the modest birder (15) May-August 2011

This spring was chiefly notable for confirming that several regular breeders had in fact abandoned our woods. The biggest loss, as far as I'm concerned is that of the Wood thrushes. When we moved here in early 1999, they foraged all around the house and they continued to do so when I built the walled terraces during the next years. Sometimes several would be inspecting the cracks between the uneven field stones or drink from the rain filled bird baths. They nested in the neglected brush near the creek and in some years there were two pairs. At least one pair returned even after the roadwork of 2006-7 which included the installation of a flow bed for the new storm drains above the creek. We heard the last "evensong" in 2009. I don't know why they left, for approaching 80, I have allowed the brush along the creek on both sides of our slope to increase and become more impenetrable. Cardinals and Catbirds appear to like that habitat. Maybe the much increased morning rush hour traffic on the new road with its 11 school buses creeping up the hill is too much of a disturbance. Or perhaps the new street light that was installed in 2008 when the road was finished is the reason, though it doesn't seem to affect other breeders. The song of the Cardinals, even the mumbled strophes of the Catbirds are of course welcome, but I truly miss the evocative and lilting ee-oh-lay that filled the silence at dusk. I sometimes think it was this song, when all the others, even the Carolina Wren had packed it in, that revealed the quiet of the coming night. It used to recall that Vivaldi violin concerto in which the beauty of sound is enhanced by an off-stage violin echoing the soloist. [I'm happy to note that the Woodthrushes returned in May 2012].

It appears that some of the Baltimore Orioles also have moved on. In previous years there were as many as 5 at once in the spring and we had at least two nesting pairs as two males sang some hundred yards apart in the upper stories and three could be seen chasing each other. This year there was only one pair and that bred down the creek across the road and only foraged here. Phoebes also gave up breeding in our woods. A pair nested each year under the home made wooden bridge over the creek that a previous owned had built next to the dam that created a waterfall in spring and autumn. The passage of the tail end of one hurricane took away two of the boards of the deck, spring floods finished the destruction and now only one of the cross beams remains. Our house has lots of eves and some early Aprils a Phoebe hawks from the honeysuckle that climbs up a trellis on the side of the porch steps, but in May and June there are no Phoebes around. [Some Poebes must have set up shop close by - also in 2012 - for both a male and a female come by regularly, one of them often perches on the bench in front of the picture window].

As hope springs eternal and I was actually excited when I saw a Robin sized brown bird on a snag by the creek that, as it turned around appeared to be a Wood thrush. Alas, it flew on and was neither seen nor heard again. But in 2010 the lacuna left by the Wood thrush was filled by a pair of Rose-breasted Grosbeaks, good looking birds that nested above the creek across the road but frequently came to forage in our trees. This spring I noticed them on April 24. The next day, as I was fiddling in the garden, the male was singing near Rte 113. As it came down our road, stopping to sing in the crab apple, it passed close to me. It sang in a dogwood, flew across the road and that was the last I saw of them. Welcome though they were, their singing - sometimes described as "robin like, without gurgling notes" - doesn't make up for that of the Thrush.

Ever since the road was moved the 27 acres across the road have lain fallow, even the For Sale signs have been taken down. The first summer it was mowed twice but now it has become a brushy jungle with some young trees sticking out. Only some 20ft along our road and 113 is being kept clear "for appearances sake." This has attracted Field and Song Sparrows and a bright White-throated Sparrow sang there well into the month of May before moving to the mountains. The new growth may also have attracted an Orchard Oriole of which I had only seen one in our first spring here. Every morning for about eight days in early June a dark robin sized bird appeared to gorge itself on the nests of the tent caterpillars in the crab apple. I first saw it as I was preparing a bed for green beans. At that time the sun was directly behind the tree, hence the uniform darkness of the bird. I noticed the insectivore's bill type and a slightly notched tail. The next day it was back and thus I made a point of sitting in my garden chair against the garage before its arrival at about 8.30. It flew in directly from the old trees above the creek that bordered the new second growth bushes; when it flew back it raked the top of the young black cherries and landed out of sight in the middle story above the creek. It fed for about twenty minutes flitting from nest to nest on the inch long caterpillars. It did not appear when I had placed my chair in the patch along the road so that I would have the sun at my back (perhaps because the lined up cars junked their horns at me), thus I never got a good view of the bird's colors. Unfortunately it did not come on cloudy days and it wasn't until June 9 that I could identify it as I was clipping the side of a juniper that sort of hid me while giving me a 90 degree angle to the sun.

In my previous blog I remarked on the smaller number of winter residents and it looked like this year's spring migrants were also fewer, in particular the warblers. Usually they arrive when the oaks begin to bloom to feed on the insects attracted by the flowers. In some springs there were more than 10 of a morning and in some springs there might be several species. Among these the Yellow-rumped Warblers - nearly all of them males in splendid breeding plumage - dominated. These year there were only 3 other species: a Prairie and an unidentified one on May 2 and on May 19 a Tennessee. On April 19 there were 5 Yellow Rumps that I followed through the upper stories as they travelled down the creek from South to North, on other days there was mostly only one, usually a male. But on May 14 there was what probably was a pair and they hang around for two days, the male singing one time for about two minutes. Other note worthy migrants were a Peregrine Falcon circling over the farm fields beyond the trees, a Yellow-throated Vireo gleaning for a while in the middle story of the hickories, and the annual Scarlet Tanager on May 2. The real treat was the appearance on April 12 of two male Purple Finches in brilliantly fresh breeding plumage, a first in my birding experience; usually I see them on migration or as winter residents in Delaware. Another? male was on the feeders on the twentieth.

The second "first" was the courting of "our" flickers on several occasions, the longest on April 16. Clinging to the bark of the Norway spruce, their bodies about 3 inches apart, their neck stretched up, they moved the shoulders in half rotation towards each other, but their heads not touching while uttering their loud rolling calls; on the morning of the 24th I saw them copulating on a hickory branch, after which the male flew off and the female began to forage on the ground.

The arrival of our summer residents proceeded as usual except that the first Towhee, a male, surprised me on March 23. On the 30th there was a female Bluebird but she moved on. On the other hand, by April 9 I was sure of the pairing off of nine species, including the Redtails that nest on the adjacent farm in a copse visible from Rte 113. The Catbirds didn't arrive until April 26, a male Hummingbird on May 2 (the female on May 16); the Baltimore Orioles and Great Crested Flycatchers completed "our" residents on May 4, a pair of Bluebirds having moved on after lingering for an afternoon.

For several summers I have kept notes on the singing of our birds spurred on by the fact that birds we had found regularly on our New Jersey trips in May had stopped singing. The explanation given was that they were either building nests, breeding or feeding their hatch lings. My suspicions were that they were not there because the same birds were still singing in the woods along Rte 9 in Delaware. On both May 9 and June 14 of this year we heard Common Yellow Throats and Yellow Warblers, Ovenbird, Red Eyed Vireos, Woodthrushes and Towhees. In addition on June 14 there were also Scarlet and Summer Tanagers, both Orioles, Willow and Acadian Flycatchers and a Blueheaded Vireo, the June 14 songs all identified with my friend's CD where needed. I cannot explain why some Jersey experts could list numerous songbirds in late April on "first of season" joints, but these birds were not around on the three roads we explored. My "garden" records are not very systematic as I write down what strikes me. For example on June 25: Birdsong well into midday, Towhee, Indigo Bunting (across the road), Robin, Cardinal, and catbird, some of it in almost early spring force. On July 6: Birdsong, mostly until about 10.30, mostly a few lines at a time, except for the Towhee and a Robin that sang for several minutes at intervals; Towhee Robin, Catbird, Carolina Wren, Field and Song Sparrow (rare), Mocking Bird (sustained). If birds sing primarily to announce territory this may indicate that their nest were robbed (by Blue Jays, squirrels or chipmunks) and they started again. Ominously on July 15: a cowbird singing intermittently down the hill...