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Posts Tagged ‘common eider’
Sunday, January 17th, 2010
 Blue Hill, from the Rockland Breakwater. Today dawned overcast—and twenty degrees colder than yesterday. Appropriately for this time of year, the temperature never made it out of the 20s (F) all day. But I had a hankering for a little birding-slash-exercise and so in early-afternoon, seeing the motionless anemoter, thought, I’ll just bundle up and walk the breakwater, see a few birds. I mean, it’s so close by, and all.
 Black guillemot. I knew I’d be contending with some wind—there’s always wind when you’re nearly a mile out in open water—and I dressed, well, appropriately for this time of year: warm coat over hooded sweatshirt, scarf, insulated gloves. I arrived to find at least half a dozen vehicles in the parking lot, so the chill air hadn’t deterred any Sunday walkers. Down the little escarpment and along the water’s edge all felt warm enough. Up onto the granite blocks, though, and the ocean breeze picked up a tad. No problem. About half-way out is when my fingers started going numb.
 Purple sandpiper. I couldn’t help but contrast my benumbed fingers with the naked pink feet of the herring gulls standing on the stones, or the red legs of the guillemot paddling in the frigid harbor. Common loons and great cormorants submerged themselves for a minute or more in the chilly depths—emerging, in the case of one loon, with a crab that proved a challenge to gulp down. I counted perhaps five or six loons, in fact, each sailing lazily along like a riverboat, plenty cozy in their miraculously patterned feathers. The long-tailed ducks, too. And the common eiders. And red-breasted mergansers. I even watched a pair of purple sandpipers fairly frolick in the bubbly swell, with seemingly no circulation troubles in their tiny legs and toes.
Ducks got feathers, seals got blubber. Before figuring out how to wear the skins of animals, we humans never saw this latitude in winter, that’s for sure—or if we did, we surely died in a hurry from cold.
 Herring gull. On the walk back, I had a tail-wind. More like a tail-breeze, really, but it made a difference. I even took off my gloves to snap a photo of a tourist couple from an Asian country, perhaps Japan. Back in the parking lot, I noticed license plates from New York and Massachusetts. The Maine coast gets visitors even at a wintry time of year.
Today’s List
1. American crow
2. Herring gull
3. Common eider
4. Red-breasted merganser
5. Ring-billed gull
6. Common loon
7. Black guillemot
8. Great cormorant
9. Long-tailed duck
10. Canada goose
11. Bufflehead
12. Mallard
 Tidal rocks.
Tags: American crow, black guillemot, bufflehead, Canada goose, common eider, common loon, great cormorant, herring gull, long-tailed duck, mallard, red-breasted merganser, ring-billed gull
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Saturday, January 16th, 2010
 Iceland gull (immature). This must be what they call a January thaw. Just a gorgeous day today, sunny and warm. Well, sunny starting about late morning, after an early glowing overcast, but warm—well up into the 40s (F)—for much of the day. After a few Saturday errands, I couldn’t resist chasing down some birds.
I say “chasing down,” because Don Reimer had already spotted them. And if Don can’t lay claim to the title of No. 1 Local Birder, I have no clue who can. Yesterday he reported kittiwakes, razorbills, and northern shrikes at the Owls Head Light, black-headed and iceland gulls at Owls Head Harbor, a great blue heron at Weskeag Marsh, and a slew of uncommon ducks in Warren Village. So I jumped in my pickup and headed for Owls Head.
 Black-headed gull preening. I drove first to the lighthouse park. The early afternoon sunlight had turned things vividly colorful. I saw eiders afloat, Bonaparte’s gulls in flight, red-breasted mergansers and long-tailed ducks and guillemots in the bay, but no kittiwakes, razorbills or shrikes. I did hear a raven. And you can hardly match the view from the light of the inland hills.
Next I drove the short distance to Owls Head Harbor. As I pulled in, I spotted a few other birders already scanning the waves. They, too, had seen Don’s report—and in fact had already spotted the gulls over at the nearby lobster pound. I walked over and saw them, too. A couple, possibly three black-headed gulls, and at least a pair of icelands. Both species posed on pilings, and the iceland obliged me with a good look on the wing. I also counted buffleheads, loons, mallards, and herring gulls.
Then I figured I’d swing by Weskeag, but I honestly didn’t expect to see a solitary great blue heron in all those acres. Wrong: there he was, just standing there preening. I followed someone’s footprints down the slope, snapping photos. When I got near enough to bother the bird, it flew off into some shadows a safe distance away.
Finally, I figured I’d take a quick hike up Beech Hill. En route, I spied a red-tailed hawk on a power pole off Old County Road.
 Great blue heron at Weskeag Marsh. I half expected to see yesterday’s barred owl at the wooded trailhead, but I didn’t. The air remained warm, and the snow on the trail had gone soft enough to slip beneath my feet. Coming up the lower trail, I kept hearing slight single calls that sounded something like golden-crowned kinglets, but I saw nothing. Then, nearing the top, I heard a soft rapping—a downy woodpecker. And soon after, there came the high call again, and a small bird flitted to the trunk of a tree not twenty feet away. I didn’t get a great look, but it appeared to be a brown creeper. And there, another one higher up on a trunk just beyond. As they zipped from trunk to limb, I snapped off some photos; I could confirm it later from the blurry images: creepers.
The hike was exhilarating. I spotted numerous trails of turkeys, like wavy dotted lines in the snow, all heading to what must be a roosting spot amid tangles near the summit. I saw deer tracks. And coming down, a ruffed grouse exploded out of a thicket off the trail.
 Great blue heron. Today’s List
1. Black-capped chickadee (voice)
2. American crow
3. Herring gull
4. Ring-billed gull
5. Rock pigeon
6. Common eider
7. Black guillemot
8. Bonaparte’s gull
9. Long-tailed duck
10. Red-breasted merganser
11. Common raven
12. Black-headed gull
13. Iceland gull
14. Common loon
15. Mallard
16. Bufflehead
17. Great blue heron
18. Red-tailed hawk
19. Downy woodpecker
20. Brown creeper
21. Ruffed grouse
 The coastal hills, from Owls Head Light.
Tags: American crow, black guillemot, black-capped chickadee, black-headed gull, Bonaparte's gull, brown creeper, bufflehead, common eider, common loon, common raven, downy woodpecker, great blue heron, herring gull, iceland gull, long-tailed duck, mallard, red-breasted merganser, red-tailed hawk, ring-billed gull, rock pigeon, ruffed grouse
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Thursday, January 14th, 2010
 Male long-tailed duck. Another absolutely cloudless morning. In fact, the sunlight angling across the bay began to warm things quickly—from about 14 degrees (F) first thing to a bit above freezing in afternoon. Filling the air were the voices of the crows that flapped across the road, stalked the neighbor’s driveway, perched for a moment in the leafless lilacs. The sky remained a perfect blue all day.
 Bonaparte's gull. From the deck, I watched a herring gull hurrying north as if late for an appointment. On a trip to town, I saw ring-billed gulls and rock doves and exactly seven starlings in a tree. The day remained calm, the air seemed warm. On the way back to the office, I decided to walk the breakwater.
Tide headed out. Mallards in the shallows. A few humans walking the great granite stones. Right away I spotted common goldeneyes and a loon. From somewhere came the chuckling yodels of long-tailed ducks. Then I heard a faint high-pitched whistling in the direction of the islands—a sound I soon recognized as the voice of a guillemot. Through my long lens I spotted three of them; one had something to say.
 Harbor seal. Herring gulls dropped urchins on the flat stone surfaces, as usual. I saw a great cormorant and a red-breasted merganser on the wing. Twice I caught sight of the flight of bonaparte’s gulls. On the return trip, a pair of long-tailed ducks came near. And sunning themselves on small tidal rocks offshore were three harbor seals.
I write this at night. In the still clear air just a minute ago, the stars of Orion and Sirius seemed as bright as they’ve ever been.
Today’s List
1. American crow
2. Herring gull
3. Ring-billed gull
4. European starling
5. Mallard
6. Common goldeneye
7. Common loon
8. Long-tailed duck
9. Black guillemot
10. Common eider
11. Bonaparte’s gull
12. Black duck
13. Red-breasted merganser
14. Great cormorant
 Herring gull with urchin.
Tags: American crow, black duck, black guillemot, Bonaparte's gull, common eider, common goldeneye, common loon, European starling, great cormorant, herring gull, long-tailed duck, mallard, red-breasted merganser, ring-billed gull
Posted in Lists, Observations | No 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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