Today was the Yellow Warbler's day off. Both Yellowthroats were on territory and singing but there was no sign of the Yellow. The Yellow Warbler pattern of one or two days on followed by a day off has been regular throughout the month. Does the bird go somewhere else on alernate days? Maybe it's not the same bird but new candidates that keep arriving. Maybe these are just migrants passing through; this just happens to be the kind of territory that attracts Yellow Warblers. Or maybe some mornings, the male is active and singing very early in the morning and knocks off by the time I arrive (usually 7 or 7:30 am).
I notice that the Purple Martins tend to feed over the marsh and very often land right on the marsh itself -- usually on the patches of rubble from last year's vegetation (the new growth is just beginning to come in). This might be just a resting point but I think they might be finding things to eat inside the rubble at a time when there are few flying insects (or when strong winds keep the insects down). The Barn Swallows also fly low in cool, windy weather but they tend to hunt later in the day, most often working over the pond and surrounding marsh.
New flowers are coming in, mostly native, mostly white: Blackberry, Black Cherry and Big-leaf Magnolia. This last-named is native, not to LI, but to the south and probably should be counted as a garden escape; it is growing here in a patch of woods and there are at least half a dozen plants. This is a spectacular plant with what it reputed to be the biggest leaves of any North American tree. It also has giant floppy white blossoms which must be among the biggest flowers as well.
Eric Salzman
Saturday, May 31, 2014
Friday, May 30, 2014
what's new on Weesuck Creek
A Great Blue Heron flushed from one of the dead trees back of the pond this morning. It's unusual to see this species at this time of the year when most of our wintering Great Blues leave us and go north to breed. This bird, which I think is the same one that I've seen a few times recently, might be a first year bird that is not yet in breeding condition and decided to hang with us for now. Great Blue Herons have been absent from Long Island as nesters for a long time -- perhaps more than a century -- but I have heard rumors that they may be returning as breeders.
If you'll pardon the pun, Forster's Tern continues to turn up on the creek along with Common and Least Terns. These last two are local breeders but Forster's is a southern tern, usually considered to be a marsh tern, which is only gradually making its way up the coast to New Jersey and Western LI. It has been appearing in mid summer with the Royal Terns that come at that time. Now, however, it seems to more and more common in the springtime and it may indeed turn out to be a breeder in some of the island tern colonies at Moriches and Shinnecock Bays; it should be looked for.
A pair of Willets are regular visitors on our pond at low tide when they dig out delicious-looking worms from of the pond-bottom muck. Mmmmmm. Sometimes these birds fly at me when I wander into the marsh as if they were defending territory. I can also hear them (or another pair) yelping away on the opposite side of the creek. Pine Neck has a lot of marsh territory for these big, noisy sandpipers. They must be breeding somewhere around here.
Eric Salzman
If you'll pardon the pun, Forster's Tern continues to turn up on the creek along with Common and Least Terns. These last two are local breeders but Forster's is a southern tern, usually considered to be a marsh tern, which is only gradually making its way up the coast to New Jersey and Western LI. It has been appearing in mid summer with the Royal Terns that come at that time. Now, however, it seems to more and more common in the springtime and it may indeed turn out to be a breeder in some of the island tern colonies at Moriches and Shinnecock Bays; it should be looked for.
A pair of Willets are regular visitors on our pond at low tide when they dig out delicious-looking worms from of the pond-bottom muck. Mmmmmm. Sometimes these birds fly at me when I wander into the marsh as if they were defending territory. I can also hear them (or another pair) yelping away on the opposite side of the creek. Pine Neck has a lot of marsh territory for these big, noisy sandpipers. They must be breeding somewhere around here.
Eric Salzman
Thursday, May 29, 2014
Gray Seals
I mentioned that Gray Seal was a new species for the Faunathon (presumably seen at Montauk). Mike Bottini writes to tell me that the source for the Gray Seals being seen increasingly at Montauk (I've also seen them from Plum Island just off the North Fork) is Muskeget Island near Nantucket where they have been breeding at least since 1988. This is now the largest Gray Seal site in the U.S. with something like 2000 pups born every year in December and January. They are weaned by mid-March when they begin arriving off Long Island. Nice to hear about a creature that is increasing instead of vanishing!
The common seal that we see here in the winter is the Harbor Seal which hauls out on South Shore islands and beaches but goes north to breed.
Yellow Warbler seems to alternate visiting days. Not noticed yesterday but actively singing on its usual head-of-marsh site this morning. The two Common Yellowthroats are holding on to their respective territories and the Pine Warbler is heard every day making its rounds.
The Purple Martins seem to move out from their nesting area in groups, hunting over the marsh and often accompanied by several Barn Swallows and an occasional something else (I saw a single Bank Swallow with them the other day).
Eric Salzman
The common seal that we see here in the winter is the Harbor Seal which hauls out on South Shore islands and beaches but goes north to breed.
Yellow Warbler seems to alternate visiting days. Not noticed yesterday but actively singing on its usual head-of-marsh site this morning. The two Common Yellowthroats are holding on to their respective territories and the Pine Warbler is heard every day making its rounds.
The Purple Martins seem to move out from their nesting area in groups, hunting over the marsh and often accompanied by several Barn Swallows and an occasional something else (I saw a single Bank Swallow with them the other day).
Eric Salzman
Wednesday, May 28, 2014
East End Faunathon 2014
The 2014 East End Faunathon results are in. There were 43 participants in 17 teams on Faunathon day, May 18th, and they found over 200 species of butterflies, dragonflies, reptiles and amphibians, mammals and birds in the 5 East End towns. More than 3/4 of the species observed were birds -- 157 different kinds to be exact and the list included Bald Eagle, Broad-winged Hawk, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Cliff Swallow, Common Raven, Summer Tanager and a bunch of others almost as good. A new reptile was an Italian Wall Lizard, an introduced species that has been spreading eastward on LI. Gray Seal was also new in the mammal department; these are wintering seals hanging around into spring and perhaps beginning to breed off the coast. The butterfly list included Eastern Pine Elfin and Red-spotted Purple (my personal best contribution to the day) while the dragonfly list had, among others, Springtime Darner and Painted Skimmer. As usual, the organizing genius behind the Faunathon was Steve Biasetti of the Group for the East End and if you write him at you can get a detailed account of the results.
Eric Salzman
Eric Salzman
Tuesday, May 27, 2014
out the window and out the front door
Does the Great Crested Flycatcher have a 'morning song'. I know that the Eastern Wood-pewee has such a song -- much more elaborate than its familiar 'pee-a-wee' call -- but one is rarely in the woods at the right hour to hear it! But if the Wood-pewee, why not the Great Crested? I heard a very elaborate and longish song right out my window this morning and it took me a while to figure out that it was a Great Crested singing. The cadence was more musical and quite a bit sweeter than the familiar calls of this bird which are short, weepy, sometimes scratchy and comic-sounding.
Mockingbirds are more likely to sing in the middle of the day as, for example, the N Mockingbird ensconced in the Pitch Pine overlooking the pond later this morning. As usual, it was an index of all the local singing and calling birds, each phrase repeated several times (thus giving away the mockingbird origins). Around here, mockingbird territories are (or have been) on Bay and Weesuck Avenues but we rarely see them on the property (occasionally they appear at the head of the marsh in the fall). So, while this is hardly a rara avis, it was unusual to have it singing away a relatively few steps from the front door.
Even closer to the front door was the hummingbird which appeared out of nowhere, landed on the branch of an oak right over our front deck and then took off again for parts unknown. It was fast action -- much too fast for me to get my binoculars up but I think it was a female -- a late migrant or a local wanderer, I cannot say which.
Eric Salzman
Mockingbirds are more likely to sing in the middle of the day as, for example, the N Mockingbird ensconced in the Pitch Pine overlooking the pond later this morning. As usual, it was an index of all the local singing and calling birds, each phrase repeated several times (thus giving away the mockingbird origins). Around here, mockingbird territories are (or have been) on Bay and Weesuck Avenues but we rarely see them on the property (occasionally they appear at the head of the marsh in the fall). So, while this is hardly a rara avis, it was unusual to have it singing away a relatively few steps from the front door.
Even closer to the front door was the hummingbird which appeared out of nowhere, landed on the branch of an oak right over our front deck and then took off again for parts unknown. It was fast action -- much too fast for me to get my binoculars up but I think it was a female -- a late migrant or a local wanderer, I cannot say which.
Eric Salzman
Monday, May 26, 2014
reappearances
First really warm day that we've had.
Hairy Woodpecker finally turned up. They were active here last year and I was expecting to see/hear it sooner this year what with all the dead standing wood around the place. Enough dead wood for all the woodpeckers. We'll see if he/she hangs around.
There was no sign of the singing Yellow Warbler yesterday so I assumed that last week's bird was just passing through -- a late migrant or a local bird that had moved on. But there he was again this morning, as gorgeous as ever, bright yellow with reddish streaks on his breast and singing away at full force and full speed. Was this the same bird or a new arrival? Impossible to tell but he was in the exact same area near the head of the marsh and often perched right above my head (it almost seemed as though he was following me around!). His performance was in concert with the two male Common Yellowthroats that have divided up the edge territory between the head of the marsh and the shrub/woodland edge facing east. There may be a third Yellowthroat as one was singing on the other side of the pond -- a possible new territory.
Another bird that reappeared after a couple of days absence: the Red-eyed Vireo (i.e. the Q&A Bird). Should I say re-appeared or re-sounded? I never actually saw it but its professorial question-and-answer routine is unmistakeable.
Eric Salzman
Hairy Woodpecker finally turned up. They were active here last year and I was expecting to see/hear it sooner this year what with all the dead standing wood around the place. Enough dead wood for all the woodpeckers. We'll see if he/she hangs around.
There was no sign of the singing Yellow Warbler yesterday so I assumed that last week's bird was just passing through -- a late migrant or a local bird that had moved on. But there he was again this morning, as gorgeous as ever, bright yellow with reddish streaks on his breast and singing away at full force and full speed. Was this the same bird or a new arrival? Impossible to tell but he was in the exact same area near the head of the marsh and often perched right above my head (it almost seemed as though he was following me around!). His performance was in concert with the two male Common Yellowthroats that have divided up the edge territory between the head of the marsh and the shrub/woodland edge facing east. There may be a third Yellowthroat as one was singing on the other side of the pond -- a possible new territory.
Another bird that reappeared after a couple of days absence: the Red-eyed Vireo (i.e. the Q&A Bird). Should I say re-appeared or re-sounded? I never actually saw it but its professorial question-and-answer routine is unmistakeable.
Eric Salzman
Sunday, May 25, 2014
flycatcher time?
This should be flycatcher time -- i.e. time for empids and Olive-sided to be migrating through. But, unlike past years, I haven't seen any at all. I wonder if the hurricane damage has, by opening up many areas, cut down the insect populations on which these birds depend.
There are Eastern Wood-pewees back in the woods, Eastern Kingbirds by certain bodies of water and Eastern Phoebes here and there but the only flycatcher that seems to be consistent at our place is the Great Crested. This is the biggest of our flycatchers and the most striking with a gray breast, yellow belly, reddish primaries and tail and a whole series of laughing, scratchy calls that I hear all day long as it circumnavigates our woods. Myiarchus crinitus (its formal name) is one of a series of almost two dozen very similar tropical birds that extend from South America to, well, Long Island and points north. The Great Crested is a hole nester and it has the extraordinary habit of lining its nest hole with a shed snake skin. If it can't find a shed snake skin (they can't be all that easy to find around here), it will resort to a scrap of plastic wrap or even an old condom! Nobody really knows why it does this; the going theory is that the presence of a snake skin deters predators from investigating the nest hole. Well, maybe. In any case, Great Crested Flycatcher is a woodland species that has spread into inhabited areas where it will even use nest boxes. The easiest way to note the presence of these birds is to recognize its calls. As with other flycatchers, these calls are inherited not learned, are quite stereotyped and are species-specific. Although the Great Crested call is usually described as a rising 'weep', it actually has a little repertoire of scratchy, almost comic laughing calls that make me think of this bird as a stand-up, the court jester of the woods. It hunts inside the trees, usually at mid-canopy levels (sometimes quite high), darting out from a perch to capture its prey.
I think I have found the nest of the local pair of Fish Crows. It's located near the top of an ornamental evergreen in a neighbor's yard and, since calling and courting behavior is now at a minimum, I suspect the birds should be sitting on eggs.
Eric Salzman
There are Eastern Wood-pewees back in the woods, Eastern Kingbirds by certain bodies of water and Eastern Phoebes here and there but the only flycatcher that seems to be consistent at our place is the Great Crested. This is the biggest of our flycatchers and the most striking with a gray breast, yellow belly, reddish primaries and tail and a whole series of laughing, scratchy calls that I hear all day long as it circumnavigates our woods. Myiarchus crinitus (its formal name) is one of a series of almost two dozen very similar tropical birds that extend from South America to, well, Long Island and points north. The Great Crested is a hole nester and it has the extraordinary habit of lining its nest hole with a shed snake skin. If it can't find a shed snake skin (they can't be all that easy to find around here), it will resort to a scrap of plastic wrap or even an old condom! Nobody really knows why it does this; the going theory is that the presence of a snake skin deters predators from investigating the nest hole. Well, maybe. In any case, Great Crested Flycatcher is a woodland species that has spread into inhabited areas where it will even use nest boxes. The easiest way to note the presence of these birds is to recognize its calls. As with other flycatchers, these calls are inherited not learned, are quite stereotyped and are species-specific. Although the Great Crested call is usually described as a rising 'weep', it actually has a little repertoire of scratchy, almost comic laughing calls that make me think of this bird as a stand-up, the court jester of the woods. It hunts inside the trees, usually at mid-canopy levels (sometimes quite high), darting out from a perch to capture its prey.
I think I have found the nest of the local pair of Fish Crows. It's located near the top of an ornamental evergreen in a neighbor's yard and, since calling and courting behavior is now at a minimum, I suspect the birds should be sitting on eggs.
Eric Salzman
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