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Posts Tagged ‘great egret’
Saturday, August 28th, 2010
 Red-tailed hawk (Weskeag Marsh). Jack and I slept late. It’s Saturday, after all, and I’m fighting off the Lyme disease bacterium. OK, so the meds have pretty much fought it off already—but still. A man’s gotta sleep sometime.
 Blue-headed vireo (Beech Hill). But hit the hill we did, just a little late. Sun was out. A little breezy. Crickets singing, and cicadas. A couple monarchs and other butterflies. Just a hint of fall ion the air, along with a few red leaves. And birds. Pretty many birds.
First to call was a hairy woodpecker, and then a few of the usual suspects, and then a black-billed cuckoo, and then we startled a partridge. As the trail opened up, where we came upon alder flycatchers yesterday, today we came upon phoebes. My friend Kristen says flycatchers migrate together, so maybe this is what’s going on.
Then, surprisingly, a field sparrow hopped over to harangue us for a while. It’s funny. You hear their musical song in spring and early summer, but you can’t get near enough for a photo. Then, once they nest and (presumably) have young to defend, they seek you out and get close. This is the second such bird I’ve photographed on these terms of his, not mine.
 Field sparrow (Beech Hill). Down toward Beech Hill Road, I heard some chickadees and so began to scan the hardwoods—chickadees often being the indicator of other, quieter species flitting about, I’ve learned. Sure enough, I spotted a parula among them, along with a chestnut-sided warbler and a couple I couldn’t identify.
Then I heard the strange, very soft warbling sound I’d heard down there before without seeing its source. But this time I did: a blue-headed vireo. I still sort of shake my head at how different the soft warble is from its typical call, but there you go.
 Bobolink (Weskeag Marsh). Nothing much else on Beech Hill, but at high tide this early afternoon I met my friends Kristen and Paul at Weskeag Marsh in south Thomaston, the idea being that shorebirds would be moving through. Well, rather oddly, we saw very few shorebirds moving through. There were some least sandpipers and yellowlegs. There were snowy and great egrets. There were a pair or three red-tailed hawks. A great-blue heron. And—curiously, to me—a bobolink way out in the pannes. But no great clouds of shorebirds. A lonesome merlin flew over, even, looking similarly baffled at the dearth of wheeling flocks birds.
It was beautiful down there, though. Photogenic clouds in a summer-blue sky, and a red-tail up there soaring.
 Least sandpiper (Weskeag Marsh). Beech Hill List
Beginning at 8:45 a.m., I hiked all trails.
1. Hairy woodpecker (voice)
2. Red-eyed vireo (voice)
3. Black-capped chickadee
4. Eastern towhee (voice)
5. Common yellowthroat
6. Black-billed cuckoo (voice)
7. White-throated sparrow
8. Ruffed grouse (flushed, voice)
9. Eastern phoebe
10. Field sparrow
11. Gray catbird
12. American crow
13. Cedar waxwing
14. Song sparrow
15. Mourning dove
16. Savannah sparrow
17. Blue jay
18. American goldfinch
19. White-breasted nuthatch (voice)
20. Blue-headed vireo
21. Tufted titmouse
22. Northern parula
23. Chestnut-sided warbler
 Greater yellowlegs (Weskeag Marsh). Weskeag Marsh List
Arrived at 2:15 p.m., walked the pannes.
24. Northern shoveler
25. Herring gull
26. Snowy egret
27. Red-tailed hawk
28. Great egret
29. Merlin
30. Least sandpiper
31. Bobolink
32. Greater yellowlegs
33. Lesser yellowlegs
34. Great blue heron
35. Double-crested cormorant
Elsewhere
36. House sparrow
 Weskeag Marsh.
Tags: American crow, American goldfinch, black-billed cuckoo, black-capped chickadee, blue jay, blue-headed vireo, bobolink, Cedar waxwing, chestnut-sided warbler, common yellowthroat, double-crested cormorant, eastern phoebe, eastern towhee, field sparrow, gray catbird, great blue heron, great egret, greater yellowlegs, hairy woodpecker, herring gull, house sparrow, least sandpiper, lesser yellowlegs, merlin, mourning dove, northern parula, northern shoveler, red-eyed vireo, red-tailed hawk, ruffed grouse, savannah sparrow, snowy egret, song sparrow, tufted titmouse, white-breasted nuthatch, white-throated sparrow
Posted in Lists, Observations | No Comments »
Sunday, April 4th, 2010
 The hills (from Beech Hill). This morning, when swimming up out of my dream about my new dog, something about the timbre of the cardinal’s voice out the back window tipped me off to the awesomeness of the day to come. Sun, check. Breeze, calm. Smell of the air, fresh. Aside from the cardinal, I counted ten species calling pretty much simultaneously: eastern phoebe, song sparrow, tufted titmouse, downy woodpecker, American robin, house finch, goldfinch, mourning dove, house sparrow, crow.
 Mourning dove. The cardinal, phoebe, and mourning dove were not shy. The locally dominant individual of each species gave forth from conspicuous perches very near where the dog and I walked. Got a photo of the dove.
On our Beech Hill walk at late morning, I overdressed. Right away, in fact, I ended up wearing both my sweatshirt and loose, long-sleeved T-shirt tied around my waist. The temperature must’ve been about 72 degrees (F). Even the breeze on the summit felt warm. I heard the call of a pileated woodpecker, a phoebe, a titmouse, a robin, chickadees. I saw a female harrier soaring low over the bronze-grassed hill. Song sparrows sun from conspicuous places, and I couldn’t help but wonder when the first savannah sparrow would arrive. (Savannahs own the grassy part of Beech Hill.) No swallows today, nor vultures, nor broad-wings. I did spy a distant hawk, but I couldn’t tell if it was a redtail or perhaps even the marsh hawk I’d seen rising to continue its spring migration.
 Great egret, Weskeag Marsh. Back home, as soon as I got out of the pickup, I spotted another hawk—again, I couldn’t tell if it was a red-tailed or broad-winged or harrier or what. All I could tell for sure is that about a half dozen crows herded it noisily away to the south.
In early afternoon, my friends Kristen and Paul showed up to check out my new iPad. But more fun was our quick trip to Weskeag Marsh on Buttermilk Lane. On the way, I chuckled internally at a few ring-billed gulls perched strategically on a high roof across the road from McDonald’s. Readily evident at the marsh were black ducks and killdeers and gulls and crows. Behind us sang a red-winged blackbird. Facing a suddenly stout (but warm) south wind, we saw in the farthest pond little ducks, green-winged teals no doubt. I happened to spot a solitary adult bald eagle soaring up over the conifers on the far side. But leave it to eagle-eyed Kristen to ID two notable species: blue-winged teal (a pair) and great egret (an individual). Both were first-of-year sightings for me.
 Buoy. I rode my bike again, saw rock pigeons and Canada geese—somewhat fewer—at Aldermere farm. (Aside: I’m up to 160 miles already this year.) Then dog and I headed for the breakwater, spotting a pair of buffleheads in Clam Cove along the way.
It was approaching 6 p.m. I wore sandals and a T-shirt and jeans: the perfect dress. The wind had died down, and the water’s surface on bay side of the breakwater spread calm and smooth and reflective. A slightly choppier surface on the harbor side had nonetheless attracted a few long-tailed ducks, which I heard chatting and gossiping as they took wing on their evening flight back out to sea. But the action was on the island side: loons (several, a couple in breeding plumage), eiders, red-breasted mergansers. Herring gulls and black-backed gulls wheeled and sailed and cried. I could hardly believe the calm in that direction.
Nearing the shore again, a breeze kicked up, roughening the surface again. Cardinals and house finches and robins sang to the waning day.
 Gull. Today’s List
Northern cardinal
Song sparrow
Tufted titmouse
American robin
House finch
Mourning dove
Downy woodpecker
House sparrow
American crow
Eastern phoebe
American goldfinch
Herring gull
Pileated woodpecker
Black-capped chickadee
Northern harrier
Ring-billed gull
Black duck
Red-winged blackbird
Killdeer
Green-winged teal
Bald eagle
Blue-winged teal
Great egret
Rock pigeons
Canada goose
Bufflehead
Common eider
Red-breasted merganser
Common loon
Long-tailed duck
Great black-backed gull
 Calm sea.
Tags: American goldfinch, American robin, bald eagle, black duck, black-capped chickadee, blue-winged teal, bufflehead, Canada goose, common eider, common loon, downy woodpecker, eastern phoebe, great black-backed gull, great egret, green-winged teal, herring gull, house finch, house sparrow, killdeer, long-tailed duck, mourning dove, northern cardinal, northern harrier, pileated woodpecker, red-breasted merganser, red-winged blackbird, ring-billed gull, rock pigeons, song sparrow, titmouse, tufted titmouse
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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