[Maine-birds] Phoebe, Tree Swallows, Kestrel and Osprey - Benton

I have observed at least 3 kestrel going in and out of the eaves of the
barn at opposite corners for the last 4 days.  The osprey nest close to
the west side Rt 100 near the Benton/Winslow town line was occupied last
week.  I forget which day I first saw an osprey by the nest.  I saw two
osprey there yesterday.

The three swallows arrived yesterday and are out jetting around there
today.  I have seen only 3 or 4 so far.  I have 15 boxes. Last year only
half the boxes were occupied.  In the past, the max numbers were
probably 20 pairs.  The earliest arrival in the past 16 years was April
9 in 2009 and 2014.  The latest arrival was April 25, 2011.  The numbers
are dropping.   I hope the tree swallow count will go up.

I am not sure what happened to the blue bird pair fighting with a
English/house sparrow pair for one box close to the house.  The sparrows
won.

The phoebe has been around for the last week perching on the usual tree
by the barn and darting off and back catching bugs close to the sunny
side of the barn.

The barn swallows arrive in early May.  Fingers crossed their numbers
will be good.  Their numbers have been dropping the last few years.  I
remove a few barn windows for the barn swallows. They have favorites
places to nest.  A couple pair like to next it the carriage house,
others in the pole barn, most in the big hay barn.  A few years back
some wanted to next in the garage.  I try to discourage that by keeping
the garage doors closed.  In the past, they were all over the place. 
Now there maybe only 6 to 8 pairs.

The red wing black bird count is down significantly.  I do not see many
around in the grass and marshy areas by the river or in the drainage
areas in the fields.  The water is still high from the recent rain and
snow.  Time will tell, but in the past there would be 50 to 100 nesting
in the wet areas.

Allan

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