A slightly expanded version of yesterday morning's feeding flock was in place this morning but, alas, without the Eastern Bluebird. I thought I heard it call for a moment but this time it really was a Tufted Titmouse. The other members of the flock were Downy Woodpecker, Eastern Phoebe, Great Crested Flycatcher, Black-capped Chickadee, male and female-type Pine Warblers. No Bluebird and no Hummingbird (which has also been seen frequenting this area).
A large tern flying at the mouth of the creek and headed out to the bay was probably the season's first Royal Tern. I didn't see the beak but the bird was too slim to be a Caspian and too big to be anything else. Also over the marsh there were three or four Bank Swallows, hunting low enough for me to see the breastband as the birds swooped in facing me and the rising sun.
Eric Salzman
Tuesday, July 8, 2014
Monday, July 7, 2014
The Bluebird of Happiness
A cloudy morning. As I worked my way from the foot of our neighbor's dock across the edge of creek and pond, I started to hear the beautiful quavery call of an Eastern Bluebird.
What an illusion, I thought. Funny how the Tufted Titmouse sometimes manages a quavery call that can sound like a Bluebird. I could even hear the chick-a-dee-like call of the Titmouse. Except that the chick-a-dee caller wasn't a Titmouse at all but an actual Black-capped Chick-a-dee. It was part of a small feeding flock that also included a female-type Pine Warbler, just barely tinted with yellow on its cap and breast, stout bill, longish tail and the giveaway wing bars -- but otherwise as plain as a warbler can be. And the quavery call that continued to echo down from above.
Looking up, I could see a silhouette of the calling bird on the tip-top of a dead pine. This was no titmouse. It was indeed an Eastern Bluebird, the first I have ever seen on the place! The calls continued for a while as the bird moved from post to pillar to post as if it were leading its little flock which eventually disappeared to the north.
I must say I never expected to see a bluebird here.
Eastern Bluebird is the State Bird of New York but I daresay that most New Yorkers have never seen one. It is, however, not uncommon on Long Island if you know where to look. In our area, I have seen them recently at SOFO off the Bridgehampton/Sag Harbor Turnpike, at Gabreski Airport in Westhampton and at EPCAL in Calverton; they can also be found further east, generally in nest boxes. But Bluebirds feed on the ground and they like edge areas between grassland meadows and woods, a habitat that we really don't have here. So this Bluebird of Happiness was a welcome surprise, the 240th species on the property!
Eric Salzman
What an illusion, I thought. Funny how the Tufted Titmouse sometimes manages a quavery call that can sound like a Bluebird. I could even hear the chick-a-dee-like call of the Titmouse. Except that the chick-a-dee caller wasn't a Titmouse at all but an actual Black-capped Chick-a-dee. It was part of a small feeding flock that also included a female-type Pine Warbler, just barely tinted with yellow on its cap and breast, stout bill, longish tail and the giveaway wing bars -- but otherwise as plain as a warbler can be. And the quavery call that continued to echo down from above.
Looking up, I could see a silhouette of the calling bird on the tip-top of a dead pine. This was no titmouse. It was indeed an Eastern Bluebird, the first I have ever seen on the place! The calls continued for a while as the bird moved from post to pillar to post as if it were leading its little flock which eventually disappeared to the north.
I must say I never expected to see a bluebird here.
Eastern Bluebird is the State Bird of New York but I daresay that most New Yorkers have never seen one. It is, however, not uncommon on Long Island if you know where to look. In our area, I have seen them recently at SOFO off the Bridgehampton/Sag Harbor Turnpike, at Gabreski Airport in Westhampton and at EPCAL in Calverton; they can also be found further east, generally in nest boxes. But Bluebirds feed on the ground and they like edge areas between grassland meadows and woods, a habitat that we really don't have here. So this Bluebird of Happiness was a welcome surprise, the 240th species on the property!
Eric Salzman
Saturday, July 5, 2014
finch vs. finch
A couple of handsome male American Goldfinches spent a good part of their morning trying to chase away a female or immature House Finch. Eventually they gave up and dropped down to the shrub level where they appeared to feed on the burgeoning Iva fructescens (a.k.a. Marsh Elder or High Tide Bush). This is very early for flowering let along fruiting of this salt marsh shrub but the plants are infested with some kind of small flea-like insect and perhaps that is what the Goldfinches were eating.
Still in the area: adult and young E. Phoebes, Great Crested Flycatcher, a Great Blue Heron, a pair of Green Herons, Pine Warbler, A lone Bank Swallow continues to appear over the marsh along with Barn Swallows and Purple Martins. Both Osprey nests are active but I still can't see if there are ospreylets in either one.
Here's some more flowers in bloom: Daisy Fleabane, Black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia), Ox-eye Daisy (the familiar daisy) and Coreopsis or Tick-seed.
Eric Salzman
Still in the area: adult and young E. Phoebes, Great Crested Flycatcher, a Great Blue Heron, a pair of Green Herons, Pine Warbler, A lone Bank Swallow continues to appear over the marsh along with Barn Swallows and Purple Martins. Both Osprey nests are active but I still can't see if there are ospreylets in either one.
Here's some more flowers in bloom: Daisy Fleabane, Black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia), Ox-eye Daisy (the familiar daisy) and Coreopsis or Tick-seed.
Eric Salzman
Friday, July 4, 2014
between the raindrops
I managed to get in a shortened version of my morning walk in a dry interlude between the rain torrents but there wasn't a lot going on. A single Bank Swallow was darting and swooping over the marsh and the Common Yellowthroat, inexplicably silent yesterday, was singing away merrily. I started up a dappled fawn from the marsh grass; I don't suppose it is more than a few weeks old. Also found a Box Turtle along the edge of the pond; this is only the third turtle I've seen this year but it's presence by the pond is reassuring as I have been concerned that Sandy did significant damage to our turtle population.
A few more flowers in bloom: Day Lily, Common Mullein and Spanish Bayonet or Yucca. Also, in fresh wetlands (but not in our area), Swamp Honeysuckle or White Azalea; saw it yesterday near the EPCAL grasslands.
Eric Salzman
A few more flowers in bloom: Day Lily, Common Mullein and Spanish Bayonet or Yucca. Also, in fresh wetlands (but not in our area), Swamp Honeysuckle or White Azalea; saw it yesterday near the EPCAL grasslands.
Eric Salzman
Thursday, July 3, 2014
Long Island Power Authority and its House Sparrows
LIPA -- or whatever our electric company is now called -- has a metal box on every street pole. I don't know what the electric company thinks these boxes are for but I do know what our local House Sparrows think. Every box seems to have a sparrow nest inside and these boxes have quadrupled our local populations of this urban wildlife.
In the meanwhile, the Common Yellowthroats seemed to have stopped calling. Perhaps they are nesting or perhaps they have given up nesting for the season. In the meanwhile, all of our blackbirds -- crows, Red-wings, Common Grackles -- have young and are keen to let you know it. White-breasted Nuthatch paid a visit and vocalized a bit to let us know.
More wildflowers: Privet, Yarrow, Bird-foot Trefoil -- all introduced. The Sheep's Bit is taking over the meadow in front of the house and the Pokeweed, now flowering, is everywhere; it is, in spite of what you may have heard, a favorite of the local deer which have clipped off many of the growing stems.
Eric Salzman
In the meanwhile, the Common Yellowthroats seemed to have stopped calling. Perhaps they are nesting or perhaps they have given up nesting for the season. In the meanwhile, all of our blackbirds -- crows, Red-wings, Common Grackles -- have young and are keen to let you know it. White-breasted Nuthatch paid a visit and vocalized a bit to let us know.
More wildflowers: Privet, Yarrow, Bird-foot Trefoil -- all introduced. The Sheep's Bit is taking over the meadow in front of the house and the Pokeweed, now flowering, is everywhere; it is, in spite of what you may have heard, a favorite of the local deer which have clipped off many of the growing stems.
Eric Salzman
Wednesday, July 2, 2014
Ruby-throat and Yellow-rump
A Ruby-throated Hummingbird was again zipping up and around, up and down, in the same area just back of the pond and it even perched for a moment on a twig just to let me know that it was watching me. When I got back to the house, Eva grabbed a pair of binoculars and ran out to look for it -- she had never encountered one out here -- and she saw it almost immediately! A single female hummingbird that is faithful to its feeding routes may very well have a nest and young in the area. But where to look?
An even more unusual sighting in the same area was a dull streaky warbler with a distinct yellow rump! Huh? A Yellow-rumped Warbler here on July 2nd? There is a single Long Island breeding record from the '80s but it is often doubted or regarded as a curiosity. I didn't get that good a look at this bird (aside from that yellow rump) but I don't know what else it could have been.
One striking bird from yesterday's trip to EPCAL that I forgot to mention was an Orchard Oriole. We found it first by its song, one of the most beautiful around. I would rate the Orchard Oriole and the Rose-breasted Grosbeak as our two best singers (from a musical standpoint at least).
Eric Salzman
An even more unusual sighting in the same area was a dull streaky warbler with a distinct yellow rump! Huh? A Yellow-rumped Warbler here on July 2nd? There is a single Long Island breeding record from the '80s but it is often doubted or regarded as a curiosity. I didn't get that good a look at this bird (aside from that yellow rump) but I don't know what else it could have been.
One striking bird from yesterday's trip to EPCAL that I forgot to mention was an Orchard Oriole. We found it first by its song, one of the most beautiful around. I would rate the Orchard Oriole and the Rose-breasted Grosbeak as our two best singers (from a musical standpoint at least).
Eric Salzman
Tuesday, July 1, 2014
grassland birds and a toad
Went up to EPCAL with Eileen Schwinn. As most of the readers of this blog know quite well, EPCAL is the ex-Grumman testing site and it has two runways -- one accessible, one not -- which are flanked by the finest remaining grasslands on LI (and possibly NY State). The site also includes some excellent woodlands and wetlands and is surrounded by unspoiled natural areas including the main flow of the Peconic River and a chain of ponds. The whole area has the feel of a long-ago Long Island and some of the wildlife that has been extirpated elsewhere still survives here (skunk and mink for example). This is also THE place to see breeding Grasshopper Sparrow and Eastern Meadowlark.
We went up there because of a reported nesting of a Black-billed Cuckoo which we did not find (neither the cuckoo nor its nest) but we did find breeding Eastern Bluebird at its nest hole (see photo of the male), Grasshopper Sparrows (singing away; see photo), a Horned Lark family (see photo of a young Horned Lark with its mama), and another cuckoo, the Yellow-billed. Also Turkey Vulture, Prairie, Pine and Blue-winged Warblers, Field and Chipping Sparrows, Eastern Wood-Pewee, Great Crested Flycatcher, Eastern Kingbird, Tree and Barn Swallows, White-breasted Nuthatch, Black-capped Chickadees, all three mimids (Mockingbird, Catbird and Brown Thrasher), House Wren, American Goldfinch. No skunk or mink (although I saw the latter a week or so ago) but a handsome Fowler's Toad near one of the ponds (see photo).
Eric Salzman
We went up there because of a reported nesting of a Black-billed Cuckoo which we did not find (neither the cuckoo nor its nest) but we did find breeding Eastern Bluebird at its nest hole (see photo of the male), Grasshopper Sparrows (singing away; see photo), a Horned Lark family (see photo of a young Horned Lark with its mama), and another cuckoo, the Yellow-billed. Also Turkey Vulture, Prairie, Pine and Blue-winged Warblers, Field and Chipping Sparrows, Eastern Wood-Pewee, Great Crested Flycatcher, Eastern Kingbird, Tree and Barn Swallows, White-breasted Nuthatch, Black-capped Chickadees, all three mimids (Mockingbird, Catbird and Brown Thrasher), House Wren, American Goldfinch. No skunk or mink (although I saw the latter a week or so ago) but a handsome Fowler's Toad near one of the ponds (see photo).
Eric Salzman
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