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6 September 2010
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Rockport, Maine, USA
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Posts Tagged ‘European starling’
Wednesday, September 1st, 2010
 Broad-winged hawk (juvenile). If yesterday was hot, today might’ve even been hotter. Aw, not all that hot, really, for a guy who grew up in Texas—not 90 degrees, I don’t think. But probably mid- to upper-80s (F). In fact, before 7 a.m., as Jack and I were climbing the green, wooded hillside this first day of September, the air must’ve been at least room temperature. Maybe even 75 or so.
 Yellow-rumped warbler. Not too many birds occurred right away. They were silent, hunkered down out of the heat, hiding out. I heard the usual summer residents—catbird and yellowthroat seem always near each other—including a brief tut-tut of a robin. (They’re extremely quiet up there these days.) More young yellow-rumps chipping about in the foliage, both the young hardwoods coming up and the grove of spruces up top. And flickers—in fact, as we came up over the summit and descended the open trail, there appeared up ahead a family of at least five flickers (foraging along the trail with a single mourning dove).
They took flight as we approached, the flickers—one by one, in undulating flight, their white rumps flashing, emitting their wicka-wicka-wicka calls. I have to say I rather like flickers. I like the little red heart tattoo they wear on the backs of their necks.
Steamy out in the bay. Owls head jutted out into the bay amid a cloud of haze.
Saw both phoebes and alder flycatchers perched in the tips of trees. Their chip notes are similar, those two.
 Common yellowthroat. On our return trip—Jack panting quickly, my T-shirt soaked with sweat—we eagerly dove into the shady wooded section. I’d counted eighteen birds by then and didn’t expect but maybe a couple more. But the lower wooded trail surprised: first a pewee’s lazy, poignant, dying-summertime call; then the exaggeratedly elongated call of a pileated woodpecker just beyond sight through the trees; then a black-and-white warbler’s somewhat abbreviated call lower down; and finally, as we were only a couple hundred yards from the parking lot, the sudden appearance of a young broad-winged hawk.
A broadwing is a wonderful thing. This young bird checked us out, Jack and me, then flapped up to a more distant branch and observed us head on (alas, my auto-focus betrayed me). Finally, it flapped silently out of sight. I found myself wondering if this bird is the reason for the couple piles of remnant feathers I’ve seen the past week or so along the wooded trails.
 Northern flicker. Beech Hill List
Beginning at 6:45 a.m., I hiked all trails.
1. American goldfinch
2. Black-capped chickadee
3. Cedar waxwing
4. Gray catbird
5. Common yellowthroat
6. American robin (voice)
7. White-breasted nuthatch (voice)
8. Yellow-rumped warbler
9. Song sparrow
10. Eastern towhee (voice)
11. White-throated sparrow
12. Mourning dove
13. Eastern phoebe
14. Alder flycatcher
15. Blue jay (voice)
16. Savannah sparrow
17. Northern flicker
18. American crow (voice)
19. Eastern wood-pewee (voice)
20. Pileated woodpecker (voice)
21. Black-and-white warbler (voice)
22. Broad-winged hawk
Elsewhere
23. House sparrow
24. Northern cardinal
25. Herring gull
26. European starling
 Red squirrel.
Tags: alder flycatcher, American crow, American goldfinch, American robin, black-and-white warbler, black-capped chickadee, blue jay, broad-winged hawk, Cedar waxwing, common yellowthroat, Eastern phoebe, eastern towhee, eastern wood-pewee, European starling, gray catbird, herring gull, house sparrow, mourning dove, Northern cardinal, northern flicker, pileated woodpecker, savannah sparrow, song sparrow, white-breasted nuthatch, white-throated sparrow, yellow-rumped warbler
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Tuesday, August 31st, 2010
 Waning moon (from the summit). Got off to a bit of a late start this morning, but considering on the way to the pickup I heard a black-and-white warbler’s song coming from the oak grove up back of my place, my hopes were high. Then again, I’m not sure about hopes, high or otherwise. It is what it is (and it’s usually amazing).
 Black-and-white warbler (female), Beech Hill, Rockport, Maine, 31 August 2010. Warm and steamy. Sun streaming down. A blue jay first thing, chickadees roaming. As I’ve lately mentioned—at this late-summer time of year, at least—it pays to listen for chickadees, because for whatever reason they seem often to be surrounded by other silent little birds, warblers and vireos and sparrows. Today was no exception: starting up the last little wooded stretch before the summit, I heard a group of maybe a half-dozen chickadees, paused to check them out, and right away saw a couple of black-and-white warblers, a couple of red-eyed vireos, a white-throated sparrow, and (of course) several chickadees. The vireo got so close it was a challenge to get any kind of photo. The (female) black-and-white hung around agreeably, but the shady woodland wasn’t exactly conducive to excellent photography.
At the summit, a pair (or more) of yell0w-rumps chased amon the spruces. They’ve been dependable lately. And I saw three young (no doubt) yellowthroats all clustered together in the low branches of a tree.
A single hummingbird flying away. Waxwings all over the hill. (Also dragonflies—everywhere.) One or two savannah sparrows. A flicker on the open trail. A pileated woodpecker calling on our return down the wooded slope. And also the note of a veery.
 Northern flicker on the trail. Beech Hill List
Beginning at 7:30 a.m., I hiked all trails.
1. Blue jay (voice)
2. Black-capped chickadee
3. Red-eyed vireo
4. Black-billed cuckoo (voice)
5. Common yellowthroat
6. Gray catbird
7. Eastern towhee (voice)
8. American goldfinch
9. Song sparrow
10. Black-and-white warbler
11. White-throated sparrow (voice)
12. Downy woodpecker
13. Cedar waxwing
14. Yellow-rumped warbler
15. Ruby-throated hummingbird
16. Savannah sparrow
17. Northern flicker
18. American crow (voice)
19. Pileated woodpecker (voice)
20. Veery (voice)
Elsewhere
21. House sparrow
22. Herring gull
23. European starling
 Delicate fungi.
Tags: American crow, American goldfinch, black-and-white warbler, black-billed cuckoo, black-capped chickadee, blue jay, Cedar waxwing, common yellowthroat, downy woodpecker, eastern towhee, European starling, gray catbird, herring gull, house sparrow, northern flicker, pileated woodpecker, red-eyed vireo, ruby throated hummingbird, savannah sparrow, song sparrow, veery, white-throated sparrow, yellow-rumped warbler
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Monday, August 30th, 2010
 Black-throated blue warbler. Jack and I got to Beech Hill about 7 this morning, and already the temperature had risen well into the 70s (F). The sun blazed from the eastern sky, warming the forested side of the hill—which, of course, is where we begin our hike each morning.
 Blue jay. Little frogs calling in the periphery. The usual common species as we ascended. Coming around the little stand of popple where chestnut-sideds sing in spring, I suddenly heard the clear four- or five-note call of a redstart. Then a sharp chip from above: a warbler there, a black-throated blue. It flitted close—but directly above us, where it proceeded to pick a spider out of its web up there. It chipped, eyed us below, robbed the web of whatever morsel the spider had wrapped up. Just as I imagined that if this bird defecated, it’d come pretty close to my head—it pooped. The poop landed on a berry leaf about a foot away.
Soon after, a couple of ruffed grouse rose loudly at our approach through thick undergrowth.
At the summit, a breeze whispered through the boughs of the spruces. I heard sparrows and a single yellow-rump. That’s all.
 Common yellowthroat (female). Coming down the open trail, I heard jays and crows. At the hardwood thickets along Beech Hill Road, a family of jays pecked at acorns in the shadows. A titmouse carried some morsel or other. Another titmouse hung around nearby. Yellowthroats and catbirds sent out their subtle alarm calls and made very brief, shady appearances. From somewhere, a cicada sang.
Sweat soaked my T-shirt as we climbed back up and over. A solitary savannah sparrow flitted down the open slope—a migrating bird, I figure. And in the lower wooded trail, I heard only chickadees, nuthatches, a wood-pewee, and a single vireo.
* * *
This afternoon, while out cycling in the summery heat, I saw a good-sized flock of starlings circling above the commercial strip of Route 1. The sighting gave me a premonition of fall.
 Tufted titmouse. Beech Hill List
Beginning at 7 a.m., I hiked all trails.
1. Red-eyed vireo (voice)
2. Black-capped chickadee
3. White-breasted nuthatch (voice)
4. Common yellowthroat
5. Hairy woodpecker
6. American redstart (voice)
7. Black-throated blue warbler
8. American robin (voice)
9. Ruffed grouse (flushed)
10. Cedar waxwing
11. American goldfinch
12. White-throated sparrow
13. Song sparrow (voice)
14. Yellow-rumped warbler
15. Northern flicker (voice)
16. American crow (voice)
17. Blue jay
18. Mourning dove
19. Gray catbird
20. Tufted titmouse
21. Savannah sparrow
22. Eastern wood-pewee (voice)
Elsewhere
22. Herring gull
23. Osprey
24. House sparrow
25. Northern cardinal
26. European starling
 Cedar waxwing.
Tags: American crow, American goldfinch, American redstart, American robin, black-capped chickadee, black-throated blue warbler, blue jay, Cedar waxwing, common yellowthroat, eastern wood-pewee, European starling, gray catbird, hairy woodpecker, herring gull, house sparrow, mourning dove, Northern cardinal, northern flicker, osprey, red-eyed vireo, ruffed grouse, savannah sparrow, song sparrow, tufted titmouse, white-breasted nuthatch, white-throated sparrow, yellow-rumped warbler
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Saturday, August 14th, 2010
 Yellow-rumped warbler. Just as I stepped out of my pickup in the Rockville Street parking lot, I heard the high-pitched scree of a broad-winged hawk coming from directly overhead. Didn’t see the bird in the little patch of blue above me, so I waited for another call. There it was, higher and farther distant. Definitely a broad-wing, not an impostor jay.
 Nashville warbler. But beyond this little early thrill, it soon seemed like just another morning hike up Beech Hill on a beautiful summer day. Sunny, cool, still. The usual species made themselves heard and/or seen as Jack and I ascended the upper wooded trail. Then as we neared the summit, a few extras showed up—including a couple warblers silently hunting for insects near the trunks of trees. First a black-and-white. Then a yellow warbler. Then a redstart for the second straight day.
I spotted the redstart—a first-year male, looked like—flitting among the spruce boughs where I’d also seen one yesterday. Same bird perhaps. We stopped so I could look for other species at what’s been a pretty good hot spot for the past week or two. Did also see a phoebe and a red-breasted nuthatch.
But not until we’d made the circuit and returned to the little spruce grove did things really get interesting. Stopped again. Stood quietly, dog and I. Saw more warblers: a yellow-rump, a Nashville, a Tennessee—first Tennessee warbler I’ve seen on the hill all year, in fact.
 Tennessee warbler. After we’d stood there about five minutes a loud hum announced the arrival of a female ruby-throat. She hovered near one of those pink flowers not eight feet distant, but instead of diving in to dine she eyed me askance as if thinking, “Wait a minute, something’s not right with this picture.” I didn’t dare lift my camera for what would’ve been an amazing photo (had I been able to focus that close) for fear of shooing her away.
But then she moved to a more distant flower, so I slowly raised my camera—which caused her to zip up to a spruce twig, where finally I snapped her portrait.
I thought a count of thirty species was pretty good. Then, descending the lower wooded trail, I heard the voices of both hairy and pileated woodpeckers, and the startling song of a creeper. And finally, just as we stepped back in the parking lot, the unfamiliar peep notes of a tanager atop a tree. Perhaps a young or molting tanager—the bird looked positively moth-eaten.
Most memorable, though, were the warblers. Eight in all this day. And of them all, only two did I hear singing (yellow and yellowthroat). The rest simply flitted and darted and pecked about the trunks and branches and leaves of the lush mid-summer trees, perhaps driven somewhere in the backs of their brains by flickering visions of fall.
 Ruby-throated hummingbird (female). Beech Hill List
Beginning at 6:30 a.m., I hiked all trails.
1. Broad-winged hawk (voice)
2. Red-eyed vireo
3. American goldfinch
4. Black-capped chickadee
5. American crow
6. Hermit thrush (voice)
7. American robin (voice)
8. Eastern towhee
9. Gray catbird
10. Common yellowthroat
11. White-breasted nuthatch (voice)
12. Cedar waxwing
13. White-throated sparrow (voice)
14. Song sparrow
15. Black-and-white warbler
16. Mourning dove
17. Yellow warbler
18. American redstart
19. Eastern phoebe
20. Red-breasted nuthatch
21. Savannah sparrow
22. Tufted titmouse (voice)
23. Blue jay
24. Eastern wood-pewee (voice)
25. Northern flicker
26. Yellow-rumped warbler
27. Nashville warbler
28. Alder flycatcher
29. Tennessee warbler
30. Black-throated green warbler
31. Hairy woodpecker (voice)
32. Brown creeper (voice)
33. Pileated woodpecker (voice)
34. Scarlet tanager
Elsewhere
35. Northern cardinal
36. Herring gull
37. European starling
 Scarlet tanager.
Tags: American crow, American goldfinch, American redstart, American robin, black-and-white warbler, black-capped chickadee, black-throated green warbler, blue jay, broad-winged hawk, brown creeper, Cedar waxwing, common yellowthroat, Eastern phoebe, eastern towhee, eastern wood-pewee, European starling, gray catbird, hairy woodpecker, hermit thrush, herring gull, mourning dove, Nashville warbler, Northern cardinal, northern flicker, pileated woodpecker, red-breasted nuthatch, red-eyed vireo, savannah sparrow, scarlet tanager, song sparrow, Tennessee warbler, tufted titmouse, white-breasted nuthatch, white-throated sparrow, yellow warbler, yellow-rumped warbler
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Saturday, June 26th, 2010
 Gray catbird. We humans are animals. Sure, some might disagree, but consider the essential definition—living things that can travel about on their own. And as a consequence, we’re governed by mysterious time. By that I mean time and motion are inextricably linked. I believe that. Therefore, I believe that if you simply get to moving, you will enter the realm of coincidence, serendipity, and timing.
 Purple finch at the summit. For example, if I hadn’t awakened from a bad dream about pulling worms through the skin of my dog, I wouldn’t have arrived at Beech Hill at the moment I did and climbed out of my truck at exactly the time a hermit thrush was singing. I keep track of the order in which I identify birds, and today’s first was the thrush. It’s not an uncommon bird up there, true, but it’s not as vocal as, say, the red-eyed vireo or chestnut-sided warbler or even its fellow thrush, the veery. Rarely is it the first bird I list. Today it was.
Another example: if I hadn’t been standing at the summit just at the moment that purple finch began singing from among the spruce boughs, I wouldn’t have nabbed that photo. Nor would Jack and I have been standing there silently as a woman and her dog reached the summit from the open trail and, the woman being distracted and her dog being mellow, we wouldn’t have startled her as she got as close as a dozen feet without seeing us.
Nor would I have heard a pair of scarlet tanagers singing—one at the Beech Hill Road parking lot, one at the Rockville Street parking lot. Nor would I have seen two starlings, at different points on the hill, after having not seen any starlings up there all year. Or heard the lovely rare strains of that wood thrush just as we returned over the summit and into the woodland.
 Deer crossing the lower wooded trail. Nor would we have been coming down the lower wooded trail just at the same moment a small herd of whitetails passed not far ahead of us. We were walking quietly, as always. Jack heard them first, and I slowed to check out what it was he’d detected. (Usually it’s a squirrel or chipmunk or turkey flock.) And there down the trail stepped the last deer of the bunch, nonchalantly crossing about fifty yards away. I even got a couple crappy photos.
Nor would we meet the loves of our lives or discover our passions or see those perfect sunsets—or sunrises. Because you gotta get up early if you’re gonna see a sunrise. At least at this time of year.
Sure, there’s planning. There’s learning, working, believing. But when it comes right down to it, truly I believe, it’s all a matter of timing.
Note: the road-killed robin was gone when I cycled by this afternoon. My wish is that a scavenging crow took care of it for me.
 Savannah sparrow ("Who, me?"). Beech Hill List
Beginning at 7:30 a.m., I walked all trails.
1. Hermit thrush (voice)
2. Ovenbird (voice)
3. Red-eyed vireo (voice)
4. Common yellowthroat
5. Cedar waxwing
6. Eastern phoebe (voice)
7. Chestnut-sided warbler
8. Eastern towhee
9. American robin
10. Rose-breasted grosbeak (voice)
11. Veery (voice)
12. Gray catbird
13. American goldfinch
14. Yellow warbler (voice)
15. Tree swallow
16. Black-capped chickadee
17. Mourning dove
18. American crow
19. White-breasted nuthatch (voice)
20. European starling
21. Wood thrush (voice)
22. Field sparrow
23. Savannah sparrow
24. Scarlet tanager (voice)
25. Chipping sparrow
26. White-throated sparrow (voice)
27. Northern flicker
28. Tufted titmouse (voice)
29. Black-and-white warbler (voice)
30. American redstart
31. Hairy woodpecker
32. Purple finch
33. Red-breasted nuthatch
34. Black-throated green warbler (voice)
Elsewhere
35. House sparrow
36. Herring gull
 Common yellowthroat (male).
Tags: American crow, American goldfinch, American redstart, American robin, black-and-white warbler, black-capped chickadee, black-throated green warbler, Cedar waxwing, chestnut-sided warbler, chipping sparrow, common yellowthroat, Eastern phoebe, eastern towhee, European starling, field sparrow, gray catbird, hairy woodpecker, hermit thrush, herring gull, house sparrow, mourning dove, northern flicker, ovenbird, purple finch, red-breasted nuthatch, red-eyed vireo, rose-breasted grosbeak, savannah sparrow, scarlet tanager, tree swallow, tufted titmouse, veery, white-breasted nuthatch, white-throated sparrow, wood thrush, yellow warbler
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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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