Hello All,
Breeding Bird Atlases have been my greatest joy in birding. Being in withdrawal over the last few years it is great to come across some interesting observations in my recent travels.
I have always enjoyed distraction displays. In my experience these are most often by birds that nest near or on the ground. Common Yellowthroats, Song Sparrows, Chestnut-sided Warblers have been most memorable. I have had many Common Yellowthroats drop dead at my feet and then, when I ignored them, fly back up to a perch in front of me and reprise the performance another time.
The Eastern Phoebes have a second brood going on a shed in my yard. As I approached the area to pick some blueberries yesterday a phoebe flew straight at me from some 50 feet away, banking side to side, much in the way that a snipe takes off when startled. I had never seen that type of flight from a phoebe. It veered off before collision, landed on a stub about 15 feet away and did its song a couple of times. Distraction display, phoebe-style?
Doing a river survey at the Durham Boat Launch thought I heard a Scarlet Tanager and then followed a bird to a nest where a bright red male was feeding either its mate or a very well-developed juvenile.
At my feet was a broken oak branch about two feet long with a classic Red-eyed Vireo nest suspended beneath a V of its smaller twigs. This must have been the result of damage from one of the recent strong storms or a tree collapse into the river due to June flooding.
I believe there is still a juvie Bald Eagle on a nest in Auburn. Young Osprey strengthening their wings here and there and observed a possible family group flying today along route 95 in Falmouth.
In Auburn an Eastern Kingbird still territorial chasing a Yellow Warbler across the river. I have been observing another kingbird nest overhanging the Royal River from my survey site in Yarmouth. Northern Rough-winged Swallows still hanging out there near nest sites in the tile drains of the bridge abutments. First efforts may have been washed out by June rains.
Dan Nickerson
Freeport ME 04032
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Dan's Natural History Blog:
Ravenwatcher
"An Eye on the Natural World"
http://ravenwatcher.blogspot.com
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