This morning, Brad Moser and I took a walk on the Saco River trail by the Saco Yacht Club/Water Treatment Plant. The frosty morning did not faze the birds whatsoever. We had two Carolina Wrens side-by-side, one Winter Wren, and a cold-looking Sharp-shinned Hawk perched close to the trail soon upon arriving. Then we located two Nashville Warblers, an Orange-crowned Warbler, two Yellow-rumpeds, a Palm Warbler (western race palmarum), and a Ruby-crowned Kinglet. All were in a loose flock, low in the shrubs by the water's edge across from the Water Treatment Plant.
The more expected denizens were abundant as well: active flocks of American Tree, Song, and White-throated Sparrows, Slate-colored Juncos, Cedar Waxwings, American Goldfinches, three Northern Mockingbirds, two Eastern Bluebirds, Hairy and Downy Woodpeckers, Northern Cardinals, chickadees, titmice, nuthatches, mourning doves, etc. The water was quite empty aside from a flock of Herring & Ring-billed Gulls, Canada Geese, and Mallards.
I returned to the spot in the early afternoon once more to see if I could re-locate the warbler flock. No luck with that, but I did get more excellent looks at the Winter Wren, and I re-located the Nashville Warblers, which were feeding in the grass on the slope just above the public parking lot. The two individuals sometimes came near one another (1-3 feet apart) as they were gleaning the grass. The two times I observed this happen, it led to a territorial tussle in which one bird chased the other away until they were a good distance apart. One of the individuals boldly approached the parking lot so close to where I stood that I could easily see the russet crown-splotches on its gray head. Very cool. Though I wonder what the birds were eating... they were poking around in the grass quite a bit, but when I bent down to look at the blades they gleaned, I could see no sign of gnats or minute seeds. I can only assume that they must be quite famished. Wish I knew more about the dietary habits of passerine stragglers.
Cheers,
Lena
-- 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