. The Osprey continued all morning over the creek and, when one bird left the creek -- perhaps to continue on migration -- another seemed to appear to replace it.

This morning, by contrast, all was calm and yet, even without any sustaining winds, the Osprey were still there: at least five birds circling, calling, braking and flapping in place and occasionally diving for dinner. The coolness of the air contrasted with the warmth of the rising sun into a blue sky; it seemed like a perfect morning for a fall migration but not much new came in. There were the usual Robins, Flickers, Catbirds, Song Sparrows and Am Goldfinches plus small flocks of House Finches, a couple of Am Redstarts, Common Yellowthroats, a Brown Thrasher or two, and a House Wren chattering away with the usual woodpeckers.

Later this morning, the wind came back up again. A peculiarity (which I also noticed yesterday) was that the ground winds seemed to be coming from the northeast but the puffy clouds racing across the sky were all coming from the northwest! Eventually the wind shifted to the southwest while the clouds continued to move from the northwest to the southeast.

A doe and a single fawn have shown up and often venture boldly onto the grassy area in front of the house (sending our dog into barking fits). I am sure that these are 'new' animals as the fawn has lost its spots. In contrast, two spotted fawns seen earlier with their mother are still around but now appear to be on their own. For the last few days they have been hanging out along the old entrance road to the property and they allow me to walk by, a mere few feet away, without bolting.

Eric Salzman