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Archive for February, 2010
Sunday, February 14th, 2010
 Weskeag Marsh. Not overly cold temperatures today—upper-20s (F) to upper-30s—but a whipping wind made it feel pretty frigid. Under a morning sky of varied clouds and a hazy sun I took a drive to Owls Head, with a stop at the Weskeag Marsh. Ice yet covers most of the marsh, but birds were active in and above the channels of open water that crisscross its wide flatness. Scanning with binocs I spotted gulls, crows, black ducks, common ravens, and at least two red-tailed hawks. But most magical, to me, was how the southeast distance beyond the Weskeag held a sort of soft, transcendent glow.
 Afternoon at Beech Hill. Kristen joined me for another Beech Hill hike this afternoon, and not five minutes after I remarked that we’d likely see no birds on the lower wooded trail, she heard something, so we stopped and scanned the upper reaches of the hardwoods for small native winter species. Very soon I spotted a brown creeper, and Kristen counted a chickadee and two nuthatches. I tried for photos of all three birds, but the they were too small, too distant, too busy. I like how these three hang out together, though.
We met a couple of hardy hikers at the summit of the hill, where the sky had cleared to the point of a wonderfully orange halo around an already inspiring view. Hunted around a bit for yesterday’s shrike, unsuccessfully, but did find what appeared to be an old yellowthroat nest.
 Yellowthroat nest? On the slippery upper trail down, I noticed Kristen’s eyes widen and followed her gaze in time to see a streaking white shape: a snowshoe hare, stretching long, coiling, bounding, soon lost amid the small trunks of new-growth trees. I’d seen evidence of rabbits all winter—their tracks, their droppings—but this was only the second I’d seen in nearly 30 years in Maine.
Later recalling the swift white hare, I got thinking of coyote and fox, of bobcat and lynx. Of moose and flying squirrel. They survive by staying invisible to us, but there’s plenty of mammals up Beech Hill.
Today’s List
American crow
Black-capped chickadee
Herring gull
Ring-billed gull
Rock pigeon
European starling
Black duck
Common raven
Red-tailed hawk
Brown creeper
White-breasted nuthatch
Notable sighting: snowshoe hare
 Beech Nut in late afternoon.
Tags: American crow, black duck, black-capped chickadee, brown creeper, common raven, European starling, herring gull, red-tailed hawk, ring-billed gull, rock pigeon, white-breasted nuthatch
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Saturday, February 13th, 2010
 Nice yard bird. While cooking breakfast, I heard a commotion among my neighbors, the crows. I don’t know if you’d call it wisdom exactly, but given enough time and experience, turns out you can pretty well divine cause-and-effect. The particular and pitch and tenor of the voices of the crows this morning said, to me, “hawk!” I threw on my bathrobe, grabbed my camera, headed for the back door.
 Three seals. I sort of stooped while approaching the double glass door to the deck, thinking I might catch a glimpse of something in the trees. What I saw right away was a wagging branch—the lowest-hanging branch of the maple overhanging the deck. My first thought was, Whoa, why would a crow come so close to the door? I leaned down a bit farther and saw that what had landed in the branch wasn’t a crow, it was a hawk. A thrill. Then within a split second I actually recognized the individual bird: it was the juvenile red-shouldered hawk I’d first seen three days ago a half-mile or so north of me, come to pay a visit.
I shot a few photos through the glass. Then the hawk flew southward, and I stepped outside to see it perched on a dead snag at the far corner of the parking lot. The crows had abandoned the cause, perhaps somehow knowing this young hawk preferred rodents—in fact, I’d also heard the half-hearted alarm calls of a white-breasted nuthatch in the oaks just above this scene—and I watched it sit and twist its head this way, that way, checking for a meal. It didn’t find one and flew low through the trees and over the shed next door. A handsome, serious-looking young bird.
After it flew away, I listened for a minute to a few chickadees chickadee-dee-deeing up the hill.
 Great black-backed gull. The day unfolded into a lovely one, with a hazy sun and warm temperatures. I saw one reading of 43 degrees (F). But because of circumstances beyond my control—well, OK, maybe I had some semblance of control initially—I ended up working at my desk through midday. But by about 2:30, I’d had it. I grabbed my camera and binocs and headed for the breakwater.
The parking lot was packed. The tide was rather low. Right away I spotted a few bunches of harbor seals hauled out on rocks on the island side. A pair of eiders, a couple common loons. The wind was light and came from the northwest. Clouds began to move in. I didn’t even have to wear my gloves Couples strolled hand-in-hand. Young women walked with their dogs. A gaggle of long-tailed ducks hoo-hahed in the sun-splashed water on the harbor side. As I’ve seen its species do, a ring-billed gull flapped up and down the 15-foot wide line of granite blocks—so did a great black-back. I walked fast today. I saw buffleheads and a pair of black ducks in the protected cove near the seals.
After returning from the breakwater, I met up with my friend Kristen for a walk up Beech Hill. The sky had gone mostly overcast by then, though the sun glowed low in the western sky. Not very far up the trail, Kristen spotted a robin. Soon we heard, then saw, five or six of them flitting around in the bare hardwood canopy, silhouetted against the colorless sky.
 High ground (Beech Hill). I took Kristen off-trail where I’d walked the previous two days. It’s a nice hike, with a good long view of the bay. As we started up along a stone wall, I spotted a lone bird in a low tree about a hundred yards ahead of us. My first thought was shrike—and Kristen confirmed it. We watched the bird leave its snag and fly a good two hundred yards to the west, where we spotted it through fieldglasses high in a tree. I wanted a photo, so we started that way. But then it flew again, clear around to the south and then up near where we’d seen it in the first place. I turned and walked back in that direction. It flew again, I changed direction again. Flew again, changed direction.
I finally did get a half-way decent photo. First shrike I’ve seen in several years.
Then home again. A little tired and achy—and grateful for a wonderful day.
Today’s List
American crow
Red-shouldered hawk
White-breasted nuthatch
Black-capped chickadee
Downy woodpecker
Herring gull
Rock pigeon
Ring-billed gull
European starling
Common loon
Common eider
Long-tailed duck
Great black-backed gull
Bufflehead
Black duck
American robin
Northern shrike
 Northern shrike.
Tags: American crow, American robin, black duck, black-capped chickadee, bufflehead, common eider, common loon, downy woodpecker, European starling, great black-backed gull, herring gull, long-tailed duck, northern shrike, red-shouldered hawk, ring-billed gull, rock pigeon, white-breasted nuthatch
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Friday, February 12th, 2010
 Still life. Early this morning, clouds cloaked all but the eastern fringe of sky, a condition that created a sort of odd reality—bright angular sunlight illuminating a bare winter landscape rightfully obnubilated by overcast. Not much wind. The temperature when first I looked was 30 degrees (F). It wasn’t long before I heard the riotous, rousing spring song of a house finch coming from the trees above the deck. And the mild alarm calls of chickadees. (Always chickadees.)
 American crow. By mid-morning, the clouds had dispersed and the day had warmed to nearly 40, so I opened the door to the little sun room out front to bring a little solar heat into the place. Glanced out onto Route 1—and saw that one of the local gray squirrels had just died on the center line. Crows were already picking at its brains, miraculously avoiding traffic.
Speaking of the crows, I heard a burst of cawing at about 2 p.m. and though, Here he comes. The jogging man. I got a fairly good look at his routine today, and I think it might be breakfast cereal he lays out for the birds. Crows and a gull or two. Mostly crows.
Sort of a bland day, really. Again more time indoors than I’d prefer, but again I managed a trip to town in mid-afternoon. Gulls, pigeons, starlings—the usual. And again I passed the red-shouldered hawk’s domain but saw no sign of the bird. (I did see a downy woodpecker bounce through the air across the road in front of me.) After errands I drove as if mesmerized to Beech Hill. For the past few years I’ve had trouble staying away from that place.
I arrived about 4, admired (with some alarm) the clearing project near the parking lot—where only sugar maples have survived the saw—and proceeded at a brisk pace along the upper trail.
Just a lovely hillside. Mostly hardwoods, oak and maple and birch and popple, a few pines and spruce toward the top. I walked as silently as I could on crunchy snow, I scanned for movement but saw none beyond the slight fluttering of last fall’s diehard leaves.
 Red oak. While descending the lower trail, I slowed my pace. I stopped. I listened. In the far distance, a dog’s bark. Toward the east, the vague rush of traffic on Route 1 below. The faint scrapings of the leaves of red oaks above me. An approaching jet, still miles away. I stood motionless (except for my turning head) for at least five minutes. No hint of a bird, but plenty to listen to—the air, the trees, the thaw.
A hundred yards or so below I stopped again. After a minute or so I heard what sounded like a soft rapping sound from off the trail uphill from me. A woodpecker perhaps, or a nuthatch or chickadee. Slowly, I strode through still-deep snow fifty paces in that direction. Listened. No sign of it now. Just the quiet ambience of a mixed wood in winter.
Today’s List
House finch
Black-capped chickadee
American crow
Herring gull
Ring-billed gull
Rock pigeon
European starling
Downy woodpecker
Tags: American crow, black-capped chickadee, downy woodpecker, European starling, herring gull, house finch, ring-billed gull, rock pigeon
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| Bird Report is a (sometimes intermittent) record of the birds I encounter while hiking, see while driving, or spy outside my window. —Brian Willson |
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