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Posts Tagged ‘common eider’
Sunday, April 25th, 2010
 Yellow-rumped warbler. I was nearly wrong. I declared yesterday that towhees would be singing from now until fall at Beech Hill, thinking the four or five (or more) birds giving forth yesterday would hang around and nest. Well, on today’s morning walk up the hill, I heard no towhee songs at all. In fact, it was a very different hike.
 Eastern phoebe. At the trailhead, I heard only goldfinches and chickadees. The sky was clear and blue. The morning sun bathed the greening landscape. A brisk north wind had kicked up. Not sure if yesterday’s activity came from the dramatic swing in the weather or what—but today’s walk began about as uneventfully as yesterday’s was notable. I did finally hear a crow’s voice from up the hill and a herring gull’s from (no doubt) the little cow farm. Then about half-way up, I heard the subtle chip of a warbler.
I notice things like that. After thirty years of listing birds, my brain is attuned to their voices—whether a cardinal singing its incessant string of sweet, loud notes or an osprey’s scream from 200 yards up or the tiny two-note tee-deet of a nesting female hummingbird. Many (if not most) cultured folk don’t notice their native birds at all; they have other distractions involving family or the office or that strange new sound coming from under the hood of the car. The chip made my ears perk up. I had an idea of what it was.
 Savannah sparrow. I might’ve been wrong about the towhees, but I was right about this: a yellow-rumped warbler, hunting for insects amid new yellow-green poplar leaves. They come through early, the yellow-rumps, but will eventually be outnumbered by chestnut-sideds and yellowthroats—up Beech Hill, at least. A tilted planet turns, the photoperiod lengthens, yellow-green leaves unfurl, insects return. And with them come wood-warblers.
(It’s another thing I notice: the returns of insects. Oh, I’m sure I’m not the only one who notices the return of black flies and mosquitoes, but to me they mean not annoyance and bug spray but the return of insectivorous birds.)
 Common eider. Finally, at the summit, I heard the call note of a towhee coming from somewhere down the eastern slope. I suppose next year I might notice all the singing first arrivals of this species and realize they’re likely simply moving through, stopping off to check out the habitat—certainly wonderful towhee habitat, that’s for sure.
This late-afternoon, dog and I took a brisk walk along the breakwater. The highlight: a female common merganser diving near a low-tide rock on which were perched three double-crested cormorants. And (I noticed from their gentle peeps) more purple sandpipers moving through.
Beech Hill List
At 9:30 a.m., I walked both trails.
American goldfinch
Black-capped chickadee
American crow
Herring gull (voice)
Mourning dove
White-throated sparrow (voice)
Yellow-rumped warbler
Tree swallow
Eastern phoebe
Savannah sparrow
Eastern towhee (voice)
Common raven (voice)
Chipping sparrow (voice)
Tufted titmouse (voice)
 Purple sandpipers at the Rockland Breakwater. Elsewhere
House finch
Song sparrow
Northern cardinal
House sparrow
Common grackle
Double-crested cormorant
Common merganser
Common eider
Common loon
Purple sandpiper
Mallard
 Looking northwest from Beech Hill.
Tags: American crow, American goldfinch, black-capped chickadee, chipping sparrow, common eider, common grackle, common loon, common merganser, common raven, double-crested cormorant, eastern phoebe, eastern towhee, herring gull, house finch, house sparrow, mallard, mourning dove, northern cardinal, purple sandpiper, savannah sparrow, song sparrow, tree swallow, tufted titmouse, white-throated sparrow, yellow-rumped warbler
Posted in Lists, Observations | No Comments »
Thursday, April 22nd, 2010
 Palm warbler. If you know me well, you know my love of wood-warblers. Just something about their diminutive size, big voices, colorful plumage, and elusive nature has wholly captivated me since I began birding seriously exactly three decades ago this year. For me, May is the month of warblers. But a few early birds show up on the 44th parallel in April—and today was my first 2010 ID.
 Isolated thundershower. These past two-three days I’ve thought I detected warblers. But the distinctively strident, declarative notes I’ve heard have come from tiny birds in flight, migrating overhead. And I’m none too familiar with early-warbler voices anyway. Perhaps I’ve heard a few yellow-rumps in overflight. And who knows what-all else. But identification has been beyond me—until today.
In fact, as soon as dog and I jumped out of the pickup in the Beech Hill parking lot this late morning, I heard them. Two or three tiny birds flitting about the upper limbs of a conifer. I didn’t know their calls and couldn’t get a fix on ’em with my fieldglasses. But very shortly thereafter, coming up the trail’s first rise along the road, I got a good look—and a passable photo—of a palm warbler. It had a similar voice to the chipping sparrow calling from the other side of its tree, but I still don’t have it memorized. (I’ve listened to recordings, but recordings don’t register as purely as hearing a bird “in person.”) And right after I spotted the palm, I heard a field sparrow.
 Sky islands. Field sparrows have been nesting on Beech Hill for only a few years. They’re not an uncommon bird, but for a not uncommon bird, they’ve been in somewhat of a decline lately, so it’s been nice to hear their bouncy, musical calls on the hill. Yesterday I heard my first savannah sparrow (a Beech Hill mainstay), and today I heard my first field sparrow. In fact, today was a five-sparrow day: field, savannah, song, chipping, and white-throated. I also saw a raven, a kettle of five turkey vultures, and a pileated woodpecker in flight. I heard phoebes, chickadees, robins, goldfinches, house finches. Low in the bay floated banks of fog. We heard, dog and I, a clap of thunder from a tall cloud to the north. Detected something of a fickle breeze. Felt warmth from the sun.
 Double-crested cormorant. Elsewhere in my travels today I saw or heard: cardinal, starling, cowbird, titmouse, herring gull, ring-billed gull, rock pigeon. Then at about 6 p.m. we took a walk along the breakwater, where the tide was high and I listed eiders, d-c cormorants, r-b mergansers, a greater black-backed gull, napping spotted sandpipers, a couple loons. On the way home, in calm, brimming Clam Cove, floated a pair of buffleheads.
But what I’m remembering tonight (and hoping to see more of tomorrow) are wood-warblers—those jewel-like creatures of the woodland.
Today’s List
 Purple sandpipers. Northern cardinal
House sparrow
Song sparrow
House finch
Mourning dove
Eastern phoebe
American crow
Herring gull
American goldfinch
American robin
Palm warbler
Chipping sparrow
Field sparrow
White-throated sparrow
Savannah sparrow
Common raven
Black-capped chickadee
Turkey vulture
Northern flicker
European starling
Ring-billed gull
Rock pigeon
Common eider
Great black-backed gull
Red-breasted merganser
Purple sandpiper
Common loon
Bufflehead
 Common eider.
Tags: American crow, American goldfinch, American robin, black-capped chickadee, bufflehead, chipping sparrow, common eider, common raven, European starling, field sparrow, great black-backed gull, herring gull, house finch, house sparrow, mourning dove, northern cardinal, northern flicker, palm warbler, purple sandpiper, red-breasted merganser, ring-billed gull, rock pigeon, savannah sparrow, song sparrow, turkey vulture, white-throated sparrow
Posted in Lists, Observations | No Comments »
Tuesday, April 20th, 2010
 High tide, Rockland Breakwater. Sun this morning! Then clouds. Then sun! Then clouds. Then sun!
That pretty much sums up today’s weather. Well, other than the temperature reached the sixties, and we had a few very brief cloudbursts. Heard the usual morning singers: cardinal, song sparrow, mourning dove, house finch, phoebe, robin, goldfinch, crow.
 Lupines, Glen Cove. About the time dog and I hit Beech Hill, a big raft of clouds blew over, and we actually got drizzled on while ascending. It being the first nice day in a while, as well as spring-break week for school, the parking lot was jam-packed, and humans and dogs of all ages and breeds clogged the trail. In addition, the tractor was mowing the eastern field, and a chainsaw whined from somewhere to the south. I saw no hawks at all. In fact, I caught only the briefest glimpse of a song sparrow, and a snapshot-like look at a long-necked turkey at the top of the wooded trail—but I got a good look at a raven flying over. I did hear titmouse, chickadee, goldfinch, gull. And, most interestingly, I heard some warbler-like chips and looked up to see a small, solitary bird crossing far overhead. Shortly after, the same thing happened again.
Rode my bike this afternoon. Saw herring gulls, ring-bills, rock pigeons. I noticed for the first time that you can see Beech Hill from one section of Route 1—although I’d seen that section of Route 1 from the hill itself, I couldn’t tell exactly where it was. That was cool.
 Double-crested cormorant. This evening, we walked the breakwater, dog and I. Nearly high tide. We ran into many other people and dogs there also. I saw a large raft of eiders on the island side, a solitary double-crested cormorant on the harbor side. The sky held a dramatic array of clouds. I spotted one duck that looked like a long-tail—but no other ducks or other birds. Other than a single loon and a pair of black guillemots in breeding plumage.
 Rain cloud. Most memorable, to me, was a moment spent standing at the far end of the breakwater. The air held a faint, pungent salt-sea smell. The floating seaweed gave off a faintly popping, fizzing sort of sound. The light reflected on the relatively still water. The two guillemots dove.
They stayed underwater for an incredible period of time, the guillemots.
Today’s List
American cardinal
Song sparrow
Eastern phoebe
House finch
Chipping sparrow
American robin
American goldfinch
Mourning dove
Herring gull
Black-capped chickadee
Tufted titmouse
Wild turkey
Common raven
Ring-billed gull
Rock pigeon
Double-crested cormorant
Common eider
Common loon
 Clouds and sun.
Tags: American goldfinch, American robin, black-capped chickadee, chipping sparrow, common eider, common loon, common raven, double-crested cormorant, eastern phoebe, herring gull, house finch, mourning dove, northern cardinal, ring-billed gull, rock pigeon, song sparrow, tufted titmouse, wild turkey
Posted in Lists, Observations | 2 Comments »
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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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