There has been a number of reports on fledged birds. I would like to add a buffy colored young Sandhill crane I observed Sunday morning at Messalonskee Marsh. About a third the size of its parents, the bird was really cute. It ran one time with stubby wings extended. The parents were aggressively dive-bombed by about six red-winged blackbirds. Each adult tried spearing the harassing blackbirds. The encounter ended up as a split decision.
I was at the marsh from 8:30 to 10:00 AM. It was calm and clear and the temps were in the low 60's. The cranes were visible from the parking lot next to Hammond Lumber and from the pulloff at the railroad crossing (V. rail, snipe and Am bittern were heard from there). The black terns, pied-billed grebe and purple martin were observed from the boat launch.
I heard a possible grasshopper sparrow in the field on the north side of the railroad crossing. The voice was on the mark but I could not get glasses on it. It only sang briefly. There was a savannah sparrow in the same area.
Oddly, there were no alder or willow flycatchers vocalizing. Equally odd was a lack of the ubiquitus Canada geese. The low number of dabbling ducks may have been due to taller vegetation and vegetation in some of the pools.
Other birds of interest:
34 Yellow warblers (Singing; scattered all along the marsh starting before the information center to the other end of the marsh
13 Common yellowthroats Singing
19 Warbling vireos Same as yellow warblers; they seemed to quiet down a bit after 9:30 am
2 Virginia rails
3 Pied-billed grebes
1 Am bittern
1 Green heron -First for me at this marsh
2 Gr blue herons
2 Wilson's snipe
1 Common loon
1 Canada goose I do not know where they were hiding out. I managed to hear one bird five minutes before leaving
1 Mallard
1 Purple martin
1 Grasshopper sparrow - Heard singing but could not get glasses on the bird before it quieted down. The song renditions were typical grasshopper songs. There was a savannah sparrow nearby as a reference bird
50+ Tree swallows - Conservative
12 Barn swallows
10-12 Black terns hunting with a fishing boat nearby
1 Wood duck
1 Green-winged teal
3 Sandhill cranes
1 Northern harrier
14 Swamp sparrows
1 Indigo bunting
1 Rose-breasted grosbeak
11 Red-eved vireos
2 European starlings
3 Eastern kingbirds Different territories
4 Least flycatchers Different territories
1 Baltimore oriole Calling
2 Am robins
5 Am goldfinch
53 Red-winged blackbirds
4 Common grackles
2 Veerys
2 Mourning doves
3 Catbirds
1 Savannah sparrow
1 Chipping sparrow
5 Song sparrows
1 Common raven
6 American crows
17 people on bicycles - clumped distribution
1 Very large snapping turtle
Norman Famous, Wetlands and Wildlife Ecologist
513 Eight Rod Road
Augusta, ME 04330
(207) 623 6072
Maine birds mailing list
maine-birds@googlegroups.com
http://groups.google.com/group/maine-birds
https://sites.google.com/site/birding207
0 comments:
Post a Comment