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Posts Tagged ‘great cormorant’
Wednesday, September 28th, 2011
 Baltimore oriole. Monhegan List
(In no particular order.)
1. Blackpoll warbler
2. Yellow-rumped warbler
3. Black-throated blue warbler
4. Baltimore oriole
5. Red-eyed vireo
6. American crow
7. Common raven
8. Osprey
9. American kestrel
10. Merlin
11. Peregrine falcon
12. Sharp-shinned hawk
13. Bald eagle
14. Cedar waxwing
15. Blue jay
16. Song sparrow
17. Chipping sparrow
18. Northern flicker
19. Yellow-bellied sapsucker
20. Downy woodpecker
21. European starling
22. Common grackle
23. Rusty blackbird
25. American goldfinch
26. Carolina wren
27. Golden-crowned kinglet
28. Black-capped chickadee
29. Brown creeper
30. Herring gull
31. Great black-backed gull
32. Double-crested cormorant
33. Great cormorant
34. Northern gannet
35. Common eider
36. Mallard
37. Canada goose
38. Black guillemot
39. Pine siskin
40. Ring-necked pheasant
41. Belted kingfisher
42. Northern cardinal
43. Mourning dove
44. Eastern phoebe
45. Greater yellowlegs
Tags: American crow, American goldfinch, American kestrel, bald eagle, Baltimore oriole, belted kingfisher, black guillemot, black-capped chickadee, black-throated blue warbler, blackpoll warbler, blue jay, brown creeper, Canada goose, Carolina wren, Cedar waxwing, chipping sparrow, common eider, common grackle, common raven, double-crested cormorant, downy woodpecker, eastern phoebe, European starling, golden-crowned kinglet, great black-backed gull, great cormorant, greater yellowlegs, herring gull, mallard, merlin, mourning dove, northern cardinal, northern flicker, northern gannet, osprey, peregrine falcon, pine siskin, red-eyed vireo, ring-necked pheasant, rusty blackbird, sharp-shinned hawk, song sparrow, yellow-bellied sapsucker, yellow-rumped warbler
Posted in Lists, Observations | No Comments »
Saturday, January 15th, 2011
 Red-breasted merganser (female). This morning was cold (single digits (F)) and sunny and full of crows and chickadees. I decided to do a little work, so I did. Then I decided to skip Beech Hill today and head for the Rockland Breakwater instead.
 Great cormorant. So Jack and I took off, traveled the short distance to the breakwater lot. Just a couple cars there—which I thought rather odd, considering it was a fairly nice Saturday. True, a blanket of clouds had moved over by then. Was a little cold, too, I guess, but I’d dressed for it. And was glad I did.
The usual collection of mallards were hanging round the shore. What wind there was hit our faces going out. We met a couple people returning but were otherwise alone on the granite. A couple mergansers floated not far away, and I heard the familiar notes of long-tailed ducks. (I love their call, the long-tails.) Low tide. A few black ducks swam off beyond the rocks on the island side, where I spotted a solitary harbor seal reclining on a stone.
Herring gulls, but not too many. As many crows, in fact—I saw (and heard) at least three flapping away across the harbor. A few eiders off the east side, along with a peeping black guillemot in winter plumage.
I looked for purple sandpipers but saw none. I looked for goldeneyes, but there were none to be seen. Snow flurries blew around us as we walked. A big loon or two floated on either side of the breakwater, looking prehistoric. And a great cormorant stood on the rocks in front of us as we neared the lighthouse. We got within perhaps fifty feet of it before it decided to split the scene.
 Long-tailed ducks. Returning was easier, with the wind behind us. We met a group of four walking out—i.e., only six others out walking today.
About half-way back, I heard the voices of innumerable Canada geese and looked off to see a flock of maybe a hundred circling around the Samoset golf course property. Geese are not an endangered species around here at any season, it seems.
Before we got back in the pickup, there came a repeated tweet from a tangle of vegetation nearby, so I paused. Jack wondered what we were up to—but after a minute or so, a bright male cardinal hopped up into view. First cardinal of the year.
In town later, I saw pigeons, ring-bills, and more herring gulls. Back home, I heard a house sparrow chirping from across the road.
And tonight, a light snow is falling. A gentle snow for a change.
Rockland Breakwater List
Beginning at 1:45 p.m., I walked the length of the breakwater.
 Red breasted merganser (female). 1. Mallard
2. Red-breasted merganser
3. Long-tailed duck
4. Black duck
5. Herring gull
6. American crow
7. Common eider
8. Black guillemot
9. Common loon
10. Great cormorant
11. Canada goose
Elsewhere
12. Black-capped chickadee
13. Northern cardinal
14. Rock pigeon
15. Ring-billed gull
16. House sparrow
 Mallard.
Tags: American crow, black duck, black guillemot, black-capped chickadee, Canada goose, common eider, common loon, great cormorant, herring gull, house sparrow, long-tailed duck, mallard, northern cardinal, red-breasted merganser, ring-billed gull, rock pigeon
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Sunday, January 9th, 2011
 Purple sandpiper. A mix of sun and clouds this morning. Temperature inching toward freezing. Looked to be a fairly benign sort of day, weather-wise. I spent much of it going through photos from 2010—a chore long overdue—and culling throwaways. Hard to believe I took more than 40,000.
 Sky over Rockland Harbor. In fact, I’d only gotten through January, culling and labeling, when I looked up to find it was nearing 3 p.m. already. Time for some exercise. Figured Jack and I would head to the breakwater today for a change.
The air felt mild enough, surely above freezing, but I thought it wise to wear my down jacket anyway. Good thing I did: a stout wind had built up and was blowing hard from the west. Plus, it was pretty darn near peak high tide. A sprinkling of vehicles in the breakwater parking lot. A sprinkling of mallards down at the shore.
There was a good chop on the bay side by the time we stepped up onto the granite. Not many obvious birds right away—herring gulls, a few eiders. I saw a guy up ahead with a spotting scope who turned out to by a fellow birder, Jay. He mentioned seeing some purple sandpipers and some mergansers. No sooner had he mentioned the latter than I spotted a single male winging over the breakwater from behind us. And soon after that, I felt compelled to pull on my gloves.
A ring-billed gull flapped buoyantly past us toward shore. Spotted a couple great cormorants in flight and swimming. Also a few loons diving. Long-tailed ducks, as expected. And great black-backs.
 Sunset. We continued out, the wind at our backs. A fair-sized raft of eiders floated not far to windward, and I was snapping some photos when Jay asked if I’d seen the grebe among them. I hadn’t. I looked. Still didn’t see it. A horned grebe, I figured. Oh, well.
At the end, beyond the light, I’d just mentioned we were liable to see guillemots when one popped up not a dozen yards away, but it saw us and dove again immediately. I waited. And waited. It never reappeared—although a loon did, out of nowhere, not far beyond where I’d seen the gilly.
Although I wasn’t looking forward to the return trip into the wind, it seemed to have turned calmer. Nice. That is, until about five minutes later, when it began to gust again, prompting me to pull up my sweatshirt hood. The sun, until then mostly obscured by a bank of clouds above the harbor, poked through, creating a lovely sky. I mentioned that I’d like to see the sandpipers—and only a minute or two later, I spotted one standing on a piece of bay-side riprap a dozen feet or so away. It posed patiently for photos.
Not until I’d returned home and downloaded my pics did I notice the solitary grebe among the eiders I’d photographed—undeniably a red-necked (albeit a bit fuzzy). I supposed that made it OK to put it on my list.
 Red-necked grebe. Tonight, after a period of wind, things seemed to have calmed some. I watched the new moon set just before Jupiter.
Sirius is up there just now, chasing Orion.
Rockland Breakwater List
Beginning at 3 p.m., I walked the length of the breakwater.
1. Mallard
2. Herring gull
3. Common eider
4. Red-breasted merganser
5. Ring-billed gull
6. Great cormorant
7. Common loon
8. Great black-backed gull
9. Long-tailed duck
10. Red-necked grebe
11. Black guillemot
12. Purple sandpiper
Elsewhere
13. American crow
14. Black-capped chickadee
 Mallards.
Tags: American crow, black guillemot, black-capped chickadee, common eider, common loon, great black-backed gull, great cormorant, herring gull, long-tailed duck, mallard, purple sandpiper, red-breasted merganser, red-necked grebe, 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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