the new morning crew

The new morning crew greets me as I arrive at the pond: Royal Terns on the creek (breee-eerrrrrrr), Spotted Sandpiper (piping away), Northern Waterthrush (chink, chink, chink), Belted Kingfisher (rattle-rattle), a pod of seven Mallards spinning and feeding in the middle of the pond and a Great Blue Heron and/or Black-crowned Night Heron in the narrow neck of the pond where water flows in and out of the main creek. Last night the Great Blue was deep in the channel where the water comes out of the marsh on its way into the pond. This channel which is actually a marsh creek, is now enclosed by high Spartina alterniflora and I didn't even see the heron (nor did it see me) until I was almost on top of it when its head suddenly poked up like a snake in the grass. With a loud squawk, it jumped up in the air and took off. I don't know which one of us was more surprised.

He was there again this morning but a little further up the creek. This time he burst out of the creek bed with a loud fluttering of the wings but no squawk.

The herons feed in the narrow channels where clear water flows in and out and the bait fish can be easily seen. Are the Mallards also catching bait fish? Not likely; Mallards are not, to my knowledge, fish eaters. Could they be catching insects? There are large numbers of midges (or whatever) on the water surface at low tide and they certainly are a good potential food source for someone. I think the seven swimmers are the same Mallard family seen earlier in the spring with the six young birds now grown up to full size and looking exactly like their mom (maybe there are differences but I can't see them).

The martins have completely deserted the martin houses at the end of Bay Avenue on the other side of our marsh. A bunch of them were hanging out by the boatyard at the foot of Weesuck Avenue and roosting on the wires there. The Barn Swallows have been roosting in recent days in the phragmites -- usually a sign that they are getting ready to depart. And, indeed, this morning there were none to be seen. It was a cool, dry morning with few insects and the recent spectacle of martins and swallows hunting over the marsh had simply evaporated.

Eric Salzman

birds of late summer

It's still July but the birds of late summer are starting to show. The Spotted Sandpiper has been on the pond for the past week or more. This morning, there was a Northern Waterthrush perched, preening and chinking away on a low dead branch of the scraggly Red Cedar on the opposite bank of the pond. I suspect that this midsummer arrival may have also been here for a bit; I thought I heard the call a few days ago but this is the first one that I have actually seen. And calling Royal Terns have been moving up and down Weesuck Creek this morning -- noisy enough so that I hear them back at the house; up until today, I have seen one Royal on the creek but there were many in Moriches Bay yesterday morning so they have arrived in numbers. Spotted Sandpiper is a sparse local breeder but the other two do not breed on Eastern Long Island and they are definitely arrivals from elsewhere.

Northern Waterthrush, as its name suggests, breeds to the north while the big, spectacular terns are southern breeders (north to southern New Jersey I believe). Both species disperse after breeding and both will be around for the rest of the summer. If this is early migration, how do we explain the fact that these are birds that are moving in exactly opposite directions? A while back (in an article I wrote for Birding Magazine), I suggested that these arrivals were not really migrants but rather 'summer visitors': i.e. birds that moved off their breeding territories, often with young in tow, to look for rich feeding grounds for themselves and their offspring with the goal of fattening up in preparation for the real business of migrating south later on.

Eric Salzman

Cupsogue revisited

Cupsogue on an early mid-week morning in late July -- with a fast-rising tide -- was only moderately busy. Since I last looked, there were a few new arrivals: numbers of Royal Terns (a dozen or more at Cupsogue and at least half a dozen at Pike's Beach), at least one Forster's Tern, a Lesser Yellowlegs (with a distinctly short bill), a likely Western Sandpiper (with a not-so-long bill but distinctly larger than the other peeps and with some color tints on the scapulars and tail feathers). Heard a possible White-rumped Sandpiper but never saw it. Many Semipalmated Sandpipers, one Semipalmated Plover and some of the more usual suspects: Willets, Ruddy Turnstones, Short-billed Dowitchers and Least Sandpipers. No Red Knots.

In the shrubbery around the beach pavilion there were Yellow Warblers and a young empid -- brownish olive on the back, slightly yellowish on the breast with a narrow eye ring and buffy wing bars. I suppose Alder Flycatcher is a vague possibility but this was almost certainly a young Willow (Willows breed nearby in the vegetation on the upper marsh).

Eric Salzman

low tide, low humidity but still hot

The respite from the heat did not last long (nor did the respite from the mosquitos) although the air remains dry and the nights cool and filled with katydids and tree crickets (and cicadas enlivening the day). Last night at low tide there was a Great Blue Heron, a Snowy Egret, a Great Egret and a Green Heron all in the neck of the pond. The pond water at low tide is filled with bait fish and the water is relatively clear -- good pickings for the ardeidae! There are at least two Spotted Sandpipers around since I have seen both spotted and unspotted (i.e. old and young) birds. A male Belted Kingfisher is regularly in the neighborhood, perhaps also feeding on those bait fish. And a noisy Willet was circling over the marsh and yipping away as if he owned the property (a little odd in view of the fact that, after a lot of activity earlier in the season, not a one of these birds has been seen recently). At the head of the marsh, an adult and at least two young Red-bellied Woodpeckers were working the tupelos along with a flock of chickadees; these are the first young Red-bellieds that I've seen this year. Are they eating unripe tupelo berries or are the berries actually beginning to ripen -- like almost everything else, very early. Two Flickers popped out of the shrub vegetation at the edge of the marsh but I wasn't sure if they were young birds, local specimens or perhaps even early migrants. Along with the Am Robins, the N. Flicker may be the most common migratory land bird in these parts and they may well be starting to move. Ditto the Robins which I've seen on the move in the early morning.

Eric Salzman

the heat wave breaks

Yesterday evening's rain arrived with a front that broke the heat wave. Last night was was enlivened by the season's first katydid and the loud, persistent calls of tree crickets. And the night was succeeded by one of those crisp, cloudless, brilliant mornings that stir the soul. There was also a breeze and the attack of the mosquito hordes of the past few days abated. Even the birds seemed quieter perhaps because there were fewer insects to hunt. There were a few Martins and Swallows about and several Saltmarsh Sparrows were darting around the Spartina on the marsh. Belted Kingfisher came rattling by and our local Spotted Sandpiper (I assume it was the same one that has been present for the past week) came a-piping. As the tide moved in and I moved down, two Green Herons jumped up, squawking and landed on treetops on the near side of the pond. Can anyone explain why these are called GREEN Herons? As they land in the full sunlight with their thick necks outstretched, their bristly crest raised up, they show some striking colors: a purple mantle; deep chestnut neck; yellow eye, eye-ring and lores; two-tone bill (dark above, yellow below); startlingly bright yellow legs; black cap/crest; white moustache and front-of-the-neck streak. Nice show but where's the green?

Eric Salzman

P.S.: As some readers noticed, I typed Brooklyn National Laboratory instead of Brookhaven National Laboratory in yesterday's post! Brooklyn may have, as its name suggests, a 'little brook' or two but there are no national labs there as far as I know. Brookhaven is (or was) a port at the outflow of a brook; the name was originally applied to a south shore estuary but was eventually extended to apply to a huge county that covers the whole width of Long Island in its mid-section and now definitely includes a national laboratory.

a Brookhaven National Laboratory footnote

I recently wrote about a visit to Brooklyn National Laboratory with Dan Wilson. BNL consists of 5000 acres in the middle of the Pine Barrens and at the sources of the Peconic River. Although much of it is disturbed, there is also a lot of excellent habitat including extensive woodlands and wetlands. Some of the woodlands will be cut for a solar energy project and my blog on the subject provoked the following response from Mel Cowgill who is a Brookhavener, a runner and a birder as well.

"Not sure where Dan took you but it sounds as if the tour included what we runners call the river road (the winding path beside the Peconic) and the Biology Fields. The latter is a particularly good birding area, made up of four quadrants separated by a dirt road from north to south and a line of trees from east to west. Unfortunately this is one of the areas slated for the solar arrays. Other areas are located to the south and west – if you want to see it in map layout, go to the official environmental assessment document (http://www.bnl.gov/community/docs/pdf/FINAL%20FINAL%20EA%20-%20BP%20Solar%20Project.pdf) and look for Figure 3 (on page 14). The Biology Fields are located in the “north” area. The “south” area is mostly mixed (deciduous/coniferous) woods where they have already been clearing out some of the underbrush. Then, further west is a ‘”brownfield” area – no trees here and I noticed on my run this lunchtime that heavy equipment is already working in this area. So, the good news is that the wetlands are by and large left untouched.

By the way, you mention the irony of destroying the environment to save the environment. There’s one additional irony – the project is being constructed by BP Solar. One only hopes they’ll have enough money left to complete the project after they’ve cut down all those trees!"

Mel also mentions the presence of butterflies including Monarch, Red-spotted Purple and Tiger Swallowtail. This list could undoubtedly be enlarged; on the visit with Dan Wilson, we saw Spicebush Swallowtail and, I am almost certain, Black Swallowtail.

Eric Salzman

Great Blue Herons and Great Pink Hibiscus

Went back out to the spot in the marsh where I heard an interesting vocalization early yesterday but didn't hear it this morning (admittedly I was a few minutes late this morning as the sun was already well over Pine Neck across the creek). It was a busy time nonetheless. There were Saltmarsh Sparrows (formerly Saltmarsh Sharptailed Sparrows) zipping around and the swallows and martins were active as usual. Overhead was an unusual sight: a line of seven Great Blue Herons making its stately way south (do herons normally fly in neat 'flocks' like that?). And American Goldfinches were still moving around the head of the marsh; at one point, I saw two males with a female.

In the past, I have mentioned Germander or Wood Sage as a wildflower in the mint family that blooms in wet ground near the marsh edge. As the season has progressed, I have discovered this plant in many places including major stands where I am quite certain it never bloomed before (or, at least, not in this profusion). This plant is popular with insects and I have noticed bees investigating the flowers.

Add to the list of flowering plants the Great Pink Hibiscus otherwise known as Rose Mallow. This is a genuine hibiscus -- Hibiscus moschuetos to be exact -- and it is pink in our area (the white form with a dark red center is either derived from a southern form or is a garden cultivar). It usually comes in August so it is blooming very early this year (along with just about everything else including farm/garden fruits and vegetables).

Eric Salzman