I left MSI early Friday afternoon, delayed for two days by adverse weather for flying. That weather system was preceded by the exodus of most warblers, sparrows & thrushes which had been hanging about. Through much of this past week there were several, to many, sighting of REDSTART; OVENBIRD; NORTHERN PARULA; COMMON YELLOWTHROAT; NASHVILLE, BLACKBURIAN, BLACKPOLL, BLACK & WHITE, CHESTNUT SIDED, MAGNOLIA, BAY BREASTED, YELLOW, CANADA, WILSON'S, YELLOW RUMPED & BLACK THROATED BLUE WARBLERS. By Friday, the Maggies were still common but reduced, with scattered representatives of most other common species. Mid-week there was a purported male MOURNING WARBLER seen fleetingly by one visiting birder. However, there were previous and later sightings of Nashville Warbler(s) at that same spot so it's going down as a maybe for me. VEERY, HERMIT THRUSH & SWAINSON'S THRUSH dropped to very scarce after a plentiful start to the week. A single ROBIN dropped by for a few days to partake of our masses of earthworms. CATBIRDS are exceptionally numerous this year. We host quite a few every year, but usually more spread throughout the migration. This year you can't step out of the house without encountering several. A few are somewhat shy but many are really human-tolerant and have no problem with people within 5-10 feet. They seem to be mostly bothered when our presence affects their insect feeding or you try to walk over them. Since foods like citrus, grapes and grape jelly don't mind our presence, the Catbirds ignore us, too. Well, perhaps not "ignore" but they certainly "watchfully tolerate" us in very close proximity. I saw lots of squabbles over food but little of what I'd characterize as territorial defence. I don't believe there are, or will be, any attempted nestings, in spite of the high current population. The occasional early week flycatchers, mainly LEAST & YELLOW BELLIED, have largely moved on, leaving the hunt to an apparent lone BARN SWALLOW. Other swallows passed through, seldom stopping for more than a brief period. ROUGH WINGED, TREE & BANK SWALLOWS were noted, as well as a few Barn Swallows. However, this particular bird seems to be a loner that has, at least temporarily, been able to glean enough aerial food to survive. Sparrows tapered off until there were mainly just SAVANNAH SPARROWS on easy view. Many of those are vigorously defending territory and presumably 1st nests. One wouldn't call them overly abundant, but NELSON'S SPARROWS have been seen more in the last couple weeks than any other year that I can remember. There was a FIELD SPARROW that challenged identification as it closely resembled what one would expect in the fall, not the spring. The GANNETS have held at around 6 although I did see a handful of apparent visitors do fly-bys, including a couple of separate, probable 1st year sub-adults. One location in particular (also used last year) has been quite active. The nest is a good size and still building (a season long process). Copulation was frequent there through late week. Two or three Gannets are attending the 2nd, newest site but very little nest building or courtship behaviour has been noted. DOUBLE CREASTED CORMORANTS appear daily in very irregular numbers. Those stopping near the island tend to be singletons or perhaps a handful, while modest flocks pass by. EAGLES continue irregularly but frequent, mainly as quick over-flights of the island with hunting/perching on adjacent Gull Rock. PEREGRINES are pretty much a daily feature, limited mainly by periods of fog and poor visibility. They appear to be commuting rather than over-nighting. MERLINS & HARRIERS are getting to be quite infrequent now. EIDERS are well into their nesting although there are new nests still appearing. There are also a lot of males still around the island. A single CANADA GOOSE was seen and heard over several days around western sections of the outer shore. Hopefully it will vacate soon. They tend to draw the ire of the Terns and cause unneeded stress. SPOTTED SANDPIPERS are showing territorial/nesting behaviour. I didn't really get a good estimate of apparent numbers this year but my impression is that they are normal. That would translate into a dozen or so nests. Late migrant shorebirds the past week included several unidentified sandpipers (suspected Semipalmated), one or more GREATER YELLOWLEGS and a brightly dressed BLACK BELLIED PLOVER that foraged on the front lawn during the mid-week rain. The ALCIDS continue with their nesting. The numbers attending on the island oscillate in step with daily, multi-day and seasonal cycles, as well as variable factors such as weather and predator threats. I've seen two BLACK GUILLIMOTS ashore a couple times but they appear to be simply loafing, rather than engaged in any nesting activity. The Terns are getting aggressive as they get deeper into their incubation and very near hatching. Misses are closer and more frequent now and I was hit for the 1st couple times on Thursday. Although not terribly unusual, an ARCTIC TERN clutch of 3 eggs was found. The fact that most nests that I've seen contain the usual 2 eggs, rather than a single, bespeak a potentially good season. COMMON TERNS appear to me to be up from previous recent years ...... not a massive increase but an good increase nonetheless. At least one BLACK TERN continues to spend time in the colony, making unsuccessful overtures to any Arctic Tern in it's vicinity. I wonder if the Black Tern can distinguish gender in the other species? LAUGHING GULLS continue to make random over-flights in their typical annual pattern. Any nesting attempts should happen fairly soon. They are a relatively late nester, compared with our other gulls and terns. The 2 RAVENS make frequent but irregular visits, dining on eggs and scavenging, as well as taking any vulnerable Puffin or other prey that offers an opportunity. GRAY SEALS have long ago pupped and those youngsters are as big as most adult HARBOUR SEALS now. The Harbours, however, are just beginning to give birth. I found one unaccompanied pup Thursday. It looked to be no more than 2-4 days old and it was very emaciated. It's too young to even attempt feeding itself so I suspect that it may succumb. |
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