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Posts Tagged ‘ring-necked pheasant’
Tuesday, September 28th, 2010
 Yellow-throated warbler. Ever since I caught sight of my first yellow-throated warbler, I’d had a nagging wish to see it again but nearer and for a longer period—i.e., posing for a photo.
 Yellow-throated vireo. But first thing this morning, Kristen and I set off through rain toward Lobster Cove in hopes of spotting the yell0w-breasted chat everyone’s been talking about. After about five minutes, the sun emerged from behind a ceiling of clouds, and we grew hopeful. No chat, though. Nor any of the common warblers we hadn’t yet seen—black-throated green, black-and-white, black-throated blue. We did, however, see a nice aerial dogfight between a merlin and a peregrine.
Then a few of us trekked to the ballfield and around behind the school house and over to the Ice Pond on our mission for new warblers. Instead, we saw a dickcissel and an exotic sparrow or two.
No black-throated green, no black-throated blue. But we did hear from other birders that the yellow-throated warbler was still hanging around. Not until we were headed back for lunch and ran into Bryan Pfeiffer (of Vermont Bird Tours), did we think to take a little side trip along the harbor road to where we saw the yellow-throated yesterday. Sure enough, a couple noted birding experts had their binoculars trained up into some spruces, and before long we were staring ourselves up into a spruce above the road itself at the lovely little bird as it pecked around in the boughs. It lingered. It gave us some great looks. It didn’t seem to mind the little cluster of humans all observing it from just a few feet below. And I got some photos.
That made my day.
But the day wasn’t done: soon after, a couple hundred yards away, we were gazing up into an apple tree that contained a yell0w-throated vireo—another life bird for me. (Not one, but two yell0w-throated songbirds!) And then we saw a Tennessee warbler.
The weather was fickle, breeze and warm, overcast then sunny, a spattering of rain. Tonight the stars have emerged, and I hear the sound of the ocean out my window. Crazily, I ended up with the same number of species as yesterday.
I love this island.
 Brown creeper. Monhegan List
(Not in order of sighting.)
1. Mallard
2. Blue-winged teal
3. Common eider
4. Ring-necked pheasant
5. Northern gannet
6. Double-crested cormorant
7. Great blue heron
8. Osprey
9. Sharp-shinned hawk
10. Merlin
11. Peregrine falcon
12. Herring gull
13. Great black-backed gull
14. Black guillemot
15. Mourning dove
16. Belted kingfisher
17. Yellow-bellied sapsucker
18. Downy woodpecker
19. Northern flicker
20. Eastern phoebe
21. Yellow-throated vireo
22. Red-eyed vireo
23. Blue jay
24. American crow
25. Common raven
26. Black-capped chickadee
27. Red-breasted nuthatch
28. White-breasted nuthatch
29. Brown creeper
30. Carolina wren
31. House wren
32. Golden-crowned kinglet
33. American robin
34. Gray catbird
35. Brown thrasher
36. Cedar waxwing
37. Tennessee warbler
38. Yellow-rumped warbler
39. Yellow-throated warbler
40. Palm warbler
41. Blackpoll warbler
42. Common yellowthroat
43. Chipping sparrow
44. Clay-colored sparrow
45. Savannah sparrow
46. Song sparrow
47. Swamp sparrow
48. White-throated sparrow
49. Dickcissel
50. Rusty blackbird
51. Baltimore oriole
52. Purple finch
53. American goldfinch
 Tennessee warbler.
Tags: American crow, American goldfinch, American robin, Baltimore oriole, belted kingfisher, black guillemot, black-capped chickadee, blackpoll warbler, blue jay, blue-winged teal, brown creeper, brown thrasher, Carolina wren, Cedar waxwing, chipping sparrow, clay-colored sparrow, common eider, common raven, common yellowthroat, dickcissel, double-crested cormorant, downy woodpecker, eastern phoebe, golden-crowned kinglet, gray catbird, great black-backed gull, great blue heron, herring gull, mallard, merlin, mourning dove, northern flicker, northern gannet, osprey, palm warbler, peregrine falcon, purple finch, red-breasted nuthatch, red-eyed vireo, ring-necked pheasant, rusty blackbird, savannah sparrow, sharp-shinned hawk, song sparrow, swamp sparrow, Tennessee warbler, white-breasted nuthatch, white-throated sparrow, yellow-bellied sapsucker, yellow-rumped warbler, yellow-throated vireo, yellow-throated warbler
Posted in Lists, Observations | No Comments »
Monday, September 27th, 2010
 Rusty blackbird. Overcast and a bit misty this early morning on Monhegan. Right away, my friend Kristen and I spotted a rusty blackbird in an apple tree in town. One species you can count on finding here in fall is rusty blackbird—I bird I personally don’t see anywhere else. But the most inspiring thing you can count on seeing here at this time of year, at least in my opinion, is the miracle of falcons.
 Merlin. After breakfast, Kristen, Monhegan pal (and birder extraordinaire) Bill, and I headed down to Lobster Cove, on the southwest side of the island. Word had it that, in the thickets along the trail down, we might see a yellow-breasted chat and/or a marsh wren and/or some other crazy songbirds I’d love to see. Instead, we saw beaucoup yellow-rumps, swamp sparrows, white-throated sparrows, song sparrows, a catbird, and northern gannets fishing offshore. And falcons.
Merlins, mostly. These small, speedy, feisty birds-of-prey seem both fearless, pugnacious, and eager to do battle. They’d wiggle their wings in anticipation as they’d dive for flickers, goldfinchs, and herring gulls alike. We even saw a merlin dive at a peregrine falcon—a much larger and (arguably) more fearsome bird—seemingly without a care in the world. And more than once we’d be looking off into a thicket in hopes of spying some tiny warbler or sparrow or wren, when a dark blur would sweep through an overgrown opening in the trail near us: a merlin on the prowl. What sleek, expert flier and killing machine. And fun to watch.
 Palm warbler. We also saw some pint-sized kestrels. And peregrines are a marvel to behold. But there’s just something to love about a merlin. We must’ve seen three or four dozen of them (although of course some could’ve been the same bird). Several peregrines. A couple kestrels. Which leads me to ask: where else can you go at any time of year and be sure to see so many falcons? Maybe somewhere, but nowhere I know. It’s just a miracle. A circus. An incredible show.
Other highlights of this day included my first-ever yellow-throated warbler, my first ever sora, dickcissels, clay-colored sparrows, and a lark sparrow in the rain.
Monhegan List
(Not in order of sighting.)
1. Mallard
2. Commen eider
3. Ring-necked pheasant
4. Northern gannet
5. Double-crested cormorant
6. Osprey
7. Bald eagle
8. Northern harrier
9. Sharp-shinned hawk
10. American kestrel
11. Merlin
12. Peregrine falcon
13. Sora
14. Herring gull
15. Great black-backed gull
16. Mourning dove
17. Belted kingfisher
18. Yellow-bellied sapsucker
19. Northern flicker
20. Eastern phoebe
21. Red-eyed vireo
22. Blue jay
23. American crow
24. Common raven
25. Black-capped chickadee
26. Red-breasted nuthatch
27. Carolina wren (voice)
28. Golden-crowned kinglet
29. American robin
30. Gray catbird
31. Cedar waxwing
32. Yellow-rumped warbler
33. Yellow-throated warbler
34. Palm warbler
35. Blackpoll warbler
36. Common yellowthroat
37. Chipping sparrow
38. Clay-colored sparrow
39. Lark sparrow
40. Savannah sparrow
41. Song sparrow
42. Lincoln’s sparrow
43. Swamp sparrow
44. White-throated sparrow
45. Dark-eyed junco
46. Dickcissel
47. Bobolink (voice)
48. Rusty blackbird
49. Common grackle
50. Baltimore oriole
51. Purple finch
52. Pine siskin
53. American goldfinch
 Lark sparrow.
Tags: American crow, American goldfinch, American kestrel, American robin, bald eagle, Baltimore oriole, belted kingfisher, black-capped chickadee, blackpoll warbler, blue jay, bobolink, Carolina wren, Cedar waxwing, chipping sparrow, clay-colored sparrow, common eider, common grackle, common raven, common yellowthroat, dark-eyed junco, dickcissel, double-crested cormorant, eastern phoebe, golden-crowned kinglet, gray catbird, great black-backed gull, herring gull, lark sparrow, Lincoln's sparrow, mallard, merlin, mourning dove, northern flicker, northern gannet, northern harrier, osprey, palm warbler, peregrine falcon, pine siskin, purple finch, red-breasted nuthatch, red-eyed vireo, ring-necked pheasant, rusty blackbird, sharp-shinned hawk, song sparrow, sora, swamp sparrow, white-throated sparrow, yellow-bellied sapsucker, yellow-rumped warbler, yellow-throated warbler
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Monday, May 31st, 2010
 Dead cedar waxwing. Earlier this month, the Alaotra grebe—a small species from Madagascar—was declared extinct. On Monhegan this morning, I got a look at the preserved remains of a lovely cedar waxwing that’d run into a window and died. (Note: an estimated 100 million or more birds die in the U.S. each year from running into windows.) Then on a hike through Cathedral Woods this afternoon, my friends Kristen and Paul and I came upon a whimsical memorial to a dead wood-warbler.
 Ovenbird memorial. This particular trail in the woods is known for its tiny “fairy houses” made of bark and twigs and lichen and spruce cones. And this particular house had a makeshift cross, a snail shell, and a sort of lean-to holding the corpse of a lovely ovenbird. I can hardly express how touching this was to stumble upon on Memorial Day.
A number of house cats—including an exotic breed or two—stalk the yards of Monhegan, and no doubt a few kill birds. In fall, the island gets by peregrine falcons and other raptors, efficient machines for murder. And, sure, every living thing dies. But it sticks with you when you view the dead bodies of more than one recently living bird in one twenty-four-hour period. It sticks with me, at least.
 White-eyed vireo. So it’s with somewhat deeper appreciation that I counted forty-five living species this warm, summer-like spring day on Monhegan—including plenty of living waxwings (about a hundred). Also including a white-eyed vireo (a lifer for me), a bird Kristen and I tracked down in a thicket off the Burnt Head trail; obligingly, it hopped up onto a dead branch just as I raised my camera. Three individual birds were most discussed this weekend: Saturday’s western kingbird, the white-eyed vireo, and an olive-sided flycatcher reportedly seen in the same area as the vireo. We tried for what one birder called the “all-excited flycatcher” but saw and heard only a bunch of alders. Oh, well.
One interesting aspect of this trip were two thirteen-year-old Maine birders—long-time friends—who really knew their stuff. One of the boys got nice photos of the white-eyed, and the other ended the day with a sighting of a black-billed cuckoo. I believe they both photographed the wayward western kingbird. And this afternoon, on the boat back inshore, they both stood with me in the bow snapping photos of northern gannets.
The northern gannets, by the way, were very much alive.
 Northern oriole. Monhegan List
(Numbered for full trip; not in order of listing.)
55. White-eyed vireo**
56. Northern flicker (voice)
57. Spotted sandpiper*
58. White-throated sparrow (voice)
American robin
Cedar waxwing
Red-breasted nuthatch
House wren
Winter wren (voice)
Carolina wren
Magnolia warbler
Alder flycatcher
Golden-crowned kinglet (voice)
Double-crested cormorant
Herring gull
Great black-backed gull
Laughing gull
Common eider
Black guillemot
Mallard
American goldfinch
White-winged crossbill
Ring-necked pheasant (voice)
American crow
Common grackle
Red-winged blackbird
European starling
Purple finch (voice)
Common yellowthroat
Yellow warbler
American redstart
Black-throated green warbler (voice)
Blackpoll warbler (voice)
Gray catbird
Mourning dove
Black-capped chickadee
Northern oriole
Brown thrasher
Northern cardinal (voice)
Eastern kingbird
Alder flycatcher
Eastern wood-pewee (voice)
Song sparrow
Blue jay (voice)
Osprey (voice)
Elsewhere
Northern gannet
Bald eagle
Tufted titmouse (voice)
*First-of-year bird.
**Life bird.
 Northern gannet, living and breathing.
Tags: alder flycatcher, American crow, American goldfinch, American redstart, American robin, black-capped chickadee, black-throated green warbler, blackpoll warbler, blue jay, brown thrasher, Carolina wren, Cedar waxwing, common eider, common grackle, common yellowthroat, double-crested cormorant, European starling, golden-crowned kinglet, gray catbird, great black-backed gull, herring gull, house wren, laughing gull, magnolia warbler, mallard, mourning dove, northern cardinal, northern flicker, northern oriole, osprey, purple finch, red-breasted nuthatch, red-winged blackbird, ring-necked pheasant, song sparrow, spotted sandpiper, white-eyed vireo, white-throated sparrow, white-winged crossbill, winter wren, yellow warbler
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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