The weather since my arrival here a couple days ago hasn't been very conducive to rambling about, not for man nor beast.
A mini-tour of the island today produced little, other than the expected winter core species.
One SONG SPARROW was noted. I expect that there might be 2 or 3 more somewhere on the island but they are very sulky this time of year, especially when weather is less than ideal.
As I've mentioned other times, Song Sparrows are the only small land birds which attempt to over-winter, which is slightly odd considering that they aren't summer residents. By contrast, breeding Savannah Sparrows never try to stay the winter.
Most winters, none of the Songs survive. In rare years, a couple may make it through to spring.
Also of note: a PEREGRINE FALCON, apparently stalking PURPLE SANDPIPERS, was around for a couple hours until it bucked the 30 knot wind towards the Cutler towers.
Twice I watched the falcon in low hover over the intertidal zone, presumably trying to get a sandpiper. Very unusual behaviour for a Perey but I have seen it before from coastal-wintering falcons when they were hunting shore-bound Purple Sandpipers (a staple food).
The peeps were, for their part, keeping well dispersed. I saw several singles in seldom frequented locations, including one in our garden, another along the lawn and yet another under our solar panels.
Two RAVENS are around again this winter and various EAGLES are seen daily.
Flying in on Wednesday, I saw 1 Eagle on North Rock and two more on Gull Rock. Any of the raptors on MSI were likely pushed off by 2 earlier helicopter flights.
One apparent 4th year Eagle was perched near the house for a time yesterday and a 1st or 2nd year bird was seen around the island today (Friday).
A bit more activity on the water with over 50 HARLEQUIN DUCKS seen today, as well as 6 COMMON LOONS; 4 RED BREASTED MERGANSERS; 4 LONG TAILED DUCKS; 6 COMMON EIDERS; 100+ RAZORBILLS; 6 HERRING GULLS; 2 GREAT BLACK BACKED GULLS; 1 ICELAND GULL & 12 BLACK LEGGED KITTIWAKES.
1 HARBOUR SEAL & 4 GRAY SEALS were also enjoying (?) our waters.
-- A mini-tour of the island today produced little, other than the expected winter core species.
One SONG SPARROW was noted. I expect that there might be 2 or 3 more somewhere on the island but they are very sulky this time of year, especially when weather is less than ideal.
As I've mentioned other times, Song Sparrows are the only small land birds which attempt to over-winter, which is slightly odd considering that they aren't summer residents. By contrast, breeding Savannah Sparrows never try to stay the winter.
Most winters, none of the Songs survive. In rare years, a couple may make it through to spring.
Also of note: a PEREGRINE FALCON, apparently stalking PURPLE SANDPIPERS, was around for a couple hours until it bucked the 30 knot wind towards the Cutler towers.
Twice I watched the falcon in low hover over the intertidal zone, presumably trying to get a sandpiper. Very unusual behaviour for a Perey but I have seen it before from coastal-wintering falcons when they were hunting shore-bound Purple Sandpipers (a staple food).
The peeps were, for their part, keeping well dispersed. I saw several singles in seldom frequented locations, including one in our garden, another along the lawn and yet another under our solar panels.
Two RAVENS are around again this winter and various EAGLES are seen daily.
Flying in on Wednesday, I saw 1 Eagle on North Rock and two more on Gull Rock. Any of the raptors on MSI were likely pushed off by 2 earlier helicopter flights.
One apparent 4th year Eagle was perched near the house for a time yesterday and a 1st or 2nd year bird was seen around the island today (Friday).
A bit more activity on the water with over 50 HARLEQUIN DUCKS seen today, as well as 6 COMMON LOONS; 4 RED BREASTED MERGANSERS; 4 LONG TAILED DUCKS; 6 COMMON EIDERS; 100+ RAZORBILLS; 6 HERRING GULLS; 2 GREAT BLACK BACKED GULLS; 1 ICELAND GULL & 12 BLACK LEGGED KITTIWAKES.
1 HARBOUR SEAL & 4 GRAY SEALS were also enjoying (?) our waters.
Maine birds mailing list
maine-birds@googlegroups.com
http://groups.google.com/group/maine-birds
https://sites.google.com/site/birding207
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Maine birds" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to maine-birds+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
0 comments:
Post a Comment