|
|
 |
|
|
Posts Tagged ‘white-crowned sparrow’
Monday, September 26th, 2011
 Wilson's warbler. Monhegan List
(In no particular order.)
1. Nashville warbler
2. Magnolia warbler
3. Black-throated green warbler
4. Black-and-white warbler
5. Wilson’s warbler
6. Blackpoll warbler
7. Yellow-rumped warbler
8. Yellow warbler
9. Red-eyed vireo
10. American crow
11. Osprey
12. American kestrel
13. Merlin
14. Peregrine falcon
15. Bald eagle
16. Cedar waxwing
17. Blue jay
18. Song sparrow
19. White-throated sparrow
20. White-crowned sparrow
21. Clay-colored sparrow
22. Dark-eyed junco
23. Northern flicker
24. Yellow-bellied sapsucker
25. European starling
26. Common grackle
27. American goldfinch
28. Carolina wren
29. Golden-crowned kinglet
30. Ruby-crowned kinglet
31. Black-capped chickadee
32. Brown creeper
33. Herring gull
34. Great black-backed gull
35. Northern gannet
36. Double-crested cormorant
37. Sharp-shinned hawk
38. Mallard
39. Canada goose
40. Belted kingfisher
41. Northern cardinal
42. Rose-breasted grosbeak
43. Mourning dove
44. Eastern kingbird
45. Eastern wood-pewee
46. Eastern phoebe
47. Northern mockingbird
48. Ring-necked pheasant
Tags: American crow, American goldfinch, American kestrel, bald eagle, belted kingfisher, black-and-white warbler, black-capped chickadee, black-throated green warbler, blackpoll warbler, blue jay, brown creeper, Canada goose, Cedar waxwing, clay-colored sparrow, common grackle, dark-eyed junco, double-crested cormorant, eastern kingbird, eastern phoebe, eastern wood-pewee, European starling, great black-backed gull, magnolia warbler, mallard, merlin, mourning dove, Nashville warbler, northern cardinal, northern flicker, northern gannet, northern mockingbird, olden-crowned kinglet, osprey, peregrine falcon, red-eyed vireo, rose-breasted grosbeak, ruby-crowned kinglet, sharp-shinned hawk, song sparrow, white-crowned sparrow, white-throated sparrow, Wilson's warbler, yellow warbler, yellow-bellied sapsucker, yellow-rumped warbler
Posted in Lists, Observations | No Comments »
Saturday, October 2nd, 2010
 American redstart. Up at dawn. Windy still but cold, with a painfully blue sky. Took a solo walk through town. Didn’t see much—rusty blackbirds, nuthatches in the spruces, a couple merlins flying over. I was watching sleeping ducks at the ice pond when firecracker explosions from the harbor announced the beginning of lobstering season and woke up the ducks in a hurry. Then I climbed the lighthouse hill and with the sunrise behind me looked down at Manana for a little while.
 Palm warbler. After breakfast I spent a while photographing a redstart in an apple tree, which at one point also got a visit from a ruby-crowned kinglet. Then we all headed to town to see our friends Amy and Charlie off into the whitecaps on the early boat. On our return, Kristen, Bill, and I ran into a birding-tour group whose binoculars were trained on an “empid” (empidonax flycatcher). It turned out to be a least flycatcher. Afterward we sashayed over behind the school, where chippies were hanging out with a dickcissel, and up again to the ice pond, where waded a solitary sandpiper, we saw a blue grosbeak, and Kristen got her elusive (albeit common) black-throated green warbler. It seemed strange to be walking under such an empty sky.
But that sky would be great for flyovers, Bill predicted. And he was right. Falcons and sharpies, a northern harrier, a Canada goose. We also saw ravens—and the others spotted a small, flapping flock of great blue herons.
 Ruby-crowned kinglet. I’d booked passage on the 12:30 boat, but as boarding time neared we heard that island birding patriarch Tom Martin had a dead peregrine up on his porch. Right away we all knew what bird that’d be: yesterday’s young, sick male. Tom called us over, and we took a quick side-trip to see the bird. He held the dead thing up by its wings. A lovely young bird. And, sure enough, it had the band. The bird’s plumage was beautiful close up. Somebody found it on a porch nearby and brought it over to Tom (who is 89 himself). I don’t think it’d been dead long.
 Least flycatcher. There’s also been juvenile great black-backed gull with a broken wing on the island. It hangs around near the road, and people have been feeding it donuts. I don’t expect it’ll last much longer. There’s the mourning dove here with the missing tail. Once or twice on every trip here I see a collection of feathers where a hawk has dined. We saw the carcass of a black-back on the rocks below the wharf this morning.
Every living thing dies. Birds’ lives are short. Still, I felt saddened about the falcon.
The trip back had some bounce in it but was nice and swift. I lugged my stuff to the pickup and headed for home. The inshore world seems so cosmopolitan after a week on a Maine island—all the cars and trucks and motorcycles driving so fast. Still, I couldn’t help but look forward to seeing Jack, my dog, again.
Then coming through Rockland, nearing home, I found myself suddenly behind an old pickup which, I couldn’t help but notice, had a dead moose in its bed.
 Tom Martin holds a dead peregrine. Monhegan List
(Not in order of sighting.)
1. Canada goose
2. American black duck
3. Mallard
4. Blue-winged teal
5. Common eider
6. Ring-necked pheasant
7. Northern gannet
8. Double-crested cormorant
9. Osprey
10. Northern harrier
11. Sharp-shinned hawk
12. Merlin
13. Peregrine falcon
14. Solitary sandpiper
15. Herring gull
16. Great black-backed gull
17. Black guillemot
18. Mourning dove
19. Yellow-bellied sapsucker
20. Downy woodpecker
21. Northern flicker
22. Least flycatcher
23. Eastern phoebe
24. Blue jay
25. American crow
26. Common raven
27. Black-capped chickadee
28. Red-breasted nuthatch
29. Brown creeper
30. Carolina wren
31. Golden-crowned kinglet
32. Ruby-crowned kinglet
33. Gray catbird
34. Northern mockingbird
35. Cedar waxwing
36. Yellow-rumped warbler
37. Palm warbler
38. Blackpoll warbler
39. American redstart
40. Common yellowthroat
41. Chipping sparrow
42. Song sparrow
43. White-throated sparrow
44. White-crowned sparrow
45. Dark-eyed junco
46. Blue grosbeak
47. Dickcissel
48. Rusty blackbird
49. Purple finch
50. American goldfinch
Elsewhere
51. Common loon
 Blue grosbeak.
Tags: American black duck, American crow, American goldfinch, American redstart, black guillemot, black-capped chickadee, blackpoll warbler, blue grosbeak, blue jay, blue-winged teal, brown creeper, Canada goose, Carolina wren, Cedar waxwing, chipping sparrow, common eider, common loon, common raven, common yellowthroat, dark-eyed junco, dickcissel, double-crested cormorant, downy woodpecker, eastern phoebe, golden-crowned kinglet, gray catbird, great black-backed gull, herring gull, mallard, merlin, mourning dove, northern flicker, northern gannet, northern harrier, northern mockingbird, osprey, palm warbler, peregrine falcon, purple finch, red-breasted nuthatch, ring-necked pheasant, ruby-crowned kinglet, rusty blackbird, sharp-shinned hawk, solitary sandpiper, song sparrow, white-crowned sparrow, white-throated sparrow, yellow-bellied sapsucker, yellow-rumped warbler
Posted in Lists, Observations | 1 Comment »
Wednesday, September 29th, 2010
 Blue grosbeak. Curiously, the most noteworthy birds showed up a stone’s-throw from The Trailing Yew this morning. Kristen, Bill, and I had no sooner turned down the main road, when a white-crowned sparrow greeted us from a small blaze-red tree. When the bird flew off behind the fire house, we followed down the boardwalk, and right away Bill (or Kristen, I forget which) spotted a blue grosbeak in its rich chestnut fall plumage. First time I’d ever seen a member of that species. Then we saw, apparently pals with the grosbeak, an indigo bunting. And not long after that, a northern waterthrush was agreeable enough to give me a peak at its white eyebrow. Another “lifer.” [Correction: I’ve since double-checked and it turns out I’d already listed a northern waterthrush—albeit by voice only—on my spring trip to Monhegan this year.]
 Indigo bunting. But the day brought other nice sightings—most dramatic among them likely the peregrine falcon that rose up the cliffs of White Head as we peered down at a cluster of great cormorants near a large group of touring birders. The falcon was riding the wind, nearly motionless, very near us. “Oohs” and “Ahhs” rose from the tour group. In the tangles near the ballfield behind the lighthouse we saw a dickcissel hanging with a group of white-throated sparrows.
The day—forecast to be wet and rain—turned out to be warm, sunny, gorgeous. I didn’t see as many species as my first two days here, but it was no less of a thrill. Later, relaxing back at The Yew, we watched palm warblers and dark-eyed juncos flitting about in the spruces lining the lawn, along with a solitary pine warbler.
 Peregrine falcon. Monhegan List
(Not in order of sighting.)
1. Mallard
2. Common eider
3. Ring-necked pheasant
4. Northern gannet
5. Double-crested cormorant
6. Great cormorant
7. Osprey
8. Sharp-shinned hawk
9. Merlin
10. Peregrine falcon
11. Herring gull
12. Great black-backed gull
13. Mourning dove
14. Yellow-bellied sapsucker
15. Northern flicker
16. Eastern phoebe
17. Red-eyed vireo
18. Blue jay
19. American crow
20. Common raven
21. Black-capped chickadee
22. Red-breasted nuthatch
23. White-breasted nuthatch
24. Brown creeper
25. Carolina wren (voice)
26. Golden-crowned kinglet (voice)
27. Gray catbird
28. Cedar waxwing
29. Yellow-rumped warbler
30. Pine warbler
31. Palm warbler
32. Blackpoll warbler
33. Northern waterthrush
34. Common yellowthroat
35. Song sparrow
36. Swamp sparrow
37. White-throated sparrow
38. White-crowned sparrow
39. Dark-eyed junco
40. Blue grosbeak
41. Indigo bunting
42. Dickcissel
43. Bobolink
44. Rusty blackbird
45. Baltimore oriole
46. Purple finch
47. American goldfinch
 White-throated sparrow.
Tags: American crow, American goldfinch, Baltimore oriole, black-capped chickadee, blackpoll warbler, blue grosbeak, blue jay, bobolink, brown creeper, Carolina wren, Cedar waxwing, common eider, common raven, common yellowthroat, dark-eyed junco, dickcissel, double-crested cormorant, eastern phoebe, golden-crowned kinglet, gray catbird, great black-backed gull, great cormorant, herring gull, indigo bunting, mallard, merlin, mourning dove, northern flicker, northern gannet, northern waterthrush, osprey, palm warbler, peregrine falcon, pine warbler, purple finch, red-breasted nuthatch, red-eyed vireo, ring-necked pheasant, rusty blackbird, sharp-shinned hawk, song sparrow, swamp sparrow, white-breasted nuthatch, white-crowned sparrow, white-throated sparrow, yellow-bellied sapsucker, yellow-rumped warbler
Posted in Lists, Observations | No Comments »
|
|
| |
| Bird Report is a (sometimes intermittent) record of the birds I encounter while hiking, see while driving, or spy outside my window. —Brian Willson |
|
|
|
