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9 September 2010
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Rockport, Maine, USA
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Archive for March, 2010
Wednesday, March 31st, 2010
 Eiders and gull. This morning the rain let up at last. Fellow on the radio said March has been a record-breaking month around here, rain-wise. Water yet coursed down hills and turned trickling, tumbling streams to rushing falls. Within a few minutes of rising, I’d heard the cardinal, crows, chickadees, a song sparrow, and house finch, a robin.
 View west from Beech Hill. In late morning, I went with the dog to Beech Hill again, as has become our custom. En route, in a nice surprise, we passed a rural yard full of wild turkeys—must’ve been at least two dozen of them—with two or three males in full display. Wood frogs called at the base of the hill, and the sky showed hints of sun.
On the way up, as I stooped to clean up after the heeler, I didn’t notice my plastic bag had holes in it. This left a couple fingers soiled. Well, no problem: the clean, running water of the hills many rivulets afforded ample means for cleanup. In fact, I got to wading in inch-or-two-deep water, just because there’s still a kid in me somewhere. The dog, by contrast, stepped gingerly around. No mourning doves today, but several robins, chickadees singing fee-bee, a titmouse, a crow, a herring gull, a cardinal, and goldfinches. Mist cloaked the inland hills.
 Long-tailed ducks. A busy day at the office concluded right about the time the sun broke through. So we took a quick trip over to the breakwater. And what a spectacle. The novelty of sun brought a few other people and dogs out—but most interesting was the incredible sky. Great expanses of blue. Looming black clouds. Wisps of mist close to the water. Steam rising here and there.
I saw red-breasted mergansers, common loons, a black guillemot in winter plumage. I heard scores of long-tailed ducks, which took flight right on schedule and headed out of the harbor toward the islands. Great flocks of eiders floated on the low tide on either side. Jack got to hang out with a couple other dogs, including another red heeler—a female in heat. Got some photos of the great field of deep blue that approached from the west. This brought a few very light showers later.
A few Maine rivers are flooding. Migratory birds are stocking up on food many thousand miles away. And those who pretend to know say sun and warmth will arrive this weekend.
 Black guillemot. Today’s List
Northern cardinal
American crow
Song sparrow
House finch
American robin
Black-capped chickadee
Mourning dove
Tufted titmouse
Wild turkey
Herring gull
American goldfinch
Blue jay
Rock pigeon
European starling
Mallard
Red-breasted merganser
Common loon
Common eider
Long-tailed duck
Black-guillemot
 Rockland Harbor.
Tags: American crow, American goldfinch, American robin, black guillemot, black-capped chickadee, blue jay, common eider, common loon, European starling, herring gull, house finch, long-tailed duck, mallard, mourning dove, Northern cardinal, red-breasted merganser, rock pigeon, song sparrow, tufted titmouse, wild turkey
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Tuesday, March 30th, 2010
 Layers of mist. Looked out first thing, saw rain. Maybe not quite as heavy as yesterday, but just as steady. The birds didn’t seem to mind much—cardinal, crow, song sparrow, titmouse, chickadee. The wind didn’t seem so antic, either. Still, quick rivulets bubbled over the blacktop of the parking lot, and sheets of water slithered down the little sloping north yard.
Dog and I headed up the open Beech Hill trail at midday. I didn’t expect much in the way of bird life, and we hiked up at a fast clip, stopping only briefly to admire the misty layers of southern distance.
 Mourning doves. At the summit, stepping up into the porch of Beech Nut, we heard a rapid clattering—and a mourning dove burst from somewhere out across the east yard to alight on a branch near the head of the wooded trail. As we headed slowly in that direction so I could snap a photo, the dove flew away. But within seconds, two others suddenly exploded from a section of undergrowth and ended up on a limb nearby. Rain spattered the glass of my lens, but I got a couple photos.
On the way down, I heard blue jays. I didn’t expect blue jays.
The whole soggy experience got me thinking about expectations—or the lack thereof. The concept of an open mind. After years of hunting for particular quarry that as often as not stays away, I’ve come to learn to stand facing whatever there is to face, doing whatever there is to do, and accepting whatever curiosity presents itself. Today’s lovely doves were a fitting example of the fruits of this phenomenon—that no matter what you might expect, life most often occurs as a sweet surprise.
I hear no wood frogs tonight (as I did a couple nights ago but forgot to mention). Instead I hear fog whistles and the roar of the brook along the hill to the north a ways. Light rain spatters down still. All the world is liquidity.
Today’s List
Northern cardinal
American crow
Song sparrow
Tufted titmouse
Black-capped chickadee
House finch
American robin
Herring gull
Mourning dove
Blue jay
Rock pigeon
 Gone-by rugosa hips.
Tags: American crow, American robin, black-capped chickadee, blue jay, herring gull, house finch, mourning dove, Northern cardinal, rock pigeon, song sparrow, tufted titmouse
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Monday, March 29th, 2010
 Beech Hill. Awoke to a gray, wet world. A steady rain fell. The rush of car tires swept loudly by. A cardinal called. A mourning dove. A song sparrow. Crows. Robins and a house finch across the road.
 Stream, Beech Hill trail. At midday—despite the rain’s increasing insistence—dog and I walked the wooded Beech Hill trail. I slipped and slid a half dozen times on mud at least as greasy as slushy snow. Neither saw nor heard a single bird on the hill. We ended up soaked and mud-spattered, but it was fun.
By afternoon, the wind picked up. Both my trash cans blew over, and we enjoyed an astronomical high tide.
Later, I drove to town. Caught sight of a small flock of robins, four dabbling ducks in overflight, herring gulls.
Tonight, the rain grew steadier still. Water cascaded down the hill out back and flooded the little side yard. I can’t help but think how green it’ll be in a week or two. Or three.
Today’s List
Northern cardinal
Mourning dove
Song sparrow
American crow
American robin
House finch
Dabbling duck (spp?)
Herring gull
Tags: American crow, American robin, herring gull, house finch, mourning dove, Northern cardinal, song sparrow
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Sunday, March 28th, 2010
 Cedar waxwings. About 4 a.m., the dog alerted me to a commotion in the bathroom. I flipped on the light and—after hesitating for a couple seconds—drew open the shower curtain. Cat and mouse in bathtub. The mouse that steals my soap, and the cat that’s never bothered to interfere before now. I grabbed the cat and hauled her out, the dog chased her down the hall, and the mouse escaped to steal my soap again.
Dawn broke over a chilly brown landscape, with temperatures yet hovering near freezing. The cardinal started singing early—he’s master of this particular corner of the earth—and so did the titmouse up the hill, amid the usual cawing of crows.
 Icicles. When I took the dog out first thing, I grabbed my camera. Got a single shot of the cardinal, watched a number of robins—paired males and females—hop about the yard next door—and suddenly heard the sibilant notes of waxwings. Sure enough, a half dozen or so flitted down into the leafless understory up the hill. Cedar waxwings. As I snapped a series of photos of the waxwing gang, the robins hopped around the semi-icy next-door lawn, and across the road a house finch serenaded the neighborhood.
At mid-morning, dog and I headed up Beech Hill. Films of ice yet encrusted the edges of runoff puddles—remnants of the recent snowmelt and general sogginess of things. A sign of the season. Despite the dry look of the trail, my shoes slipped a number of times, leaving great muddy skid marks. Foot- and paw prints of others riddled the trail. At this latitude, spring doesn’t bust out right away, as it does down south. There’s a period of potential energy, of buds expanding, of small powers building, of subtle pressing, puffing, stretching, rising. A period of waiting for the late-April, early-May explosion. We’re in that period now. We call it Mud Season.
You could see the tight little buds on the plants of the hill. A morning sun shone, but the wind was brisk and cold. Icicles hung from the eaves of Beech Nut. Descending, I could help but notice a flock of clouds moving in from the west.
On the trip home, sparrows flitted about the roadsides as they’ve been doing for about the past week or so. The rest of the day: mostly cloudy with a 100 percent chance of crows.
Today’s List
Northern cardinal
American crow
Tufted titmouse
American robin
House finch
Song sparrow
Black-capped chickadee
Cedar waxwing
Herring gull
Ring-billed gull
 American crow.
Tags: American crow, American robin, black-capped chickadee, Cedar waxwing, herring gull, house finch, Northern cardinal, ring-billed gull, song sparrow, tufted titmouse
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Saturday, March 27th, 2010
 Song sparrow. Temperatures in the 20s (F) when first I looked. Mighty sunny, though.
Soon the thermometer showed 30-something degrees. A bit of wind, but not a lot of clouds. Calling birds included cardinal, titmouse, chickadee, crow. Dog and I took off for Beech Hill about midday—this time deciding to climb the wooded trail. (I’d been avoiding this for a week or so, based entirely on the number of ticks we got last time.)
 Buds. The trail was sodden, muddy, slippery. I should’ve anticipated this, what with yesterday’s melted snow. Ice hung in the low, wet spots—creating natural art, as it usually does. We met no one else on the trail. Heard little gangs of chickadees on the lower trail and, toward the top, the voices of sparrows.
In particular, song sparrows. Three were poking around in the tangles on either side of the upper trail. Only one was singing, and this one seemed braver—even exposing himself on the trail itself not far ahead of a human and dog. It was nice to get a half-way decent photo of a small passerine for a change. And to discover, soon after, that because of the ascending sun, my frigid fingers had seemingly thawed.
In afternoon, a pair of mallards flew over. In evening, I saw starlings and robins near the roads I drove. And after dark, as the moon rose, I found myself passing along the southern edge of Beech Hill. I looked at the big dark loaf of hill to the left of me, and I thought of bobcats and snowshoe hares and barred owls, and coons and skunks and sleeping song sparrows—even a mountain lion, perhaps.
(Nature at nighttime is all ears and imagination.)
Migration note: broad-winged hawks have reportedly just crossed the Rio Grande en masse and are headed up our way.
Today’s List
Northern cardinal
Tufted titmouse
American crow
Black-capped chickadee
House finch
Song sparrow
Downy woodpecker
American goldfinch
Herring gull
Ring-billed gull
Mallard
European starling
American robin
 Oak leaf.
Tags: American crow, American goldfinch, American robin, Black-capped chicadee, downy woodpecker, European starling, herring gull, house finch, mallard, Northern cardinal, ring-billed gull, song sparrow, tufted titmouse
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| Bird Report is an intermittent record of what's outside my window in Rockport, Maine, USA (44°08'N latitude, 69°06'W longitude), and vicinity. —Brian Willson |
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