I returned to the island on Thursday, the 17th, for my first trip since April.
No surprises and, un-surprisingly, we were greeted by hoards of voracious mosquitoes, as bad I've ever seen them. It certainly makes me wish for my 1st nineteen or twenty years when there literally was not a single mosquito on the island. Not ever!
Anyway, the seabird colony is empty, save for one rather late PUFFIN nest that's still receiving food. It's not the latest that I've seen but it's pushing the record.
There are daily flights of DOUBLE CREASTED CORMORANTS, mostly headed down the coast, with just a few travelling around like local commuters and occasionally spending some time foraging around the island.
COMMON EIDERS aren't very plentiful: just a handful here and there but I'd expect a bit of an increase as winter residents settle in for the season. No HARLIQUINS around, yet.
Gulls are still very numerous: GREAT BLACK BACKED & HERRING GULLS, the majority of them youngsters, comprise the population, save for a rare ICELAND GULL or two in their midst. Before long those numbers will tumble and the species list will increase as most of the big gulls migrate. Iceland Gulls will increase a bit, joined by occasional GLAUCOUS GULLS. KITTIWAKES will be the most numerous gull, with just infrequent BONIPART'S GULLS.
Thursday and Friday saw a couple HARRIERS and Saturday produced at least 3 Harriers and at least 5 MERLINS. The twenty or so FLICKERS which arrived Friday/Saturday were not impressed and spent most of their time hunkered down and clinging to whatever served as cover.
Small songbirds are pretty mundane right now with common sparrows and finches making up the bulk. The 2 outliers were a TREE SWALLOW that hawked mosquitoes all of Friday and a GREY CATBIRD that came to suet.
Saturday I took a jaunt around the island and kicked up a half dozen RUDDY TURNSTONES; a handful of probable SEMIPLAMATED SANDPIPERS; 1 SPOTTED SANDPIPER; 1 ROBIN; 1 RED BREASTED NUTHATCH; 1 WILSON'S WARBLER; 2 YELLOW WARBLERS; a couple hundred mixed SAVANNAH & SONG SPARROWS; a dozen or so SWAMP SPARROWS and around 15 WHITE THROATED SPARROWS. Around the house I spotted a GREY CATBIRD, 2 young COWBIRDS and a HERMIT THRUSH.
ASTER is still blooming quite a lot and in one stand I caught a brief glance of a male RUBY THROATED HUMMINGBIRD. However, given the lateness of the season, I'm inclined to think the gender of my "male" Hummer is suspect and likely a trick of the lighting.
Today, Sunday the 20th, the Flickers and Sparrows still dominate and may have increased somewhat. Finches are definitely more evident with GOLDFINCHES & PURPLE FINCHES around the house numbering around 2 dozen each.
1 JUNCO & 2 CHIPPING SPARROWS have also turned up around the house today.
A few raptors have moved this afternoon with a series of approximately 8 Harriers popping in for a brief hunt and then continuing on their migration.
Around noon, a SHARP SHINNED HAWK dined al fresco on our patio with a White Throated Sparrow as the reluctant guest of honor. It was an interesting view of predator/prey dynamics. With feathers from their departed kin raining down among them, numerous sparrows and finches foraged for seed on the patio as close as 2 feet from the temporarily unthreatening hawk.
As the afternoon waned, the string of Harriers was joined by several MERLINS who also paused to hunt and harass each other.
While the Flickers, being equal in size, were relatively safe from the Merlins, they were still very much upset by the raptors and tried to keep their distance. They were quite vocal in their displeasure.
The Aster is feeding a selection of butterflies
Yesterday's outing produced several dozen MONARCHS, with my best estimate being upwards of 40 on the island at one point and likely double that passing through for the whole day. Several roosted on the north wall of our house overnight.
I did see one tagged female but it departed out over the water without allowing picture of the tag.
Seals are still quite abundant. The current full tides and some heavy surf on their main haul-out sent upwards of 300 GREY SEALS to Gull Rock. Likely there were more on the back side of the rock, out of sight from MSI.
There were lots of SULPHURS; a few WHITES; a few MOURNING CLOAKS; a couple PAINTED LADYS; 1 ANGLEWING (likely a COMMA); at least 3 MARITIME SWALLOWTAILS (very rare out here); and the highlight was a COMMON BUCKEYE, which is only my 2nd sighting anywhere, other than 6 individuals seen here on September 28th, 2012.
Large DRAGONFLIES are evident, hopefully chowing down on our surplus of mosquitoes. I've no idea of the particular species. They are big and some are mainly blue, while others are mainly green. (Bet there are a couple people rolling their eyes over those descriptions!)
Incidentally: the other lightkeepers report seeing occasional BATS this summer. It's unknown whether they were resident or travelling but, either way, any sightings are welcome news.
We had a small but stable population of LITTLE BROWN BATS until White Nose came along.
I've been hoping that if we can't have Little Browns, maybe an unaffected species will fill the void.
-- No surprises and, un-surprisingly, we were greeted by hoards of voracious mosquitoes, as bad I've ever seen them. It certainly makes me wish for my 1st nineteen or twenty years when there literally was not a single mosquito on the island. Not ever!
Anyway, the seabird colony is empty, save for one rather late PUFFIN nest that's still receiving food. It's not the latest that I've seen but it's pushing the record.
There are daily flights of DOUBLE CREASTED CORMORANTS, mostly headed down the coast, with just a few travelling around like local commuters and occasionally spending some time foraging around the island.
COMMON EIDERS aren't very plentiful: just a handful here and there but I'd expect a bit of an increase as winter residents settle in for the season. No HARLIQUINS around, yet.
Gulls are still very numerous: GREAT BLACK BACKED & HERRING GULLS, the majority of them youngsters, comprise the population, save for a rare ICELAND GULL or two in their midst. Before long those numbers will tumble and the species list will increase as most of the big gulls migrate. Iceland Gulls will increase a bit, joined by occasional GLAUCOUS GULLS. KITTIWAKES will be the most numerous gull, with just infrequent BONIPART'S GULLS.
Thursday and Friday saw a couple HARRIERS and Saturday produced at least 3 Harriers and at least 5 MERLINS. The twenty or so FLICKERS which arrived Friday/Saturday were not impressed and spent most of their time hunkered down and clinging to whatever served as cover.
Small songbirds are pretty mundane right now with common sparrows and finches making up the bulk. The 2 outliers were a TREE SWALLOW that hawked mosquitoes all of Friday and a GREY CATBIRD that came to suet.
Saturday I took a jaunt around the island and kicked up a half dozen RUDDY TURNSTONES; a handful of probable SEMIPLAMATED SANDPIPERS; 1 SPOTTED SANDPIPER; 1 ROBIN; 1 RED BREASTED NUTHATCH; 1 WILSON'S WARBLER; 2 YELLOW WARBLERS; a couple hundred mixed SAVANNAH & SONG SPARROWS; a dozen or so SWAMP SPARROWS and around 15 WHITE THROATED SPARROWS. Around the house I spotted a GREY CATBIRD, 2 young COWBIRDS and a HERMIT THRUSH.
ASTER is still blooming quite a lot and in one stand I caught a brief glance of a male RUBY THROATED HUMMINGBIRD. However, given the lateness of the season, I'm inclined to think the gender of my "male" Hummer is suspect and likely a trick of the lighting.
Today, Sunday the 20th, the Flickers and Sparrows still dominate and may have increased somewhat. Finches are definitely more evident with GOLDFINCHES & PURPLE FINCHES around the house numbering around 2 dozen each.
1 JUNCO & 2 CHIPPING SPARROWS have also turned up around the house today.
A few raptors have moved this afternoon with a series of approximately 8 Harriers popping in for a brief hunt and then continuing on their migration.
Around noon, a SHARP SHINNED HAWK dined al fresco on our patio with a White Throated Sparrow as the reluctant guest of honor. It was an interesting view of predator/prey dynamics. With feathers from their departed kin raining down among them, numerous sparrows and finches foraged for seed on the patio as close as 2 feet from the temporarily unthreatening hawk.
As the afternoon waned, the string of Harriers was joined by several MERLINS who also paused to hunt and harass each other.
While the Flickers, being equal in size, were relatively safe from the Merlins, they were still very much upset by the raptors and tried to keep their distance. They were quite vocal in their displeasure.
The Aster is feeding a selection of butterflies
Yesterday's outing produced several dozen MONARCHS, with my best estimate being upwards of 40 on the island at one point and likely double that passing through for the whole day. Several roosted on the north wall of our house overnight.
I did see one tagged female but it departed out over the water without allowing picture of the tag.
Seals are still quite abundant. The current full tides and some heavy surf on their main haul-out sent upwards of 300 GREY SEALS to Gull Rock. Likely there were more on the back side of the rock, out of sight from MSI.
There were lots of SULPHURS; a few WHITES; a few MOURNING CLOAKS; a couple PAINTED LADYS; 1 ANGLEWING (likely a COMMA); at least 3 MARITIME SWALLOWTAILS (very rare out here); and the highlight was a COMMON BUCKEYE, which is only my 2nd sighting anywhere, other than 6 individuals seen here on September 28th, 2012.
Large DRAGONFLIES are evident, hopefully chowing down on our surplus of mosquitoes. I've no idea of the particular species. They are big and some are mainly blue, while others are mainly green. (Bet there are a couple people rolling their eyes over those descriptions!)
Incidentally: the other lightkeepers report seeing occasional BATS this summer. It's unknown whether they were resident or travelling but, either way, any sightings are welcome news.
We had a small but stable population of LITTLE BROWN BATS until White Nose came along.
I've been hoping that if we can't have Little Browns, maybe an unaffected species will fill the void.
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