The purpose of this post is to report my systematic observations of my feeders from November 1, 2014 to May 15, 2015 as I am still interested in the accuracy of the various advertisements that one can attract birds that would not normally be present by making food available. Among my previous Modest Birder posts ## 3, 13 ( lengthy one), 14 and 20, record some of my previous observation. # 13 also addresses the claims of such advertisements.
This time I was inspired by several very well done publications by the people of Hawk Mountain with the theme "If you plant them (i.e. native food plants), they (i.e. the birds) will come." At Hawk Mountain with its fine native plant garden in a bird rich habitat, this is probably true, but I am willing to bet that the birds attracted to the garden were already there, before the garden reached its present extent. One of these would be the Chestnut-sided Warbler in one of the illustrations. A pair of these took up residence in 2010 in the jungle tha sprung up on the untended 20 acres across our road that not only has native plants but anything that the wind and birds provided including the fast growing and early flowering Bartlett Pears.
I couln't, of course, discourage the planting of natives and am increasingly replacing the stuff I inherited from previous owners (one of which, I was pleasantly surprised, had been a wildflower enthousiast) with natives. Some of these, like trout lilies, spring beauties, quaker ladies and columbines have been present in the untended parts since the house was built in the 1960s. The first three make a wonderful tapestry that attracts insects and these attract a passing Bluebird and the resident Phoebes. The columbines attract the resident Ruby-throated Hummingbirds, but I have not discovered where the nest. I see it when the columbines have done their blooming, for ex. on the honey-less cultivated red geraniums that I brought back from France in 1983 and kept going since by annual cuttings. Nostalgia keeps these around. To please the Hummers I planted Bergamots, but here again I'm not a purist as, in dislike of the mauve wild species, I opted for the red Jacob Kline cultivar, Hummers being as amorous of red as am I. But they also come to the local penstamons and they would love the reds from the Arizona road dividers that sooner or later I'll plant, extending "native" to beyond Penna.
In the 15 years that we lived here I found that the best way to attract Bluebirds is to have a centenary gnarled oak like the one that stood on the bank across our road before that was moved over in 2007. Also important was the extensive lawn that was cut only once every 2 weeks by my neighbor. And having electric wires helps also as the Bluebirds perched all along the 1/4 mile bank to hawk the insects hidden in the grass. The oak gone, another neighbor with small kids put up bluebird boxes and for 2 years one was used, but the lawn having disappeared under the second growth brush, the birds now only appear as migrants.
I have often wondered how large a property one needs to feed a variety of birds. For ex. we have 6 dogwoods and we can see 4 more, we also have 2 female hollies and 4 female winterberries. In late October 2014 a flock of 23 Robins took only 3 days to do away with all the fruit, once "helped" by 2 Sapsuckers and 1 Mocking Bird. The Sapsuckers moved on as did the Robins and the Mocking Bird moved back to its territory across 113, a light industrial park, of all places. The holly berries were not favorites and about half were still therefor Christmas decorations, the Cardinals finally having eaten the last ones by 1/29. I noticed that a wonderful large English holly near the post office keeps its berries nearly all winter although there are some 15 Robins roaming around town. And in New Jersey, hundreds of native hollies still have most of their berries in spite of wintering Robins and Cedar Waxwings, not to speak of the ravenous Starlings, Grackles and what have you.
Talking about New Jersey: The NJ ABA birdline had 6 reports on "stormbirds" during Juno with its high winds and snow (Jan. 26-27, 2015). These birders may have hoped for a Redpoll as there was something of an invasion the previous week. I checked them out of curiosity as I found that our birds were fewer in number, the Hairy Woodpeckers having disappeared and of the downies only 3 small and 2 larger ones are left, while nothing new arrived; all of which is unusual, though not as unusual as the 15 or so Robins that forage in the sunny mud spots in our slowly flowing creek (the -10F froze the mud en the Robins have not returned on 1/29). The NJ reports noted more Whitethroats and or juncos, only one had uncommon Am. Tree Sparrow and another: "the only unusual bird was a starling, but at least I can add that to my yardlist."
Starlings are the bane of my existence. Their hangout is the adjacent farm and they often swarm over the grass of the nearby light industrial park or that of the grade school. But come January and snow they appear in our garden. First one or two that divide their attention between the seed and the suet. But if the snow persists these "pioneers" are soon accompanied by an entire flock of up to 30. They sit in small groups spread out in the trees as far as the opposite slope while six or seven, in relays, fight flutteringly over the suet all other birds having left to avoid their stiletto like beaks. It takes them about 4 hours to do away with the entire cake; without starlings it takes the woodpeckers, nuthatches, Brown Creeper and an occasional titmouse about 4 to 5 days. I decided not to replace the suet an lo and behold, we now have 1 or 2 starlings and some afternoons up to five, but they stay for only 10 minutes at the most. One starling arrived, landed on the ring for the suet basket, looked around and hurried of. They dislike the tube feeder, it is not easy to bent their ungainly bodies to get at the food with their long beaks. A few years ago I had spread food over a patch of the herb garden an the entire flock of starlings was acting out their version of "black Friday." When I happened to hit one of them with a beebee (not hard to miss) they kept up their frantic pushing, trampling on the dead bird (which became food for our local raccoon).
In one of the earlier posts I discussed the type of seeds our birds prefer. For my birthday my youngest grandchild brought a bag of a "complete mix" that included white and golden millet, nijer and canary seed. Just as in previous years, most of that seed ended up on the ground as I watched the finches fling it out of the way as they searched for cracked nuts and even black sunflower seed (which took some management before they had removed the shell). I usually mix Cardinal and Chickadee food and that appears to keep every one happy. The suet cakes are my real problem. I have tried every type offered and find that the suet eaters like them all. But so do the squirrels and the occasional raccoons. A cake would last a day and the following morning only some bits still stuck to the basket. Before my son fixed a "rodent resistant" system, the raccoons managed to take down the entire basket and make off with it down the hill to the thick spreading yews near the creek. Now I use hot pepper suet and when it's out of stock I smear both sides of any other type with something like the spicy dip of a shrimp cocktail.
The bag of the Christmas present carries 12 color pictures of birds one can attract. It's obviously assumed that the buyer feeds birds all year and is somewhat knowledgeable, for Grosbeaks and Towhees are not winter birds in most of the USA and these also need an even more specific habitat than Cardinals, Mourning Doves and Chickadees. We have had Rose-breasted Grosbeaks as breeders in 2 years and they didn't arrive until the end of April. Towhees arrive irregularly, once in march, but usually around April 15. In the earliest posts, now deleted, I objected to those picture as misleading and false advertising because my barber's wheelchair bound mother liked to look at birds and was disappointed that she mostly saw little brown ones. I still feel uneasy about those pictures having made a survey of "affordable homes" with feeders (most of them filled only during the winter) and wonder whether these people are as informed as the advertising on the bags assumed. But then one never knows. I used to shop in a supermarket that carried bird food only in the winter and in small bags of nijer, a mixture of millets or of cracked corn, that carried no pictures. It must have satisfied the needs of the birds in a small town with small garden plots and tree lined streets.
and then I ended up in the hospital until august and thus the experiments in the yard come to an and.
Monday, October 12, 2015
Wednesday, February 25, 2015
On wine (10) Fall 2014
After our return from Maine we found an ever larger selection of "Manager Specials" in the State Store as the Liquor Control Board favors a quick turn over rather than improving the quality of its selection of French. Italian, etc. wines. By the end of the year some aisles with racks had been replaced by rows of stacked cartons offering wines from every wine producing region of the world, nearly all of them unknown to me. Pushing one's cart through the narrowing lanes becomes a stop and go experience that has made me plan my shopping for the first hour on Mondays or Tuesdays when I am alone with the few staff.
My adventurous son who only has a passive knowledge of wine, selects those that sound familiar or come from a recognizable region in Italy (preferred) or France, on the basis of how many $$ discount per bottle at $15 or less. Of those he buys one or two "to try out." My own picks are more narrowly regional, for. ex. Chiantis from Siena rather than any Chianti (this is becoming an art as labels seemed designed to hide the precise origin and I check Google) or Spanna, Barbera and place for the Piedmont. As a result we have had at least twenty totally new wines, nearly all of them drinkable and some very agreeable. But the overall impression is one of "sameness" which probably results from decisions made by university trained market specialists, all of whom have bought into the formula "raised alcohol levels hide possible imperfections, avoid lightness and guarantee quality;" 13% has become the minimum and with it the flower labels of Georges Duboeuf constitute false advertising about "flowery" which reminded me of spring afternoons and a first lunch on the balcony.
One of my son's finds led to a return trip to buy up the remaining 5 bottles of a 2009 classic Riserva from Coli that was 40% off, probably because it was too old to continue to take up storage space. '09 was a pretty good year and Riservas tend to be in the 13% range. This one had the color of a Brunello and tasted as almost entirely made from Sangiovese. It had a nice robe and was a bit woody, not very crisp, it had to be drunk as it did not last long on the palate, but obviously worth the return trip. I may have said so before, but I think that the prohibition to use white wine grapes has eliminated the source of Chianti's traditional fruitiness and create a certain sameness as climate is not a significant differentiating factor in Tuscany. Another of his finds was a Bouchaine Pinot Noir that he thought was from France as he did not read the label carefully. It came from Carneros, which is not a bad California area for "French-type" wines. We did enjoy it with Colette's rabbit thighs in a mustard and garlic sauce. My notes: "dark ruby, light robe, not complex and perhaps chaptalized with a sweet aftertaste. Its chief asset maybe the environmental management practices but Colette thought its 13.8% was really too much."
Nearly all our "daily" drinking consists of staple wines that usually are not on sale as "Manager Specials," the exception being the Cetamura form Badia di Coltibuono (12.5%) that we have found very reliable for the last five years or so when we got it at Sherry Lehman. It's not a regular feature here so we keep an eye on it and try to get as many bottles as possible when they have it. It's a wine made from grapes outside the estate, but it's as good as quite a few classicos from lesser growers and it allows the fruit to come to the foreground. For a Spanish wine we have come t settle on Viejos Campos "Temporanillo" and for France on a Beaujolais Villages from Drouhin or Jadot, or a Cote de Ventoux or C. Du Rhone Villages, the latter, from Perrin, was fruity as if lacking in mourvedre (which I find rather flat) and I wonder how much cinsault, hard to believe when my son read that it was 14%. All of these are around $12. One other unknown Chianti among these "daily" wines, was a 2011 Riserva from Renzo Masi. This is a Rufina rather than a Classico, made of 95% sangiovese and 5% colorino (to add a darker color). It was not very complex, but well rounded and although typically modern at 13.5% it appeared less heavy and had a flowery bouquet with a vague taste of dark red cherry skins that didn't break down. Colette especially like it, which is saying something.
Fortunately the end of the year has a few special days like Thanksgiving with my birthday and Christmas. This year also Colette brought home her new colleague (and successor) with whom we invited and old (gourmet) friend. Such days call for some special stuff from the not yet depleted cellar, though these particular bottles I had bought in a moment of the Calvinist sobriety that occasionally surfaces from the depths of my childhood when the aftermath of both the Great Depression and WWII made frugality a virtue. For her colleague C. made her always very tasty filet de porc au moutarde with little white potatoes and filet beans (from the garden) in parsley butter. With that we had a 2005 Nuits St. Georges (13%) from Laboure-Roi and a 2006 Haute C. de Nuits (12.5%) from Mongeard-Mugneret. Both bottles were in the $25 range. The guests preferred the Haute Cote that I served after the N.St.G. It had a lighter color with a whiff of raspberry and C's colleague thought it less threatening "or rather more welcoming. I had bought the L-R before I read about their manipulations and interestingly enough our gourmet friend detected a hint of "Rhone" though the excellent 2005 burgundies would hardly need any help.
The two best wines of the fall were a Pernand Vergelesses, Clos de la Croix de Pierre, a premier cru from Jadot, at 12.5% which we drank twice (for Robert's birthday and for mine). As Marijke was also there we had 2 bottles at each occasion and they were much appreciated for their aroma of mulberry, their lasting bouquet of red fruits, the ruby color and slow robe. But surprisingly a Chambolle-Musigny 1999, also from Jadot, at 13.5 % was proclaimed "the best ever" even if only a village wine. Of course 1999 was an outstanding year; it was darker and fuller bodied than the Pernand. Incidentally, I received the "shock of my life" from a recent auction ad in which 1999 Grand Crus were estimated at $3500+ per bottle. Mine are gone, but there are still a few 1st growth and this village Ch.-M. Great wines, but such prices have no longer any relation to the quality of the wine.
With the traditional Christmas cassoulet we had 2 bottles of Vincent Girardin's Santenay La Maladiere, a 2005 1st growth; an excellent year but still a bit harsh. A lot of promise! Earlier, for no special reason we had a 2005 Santenay, single vineyard, from Rene Monnier that was already near perfect but both wines were not "light" as typical of the southern Cote d'or, a quality that had made Santenay, especially the one from Bachelet, our favorite to accompany the roti de veau at Les Pyrenees when we went to N.Y. for a Saturday Matine in the 80s and 90s. What memories!
My adventurous son who only has a passive knowledge of wine, selects those that sound familiar or come from a recognizable region in Italy (preferred) or France, on the basis of how many $$ discount per bottle at $15 or less. Of those he buys one or two "to try out." My own picks are more narrowly regional, for. ex. Chiantis from Siena rather than any Chianti (this is becoming an art as labels seemed designed to hide the precise origin and I check Google) or Spanna, Barbera and place for the Piedmont. As a result we have had at least twenty totally new wines, nearly all of them drinkable and some very agreeable. But the overall impression is one of "sameness" which probably results from decisions made by university trained market specialists, all of whom have bought into the formula "raised alcohol levels hide possible imperfections, avoid lightness and guarantee quality;" 13% has become the minimum and with it the flower labels of Georges Duboeuf constitute false advertising about "flowery" which reminded me of spring afternoons and a first lunch on the balcony.
One of my son's finds led to a return trip to buy up the remaining 5 bottles of a 2009 classic Riserva from Coli that was 40% off, probably because it was too old to continue to take up storage space. '09 was a pretty good year and Riservas tend to be in the 13% range. This one had the color of a Brunello and tasted as almost entirely made from Sangiovese. It had a nice robe and was a bit woody, not very crisp, it had to be drunk as it did not last long on the palate, but obviously worth the return trip. I may have said so before, but I think that the prohibition to use white wine grapes has eliminated the source of Chianti's traditional fruitiness and create a certain sameness as climate is not a significant differentiating factor in Tuscany. Another of his finds was a Bouchaine Pinot Noir that he thought was from France as he did not read the label carefully. It came from Carneros, which is not a bad California area for "French-type" wines. We did enjoy it with Colette's rabbit thighs in a mustard and garlic sauce. My notes: "dark ruby, light robe, not complex and perhaps chaptalized with a sweet aftertaste. Its chief asset maybe the environmental management practices but Colette thought its 13.8% was really too much."
Nearly all our "daily" drinking consists of staple wines that usually are not on sale as "Manager Specials," the exception being the Cetamura form Badia di Coltibuono (12.5%) that we have found very reliable for the last five years or so when we got it at Sherry Lehman. It's not a regular feature here so we keep an eye on it and try to get as many bottles as possible when they have it. It's a wine made from grapes outside the estate, but it's as good as quite a few classicos from lesser growers and it allows the fruit to come to the foreground. For a Spanish wine we have come t settle on Viejos Campos "Temporanillo" and for France on a Beaujolais Villages from Drouhin or Jadot, or a Cote de Ventoux or C. Du Rhone Villages, the latter, from Perrin, was fruity as if lacking in mourvedre (which I find rather flat) and I wonder how much cinsault, hard to believe when my son read that it was 14%. All of these are around $12. One other unknown Chianti among these "daily" wines, was a 2011 Riserva from Renzo Masi. This is a Rufina rather than a Classico, made of 95% sangiovese and 5% colorino (to add a darker color). It was not very complex, but well rounded and although typically modern at 13.5% it appeared less heavy and had a flowery bouquet with a vague taste of dark red cherry skins that didn't break down. Colette especially like it, which is saying something.
Fortunately the end of the year has a few special days like Thanksgiving with my birthday and Christmas. This year also Colette brought home her new colleague (and successor) with whom we invited and old (gourmet) friend. Such days call for some special stuff from the not yet depleted cellar, though these particular bottles I had bought in a moment of the Calvinist sobriety that occasionally surfaces from the depths of my childhood when the aftermath of both the Great Depression and WWII made frugality a virtue. For her colleague C. made her always very tasty filet de porc au moutarde with little white potatoes and filet beans (from the garden) in parsley butter. With that we had a 2005 Nuits St. Georges (13%) from Laboure-Roi and a 2006 Haute C. de Nuits (12.5%) from Mongeard-Mugneret. Both bottles were in the $25 range. The guests preferred the Haute Cote that I served after the N.St.G. It had a lighter color with a whiff of raspberry and C's colleague thought it less threatening "or rather more welcoming. I had bought the L-R before I read about their manipulations and interestingly enough our gourmet friend detected a hint of "Rhone" though the excellent 2005 burgundies would hardly need any help.
The two best wines of the fall were a Pernand Vergelesses, Clos de la Croix de Pierre, a premier cru from Jadot, at 12.5% which we drank twice (for Robert's birthday and for mine). As Marijke was also there we had 2 bottles at each occasion and they were much appreciated for their aroma of mulberry, their lasting bouquet of red fruits, the ruby color and slow robe. But surprisingly a Chambolle-Musigny 1999, also from Jadot, at 13.5 % was proclaimed "the best ever" even if only a village wine. Of course 1999 was an outstanding year; it was darker and fuller bodied than the Pernand. Incidentally, I received the "shock of my life" from a recent auction ad in which 1999 Grand Crus were estimated at $3500+ per bottle. Mine are gone, but there are still a few 1st growth and this village Ch.-M. Great wines, but such prices have no longer any relation to the quality of the wine.
With the traditional Christmas cassoulet we had 2 bottles of Vincent Girardin's Santenay La Maladiere, a 2005 1st growth; an excellent year but still a bit harsh. A lot of promise! Earlier, for no special reason we had a 2005 Santenay, single vineyard, from Rene Monnier that was already near perfect but both wines were not "light" as typical of the southern Cote d'or, a quality that had made Santenay, especially the one from Bachelet, our favorite to accompany the roti de veau at Les Pyrenees when we went to N.Y. for a Saturday Matine in the 80s and 90s. What memories!
Monday, July 28, 2014
forever wild?
On Sunday, July 6, 2012 the frontpage of the NYT's SundayReview featured an article on "Rethinking the Wild." In general it is a thoughtful article and the changes discussed in the management of the Wilderness Act 1974 are actually minor and commonsensical. Most are concerned with remedying and forestalling the effects of the northward movement of warmer temperatures. The central question is raised by one of the Act's promoters, viz. that "we should be guardians, not gardeners." The article's recommendations are summed up as "We need to be more nuanced in our hands-off approach."
The danger lies that once the hands-off approached is open to modification the politicians will gradually introduce ecologically harmful "nuances" on the advice of graduates from forestry etc. departments of State Universities that are primarily funded by commercial corporations hungry for more resources. On the premise that one should not bite the hand that feeds these Departments they are not conducive to promote free thought. Some pretty disastrous remedies emerging from the Department of Agriculture include the recommendation of creating windbreaks and hedgerows of multiflora roses the hips of which provide food for many songbirds who caused the roses to become pests invading every untended plot including the "forever wild" ones. An other such invasive remedy was the use of the Japanese honeysuckle used to stabilize railroad banks against erosion. That too gets spread by birds and in my untended woods the multifloras provide support for the honeysuckle creating an area much loved by breeding songbirds and migrating or wintering guests.
The problem of the Act lies in the fact that its aim to protect wilderness areas from destructive human exploitation was based on a pre-1970's concept of "hands-off" as direct physical action. Virtually all ecologist then were not fully - or at all - aware of the long term and distant - as well as cumulative - effect of human action that creates climate change as well as the acidification of the earth's surface. There were instances of man-made natural disasters in the past such as the dustbowl of the 1930s, which in the memory of most became a draught caused by capricious nature because the Plains became fertile and populated again and thus providing arguments for the eco-sceptics of today, arguments that are still more salient than the disappearance of the Ice Age when the Sahara had the climate of Europe and Canada an new England uninhabitable. Draughts are seen as tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes and floods which have been around ever since records were kept. And people continue to build homes in fragile coastal areas or in forests prone to wildfires, for most people remain unaware or disregard the warnings of the steady increase in such disasters and their violence. Our culture allows us to satisfy our desires and provides the justification for it by providing a moral, political and economic system of protection one socially costly aspect of which are the insurance companies. I am reminded of the devastating hurricane of the early sixties when the then Secretary of the Interior suggested that the destroyed areas on New Jersey barrier islands be turned into a national park. Today these areas are more built up than before.
Of course, the article's nuanced approach can not be a one time remedy for of climate change will be with us forever as the world population continues to increase and modernization of the poorer nations accelerates. Thus we see the 1950s smog of London replicated in today's Peking. A telling instance was described in a long article in the NYT of 7/27 concerning the adoption of frozen food as a staple in Chinese households and the deleterious consequences on the environment of the increased demand for refrigeration.
But even if there was no man-made climate change, the wilderness areas that were created under the Act would inevitably change as suggested by the maxim that all wild areas revert to forest, a maxim well illustrated by the forests of New England in many of which one comes across the old stone walls of farms that were abandoned since the late 19th century. This is in a climate suitable for forests; in other places it may be deserts, a place where gardening is a challenge.
Usually when we are in Maine in August we visit the Singing Meadow Preserve in Edgecomb, a truly favored spot. Although it is mowed once a year to keep the brush down and paths are mowed more than once, the landscape has been changing, subtly, but changing nevertheless. Alders are particularly resistant to the yearly mowing and I suspect that it's done by a landscaper "who has adopted" the Meadows that it is not done very well. And there certainly is no resemblance to the original working farm. But as an "abandoned meadows" preserve the "forever wild" doesn't apply as the meadows would no longer have the same singing birds and insects. And I wonder whether the "forever wild" concept didn't mean wild as it appeared when designated. If that includes saving the species that were there then at the time, the preservation becomes more like curating a museum.
The danger lies that once the hands-off approached is open to modification the politicians will gradually introduce ecologically harmful "nuances" on the advice of graduates from forestry etc. departments of State Universities that are primarily funded by commercial corporations hungry for more resources. On the premise that one should not bite the hand that feeds these Departments they are not conducive to promote free thought. Some pretty disastrous remedies emerging from the Department of Agriculture include the recommendation of creating windbreaks and hedgerows of multiflora roses the hips of which provide food for many songbirds who caused the roses to become pests invading every untended plot including the "forever wild" ones. An other such invasive remedy was the use of the Japanese honeysuckle used to stabilize railroad banks against erosion. That too gets spread by birds and in my untended woods the multifloras provide support for the honeysuckle creating an area much loved by breeding songbirds and migrating or wintering guests.
The problem of the Act lies in the fact that its aim to protect wilderness areas from destructive human exploitation was based on a pre-1970's concept of "hands-off" as direct physical action. Virtually all ecologist then were not fully - or at all - aware of the long term and distant - as well as cumulative - effect of human action that creates climate change as well as the acidification of the earth's surface. There were instances of man-made natural disasters in the past such as the dustbowl of the 1930s, which in the memory of most became a draught caused by capricious nature because the Plains became fertile and populated again and thus providing arguments for the eco-sceptics of today, arguments that are still more salient than the disappearance of the Ice Age when the Sahara had the climate of Europe and Canada an new England uninhabitable. Draughts are seen as tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes and floods which have been around ever since records were kept. And people continue to build homes in fragile coastal areas or in forests prone to wildfires, for most people remain unaware or disregard the warnings of the steady increase in such disasters and their violence. Our culture allows us to satisfy our desires and provides the justification for it by providing a moral, political and economic system of protection one socially costly aspect of which are the insurance companies. I am reminded of the devastating hurricane of the early sixties when the then Secretary of the Interior suggested that the destroyed areas on New Jersey barrier islands be turned into a national park. Today these areas are more built up than before.
Of course, the article's nuanced approach can not be a one time remedy for of climate change will be with us forever as the world population continues to increase and modernization of the poorer nations accelerates. Thus we see the 1950s smog of London replicated in today's Peking. A telling instance was described in a long article in the NYT of 7/27 concerning the adoption of frozen food as a staple in Chinese households and the deleterious consequences on the environment of the increased demand for refrigeration.
But even if there was no man-made climate change, the wilderness areas that were created under the Act would inevitably change as suggested by the maxim that all wild areas revert to forest, a maxim well illustrated by the forests of New England in many of which one comes across the old stone walls of farms that were abandoned since the late 19th century. This is in a climate suitable for forests; in other places it may be deserts, a place where gardening is a challenge.
Usually when we are in Maine in August we visit the Singing Meadow Preserve in Edgecomb, a truly favored spot. Although it is mowed once a year to keep the brush down and paths are mowed more than once, the landscape has been changing, subtly, but changing nevertheless. Alders are particularly resistant to the yearly mowing and I suspect that it's done by a landscaper "who has adopted" the Meadows that it is not done very well. And there certainly is no resemblance to the original working farm. But as an "abandoned meadows" preserve the "forever wild" doesn't apply as the meadows would no longer have the same singing birds and insects. And I wonder whether the "forever wild" concept didn't mean wild as it appeared when designated. If that includes saving the species that were there then at the time, the preservation becomes more like curating a museum.
Monday, June 23, 2014
the modest birder(22) a big day from my chair
May 14, 2014. This was the birdiest day ever from my armchair in the living room overlooking our descending slope and the steeper up-slope on the other side of the creek. A few trees were still leafing out and the hickories were blooming, most upper stories were visible. Fortunately the hickories are late for the two closest have overhanging branches that, in full leaf, create a dense curtain. I looked out at 8.30 to see if there was any movement. There had been a few birds most days, mostly Yellow Rumps interspersed with a Blue-headed and twice a Warbling vireo. On the tenth a Swainson Thrush hang around all day foraging on the lawn by the creek for a few minutes only to disappear in the brush. By 1 pm it hopped along the wall of the herb terrace. It was still around early the next morning but then the excitement was caused by a Blue Grosbeak that fed for about 20 minutes in the newly weeded herb beds which are about 25ft below the window; a "first of the yard" bird. The next few day we were busy readying and planting the vegetable beds.
The first bird on the 14th was an Baltimore Oriole, probably one of the four that were around since the 3d. Soon after a Cooper's landed on a branch of the 2nd tree down the slope. It shook its feathers as if it came out of an attack. It was probably a male and still in its 1st year plumage. While I was watching the hawk, a crow came over being harassed by three of our local Blue Jays. I was just about to go outside to check the new plantings when a small flock of warblers appeared in the crowns of the neighbor's woods (which are widest (300 yards) an densest of our woods that begin in a triangle where the creek goes under the road, about .4 miles to the South). From 10am till noon there was continuous activity, mostly in the upper stories following the creek that leaves our woods between steep wooded slopes on its way down to the Perkiomen (at about 3/4 mile), a "scenic river" that is also very wooded and provided a corridor in a generally North-South direction.
It became busy and I dismissed the brown ones as unidentified females to concentrate on the colored males some of which obligingly came down and in the closest trees, e.g. a Black-throated Green, a Tennessee, 3 Black and Whites and a Chestnut-sided (which may have been the resident in the second growth 27 acre field across the street), as well as a female Cape May, a female Black-throated Blue and a few Yellow Rumps. Active for several hours in the upper story of an oak were two Blackburnians, at least one Baybreasted and a Redstart. Also passing through were a male Indigo Btgn, a female Scarlet Tanager, a Hairy Woodpecker. Most exciting were 3 Sandhill Cranes at 1.30 that floated in small circles above the farm fields and above our trees in small circles, briefly flapping occasionally to maintain height; recalling the hundreds seen in Arizona or the flocks of Common Cranes coming in for a landing at one of the lakes in Champagne (France). The were also "first of the yard" birds. Some warblers also hang around during the afternoon, all in the upper stories and I assumed they were the same as the morning birds.
My tally of the migrants seen from 8.30 till 5pm, having no doubt missed some while I checked my Sibley, made coffee, etc., was 61, including the unidentified "females." Nine identified male warblers (with a Blackpoll among some "15 left overs" the next morning) and the 2 females is pretty much the number of warbler species that I see in our woods during both Spring and Fall migrations. It turned out that the same week was a big warbler week according to regional ABA reports and at a nearby reserve 23 species were counted.
But because I sat there for most of the day (I had to get up frequently in the afternoon to avoid getting stiff in my 83 year old bones), I also became aware how many local residents visit our woods. There were a total of 37 birds of 18 species including 2 Great-crested Flycatchers as well as the Great-blue Heron that checks out the creek bed about twice each week. Not seen were the Scarlet Tanagers that are residents for the first time in the 14 years that we live here, or the Phoebe that breeds under the neighbor's balcony and of which the first fledgling sat on the feeder pole this morning (6-23-14).
The tanagers became more frequent visitors as May wore on. The male often sang in the oaks right above the house and on the 28th he was "flycatching" near 3 Baltimore Orioles and the next day both the female and male were foraging in the trees above the creek. As I was watching them a Willow Flycatcher was in the lower branches, probably the same one that appeared irregularly since the 16th and more surprising were, what to the wishful birder in me looked like, 2 Philadelphia Vireos. Pretty ironic as it had been a target bird for our Maine trip last year. But, of course, they were Warbling Vireos; they were still around on June 4 and 6 when one was feeding the other and Philadelpias would be well established on their northern breeding grounds. Also odd for June was the appearance of a male Yellow Warbler, that was busy foraging in the close hickories for several hours one afternoon and again the next morning. A visitor from the brushy creek bed?
The first bird on the 14th was an Baltimore Oriole, probably one of the four that were around since the 3d. Soon after a Cooper's landed on a branch of the 2nd tree down the slope. It shook its feathers as if it came out of an attack. It was probably a male and still in its 1st year plumage. While I was watching the hawk, a crow came over being harassed by three of our local Blue Jays. I was just about to go outside to check the new plantings when a small flock of warblers appeared in the crowns of the neighbor's woods (which are widest (300 yards) an densest of our woods that begin in a triangle where the creek goes under the road, about .4 miles to the South). From 10am till noon there was continuous activity, mostly in the upper stories following the creek that leaves our woods between steep wooded slopes on its way down to the Perkiomen (at about 3/4 mile), a "scenic river" that is also very wooded and provided a corridor in a generally North-South direction.
It became busy and I dismissed the brown ones as unidentified females to concentrate on the colored males some of which obligingly came down and in the closest trees, e.g. a Black-throated Green, a Tennessee, 3 Black and Whites and a Chestnut-sided (which may have been the resident in the second growth 27 acre field across the street), as well as a female Cape May, a female Black-throated Blue and a few Yellow Rumps. Active for several hours in the upper story of an oak were two Blackburnians, at least one Baybreasted and a Redstart. Also passing through were a male Indigo Btgn, a female Scarlet Tanager, a Hairy Woodpecker. Most exciting were 3 Sandhill Cranes at 1.30 that floated in small circles above the farm fields and above our trees in small circles, briefly flapping occasionally to maintain height; recalling the hundreds seen in Arizona or the flocks of Common Cranes coming in for a landing at one of the lakes in Champagne (France). The were also "first of the yard" birds. Some warblers also hang around during the afternoon, all in the upper stories and I assumed they were the same as the morning birds.
My tally of the migrants seen from 8.30 till 5pm, having no doubt missed some while I checked my Sibley, made coffee, etc., was 61, including the unidentified "females." Nine identified male warblers (with a Blackpoll among some "15 left overs" the next morning) and the 2 females is pretty much the number of warbler species that I see in our woods during both Spring and Fall migrations. It turned out that the same week was a big warbler week according to regional ABA reports and at a nearby reserve 23 species were counted.
But because I sat there for most of the day (I had to get up frequently in the afternoon to avoid getting stiff in my 83 year old bones), I also became aware how many local residents visit our woods. There were a total of 37 birds of 18 species including 2 Great-crested Flycatchers as well as the Great-blue Heron that checks out the creek bed about twice each week. Not seen were the Scarlet Tanagers that are residents for the first time in the 14 years that we live here, or the Phoebe that breeds under the neighbor's balcony and of which the first fledgling sat on the feeder pole this morning (6-23-14).
The tanagers became more frequent visitors as May wore on. The male often sang in the oaks right above the house and on the 28th he was "flycatching" near 3 Baltimore Orioles and the next day both the female and male were foraging in the trees above the creek. As I was watching them a Willow Flycatcher was in the lower branches, probably the same one that appeared irregularly since the 16th and more surprising were, what to the wishful birder in me looked like, 2 Philadelphia Vireos. Pretty ironic as it had been a target bird for our Maine trip last year. But, of course, they were Warbling Vireos; they were still around on June 4 and 6 when one was feeding the other and Philadelpias would be well established on their northern breeding grounds. Also odd for June was the appearance of a male Yellow Warbler, that was busy foraging in the close hickories for several hours one afternoon and again the next morning. A visitor from the brushy creek bed?
Thursday, March 6, 2014
On wine (9) winter 13-14
Because of the lousy weather we drank some of the better wines from my cellar, where the 1999s are almost gone. On Thanksgiving which coincides pretty much with my birthday, we celebrated with the last bottle of Ch. Mouton Rothschild, a 1993, the one with the sketch of a nude girl on the label. Because of a southern Senator's ire the 1993s imported in the US had blank labels and this one was brought from France at the occasion of the graduation of Colette's French cousin. It gave us a generous portion in our special glasses for the four adults at the table, but my three grandkids, being duly impressed by a 20-year old wine, each had a sip (none was very excited about the taste). The adults, on the other hand enjoyed the excellent wine, its marked aroma of roses, the ruby color and the slow robe. I had been worried for the bottle spent 4 years in the basement of Super House until my retirement and the acquisition of a temperature controlled cellar. As a second wine we had a 2001 Barbaresco from Poggio le Coste. Another great wine from a better vintage than the Mouton and at 14.5% somewhat less refined than the Mouton at 12.5%. But it went better with the alouettes sans tete which is the traditional birthday dish and one of Colette's most successful.. By the end of meal it had found its best and still filled the large round glasses with the smells of a Piedmont autumn. Much fun was had by all.
On Dec. 8 we had a lunch for PP who usually comes on my birthday. We had some more of the alouettes and an Alsatian appletart. I served the last two bottles of '99 Beaune les Theurons from Louis Jadot. My diary has: beautiful dark garnet, robe and lasting smooth body, mulberry/cassis.
Another highlight came on Dec. 21 at the end of a 3 day birding trip in Delaware and our stay at the Rodney Hotel in Lewes. On the ground floor of the hotel there is the "Rose and Crown" an upscale watering hole where my favorite dish is a shepherd's pie with confit de canard. At dinner, Colette had swordfish on a parsnip puree with grapefruit and capers and we decided to celebrate our tete a tete Christmas celebration with a '04 Veuve Cliquot Brut which, to answer a question we frequently asked ourselves, was indeed much better even than the best non-vintage champagnes, including a Pol Roger, we drank at home. Think of a vineyard Meursault with bubbles and without oak. Outstanding. For Christmas at home, with the traditional cassoulet we had a few bottles of '09 Pierre Amadieu Gigondas that had "a lovely dark color and great robe, a fine accompaniment, but 14.5% is unnecessary."
In the middle of January, before Colette had to go back to teaching, we spent 3 days birding in South Jersey. We stayed at a hotel where the food was pretty good but the only French wine a Dubeuf 2011 Beaujolais Villages, which turned out to be very drinkable, no doubt because that was an outstanding year there. We also had a Calif. Taittinger: "not bad, but not as good as the same price Gosset. Apparently terroir does make a difference! This one was very yeasty and not light." The birding was pretty good with harlequin ducks at close range and a snowy owl very still at about ten feet (and with a half circle of some 30 photographers). That Sunday Colette made a fine pork loin in mustard and garlic sauce which we had with a commune and non AOC Vacqueras 2011 Seigneur de Fontimple (which sounds like a character from Daudet's Lettres de mon Moulin). This was a November "Manager's Selection" in the State Store. It carried Robert Parker's stamp of approval and was nevertheless a pretty good drink. Fortunately I had bought several bottles rather than the "one to try" that is my custom with unfamiliar wines. I assumed that one could not go too wrong with 2011. Another "Selections" was a 2011 AOC Bourgueil that could have become a favorite "every day" tipple if it were regularly available. This one was around for about three months and much enjoyed by us.
Among those "Manager's Selections" there appeared one day a really new wine from the Department of Herault in the Sth. of France. It was organic by the European Union's standards and its taste was similar to that of a Bordeaux merlot and was made of 80% merlot, 15% sauvignon and 5% sauv. blanc, with 14% alcohol. Without AOC, it was simply labeled "red wine" and of the 2012 vintage which was not a great year. It came from the Domaine de la Croix and had a minimalist label of yellow ockre with a stylized cross on an orb in siena. The color was darker than most Bordeaux and it had a good robe and an aroma of strawberries. It was very likable and I was surprised when Colette red the label on the back with its specifications, for I generally do not like merlot. It was around for about a month before the two cases were sold.
The weekend of Jan. 25-26 was one of less everyday meals and wines. On Saturday I made a ragout of 1/4 lb of ground organic veal with an ounce of crumbled dry cepes (reconstituted in white wine) browned in half and half and balsamic on pappardelli cooked in herbed and garlic water, which with a had 2010 bandol bastide blanche that "was mourvedre ruby with a nice robe. As always I would have preferred 13.5 rather than its 14.5 which takes away its liveliness." Bandol has a lot of memories with sidewalk tables in narrow streets in late May or early June with lunch after swimming and a not yet cordoned and uncrowded beach.
On Sunday our friend and former colleague PP came to lunch. It was rather lively and amusing as each had "senior moments" that were challenges to the others as well. we had Colette's excellent pork sirloin and the last 99 Jadot Chambolle-Musigny (the commune wine), "still an excellent drink from a great year and a great terroir" that PP and I visited that yeat on the way to join Colette in the Provence. One can hardly not have a great Burgundy. talking about Burgundies. When Colette bought my "weekly" bottle of Calvados she looked around for more Dne de la Croix and came across a 2011 Julienas from a vineyard that borders the road of our evening walks when we stayed out our favorite country motel on the way to or from the Provence. 2011 was "the year that Beujolais became a great Burgundy" etc. The '11 Baujolais Villages came on the market at $20+, a price that must have met with buyer's resistance, for this bottle was $15 and worth it: "very dark, light robe, complex without the beauj. acidity and a sweet berry aroma." Not a Pinot Noir but far from the "bad plant" that a Renaissance duke ordered eradicated (probably because he had just drank a Beauj. primeur).
I noticed that our weekend wines in February were all the 2011 Bourgueils, all drunk with approval. On the 14th we had Colette's lapin with cepes in white wine and a 2011 Quincy that tasted more like a Sancerre if a bit more stern and dryer. C. had discovered it in our favorite store in Cape May and because at $15 it seemed cheap we bought only 2 bottles, which we remedied soon after. The next Pinot noir came on March 2, with C's poule au pot, a 2005 Santenay 1er cru "La Maladiere" from Vincent Girardin which in spite of the vineyards name was far from bad. During our theater trips to NYC with lunch at Les Pyrenees this had become our favorite Burgundy at the suggestion of Marcel, "our" waiter, who took to hiding a few bottles of great vintages for us. Great memories enhance reality but this one was truly special, "no harsh acidity or chaudron, a soft aroma of ripe red fruit, transparent garnet and a slow robe," 13.5%.
As emerges from my remarks, we have been drinking the older wines which we did to celebrate events as well as to feel good when the winter got us (me) down. But more or less unspoken is also the question of my age and my father's oft expressed motto "You can't take it with you," to which, since he took his faith seriously, he sometimes added:" And were we're going we don't need anything anyway." And there's the question of to whom should I leave it, as I don't know anyone who would spend , if capable, the $$$ to buy high quality stuff when the first release comes on the market. I was reminded of these very occasional reflections by an item in the NYT where the author advised the aged to "count the days" that may be left. A reader wrote in that "it is better to die with a full wine cellar than not to have any wine to drink in the last few days of life." I guess that's why I still buy some lay-away bottles, not systematically and not of the same first growths when there's a great vintage, but occasionally though at about the same rate that we drink the 99's and '00's. And "to your health," whoever!
Tuesday, February 25, 2014
the modest birder (21) 2013 year-list
As a sort of competitive joke I kept a year-list for 2013 to show my birding buddy how many birds could be seen without travelling to hotspots during a one day excursion from one's home or traditional vacation spot (Maine in August). And even with his Spring in Georgia, trips to Arizona and elsewhere, he did not reach my year total until mid-summer.
Actually I broke my parameter, for at the end of May we made a specific 10 day trip to places in Maine that are father away from our vacation location of Southport Island (see the entry "August in Maine"). That trip consisted of 2 days around Scarborough, 3 around Machias and 2 in Baxter State Park, with stops on the way to these places. Birdwise that trip was not bad with some 29 year birds and 4 "lifers." But the weather was uncooperative with one 4-day period of constant and sometimes pouring rain; our planned trip for Machias Island' s pelagics was cancelled. Most of the food was 1950s "family restaurant," but the tree meals that were not were pretty outstanding. As it turned out of the 303 birds on the list even 3 of the 4 lifers could have been seen in Southern Jersey or Delaware and 2 of them I actually saw during fall migration, only the Spruce Grouse being strictly a northern species. In August, however, we saw several pelagics on boat trips out of Boothbay.
The highlights of the May trip were the Black Terns at Belgrade, the Spruce Grouse that walked calmly across the road in front of our car in Baxter, the Red Phalarope that flew up the Machias River, seen from of our room, and the five different sparrows on the Kennebunk Plains where the Vesper and Grasshopper Sparrows were target birds and a Clay-colored a nice bonus.
Black Terns are regular fall migrants at Cape May and in Delaware, but their wheeling around above marsh reeds reminded me of the ponds in the meadows of my childhood when I would drift in my kayak among them. Other good memories, in spite of the icy winds were the many Yellow-rumped Warblers in breeding plumage darting among the vegetation at the edge of a pond below Mt. Kathadin that itself was impressive in its fresh snow cover that virtually hung below its cloud enveloped summit. Then there was the odd appearance of a Hawk Owl on top of a spruce along Rt. 95 just before the Millinocket turn off, a flashback to our trip to Alaska.
The weather improved on our last day when we drove from Baxter to Freeport where we stopped for the night. The sky was blue and the sun was bright and as we had time we stopped off at Reid's Beach, one of our usual summer haunts. Colette took a long walk up and down the longer stretch of sand while I birded the park roads. She saw some Piping Plovers while from the height of the parking lot I watched several Common and two Red-throated Loons as well as the 4 usual terns. But most appreciated was the blue sky, the flat ocean and the spring-like temperature.
One of the consequences of the rainy weather, especially during the days we spent in the Moosehorn NWR, resulted from the fact that neither of us uses modern birding technology. This led to some experiences that were both challenging and amusing. If there was light rain we birded from the car with the window on the lee open. As I have hearing - and that only 70% - in my right ear only, this meant that Colette and I frequently changed seats to be able to lean out of the "dry" window, which was especially helpful if the bird was singing on that side. But one-ear hearing often creates an erroneous direction. If it poured the windows were opened for an inch or so. Identifying birdsong, especially of very high notes or from soft singers becomes an identification hazard. The upshot was that Colette tried to imitate sounds and cadences while I paged the likely warbler species in Peterson Warbler Guide and 2 other books. Slashing in the mud in a drenched trench coat was often the only way to establish a modicum of certainty.
I had a long time to watch the rain drench the rushing Machias River and among the things that went through my mind was the likelihood that the term "Godawfull weather" may have originated with some Christian farmer thinking about the biblical Deluge as his plough got stuck in the mud.
90% of the birds on the list birds posed fewer problems as we saw them in our regular haunts. Nearly all the ducks came in the first two months. A King eider appeared at Cape May but for the Common one we had to wait for Maine. The odd one out was an Eurasian Teal in Cape May on 3 March. An Eared Grebe hung around Indian River Inlet, Del. in February and a Red-necked appeared in Wildwood in April. Brown Pelicans regularly occur during the fall, but a White was in Bombay Hook NWR, Del. on 9/19. Least Bitterns were regular at Bombay, but I did not find one until Sept. 6. In that month there was also an invasion of White Ibis in Delaware and I saw several on that Sept. 6 trip when I saw also the only Mississippi Kite of the year though there had been several of them in May and June in New Jersey.
A rare find among the shorebirds were the Lapwings in NJ (for which we made a slight detour on the way home from Cape May) on March 10. Sand-hill Cranes had been reported at that location also, but we missed it and it remained elusive throughout the year. Both Godwits are regular at Bombay Hook, but a Buff-breasted Sandpiper was a real find along Rte 9 near Bombay Hook where it remained for more than a week and attracted many viewers. Because of our Maine trip we missed the Knots on their Delaware Bay stop-over, but some turned up in Delaware and NJ in the Fall.
Among the gulls etc. we saw 2 Sandwich Terns over the Hereford Inlet in Stone Harbor, a Long-tailed Jaeger and a Parasitic Jaeger on the beach at Cape May on 9/14 and 9/24 respectively. As we rarely make specific target trips, owls are always a rare find. In 2013 we saw 5 of them, a Snowy as one of the much reported invasion on 12/5, a Barred on 3/23 off Rte 9, a Screech on 12/22 at Bombay and a Great Horned on 5/16 also at Bombay. A Chuck-will's widow was a "lifer" on Sept. 6 when we nearly drove over it on a unpaved road of Rte 9. It only flew away when I got out to see whether it was alive.
Sometimes a new bird appears in our garden (which is on the edge of a wood transected by a vernal creek), this year it was a Red-headed Woodpecker on 4/27. I saw 2 rare flycatchers, an Olive-sided on 6/26 in the Cape May State Park and a Western Kingbird on 9/17 along Rte 9 (and another on 12/5 in Cape Henlopen St. Pk. in Del).
It's obvious by now that Rte 9 in Delaware is part of our normal birding spots, specifically the stretch from Odessa to Bombay Hk. NWR. and its side roads. It goes by Taylor's Gut and the Woodland WMA and some of its side roads go through blocks old forest. It's rare that we don't find some 10 species on a Spring or Fall trip and once in a while we hit a bonanza. Such was the case on May 16 when in the space of 50 yards along a side road with a thick hedgerow across from a brush-filled high forest there was a "fall out" of some fifty birds which were a pleasure to watch as they did not appear to move on and occasionally flipped across the road back and forth. My oldest US friend, usually very matter of fact if not phlegmatic, became very engaged pursuing each specie until he had a sure identification:
"That's a Yellow-throated Vireo" or "there's a Blue-headed" or "See that Summer Tanager"or "Did you get that Kentucky Warbler" or" this must be a Bay-breasted."
I also had my eyes on some Blackpolls that, confusingly, flitted in the low brush were several Black and Whites were gleaning the bark of the spring refurbished branches. When the excitement ebbed we had identified 14 species. A local lady, walking her dogs had stopped to watch us remarking: "They have been there all morning."
And as if to celebrate an Orchard Oriole and a Scarlet Tanager began to sing, the one in the top of the hedgerow and the other in a high beech.
Such "fall outs" occur more frequently during Fall migration for which Cape May has become famous, but even in our garden on a good day there may be several birds of up to seventeen species. One such fall-out occurred on 9/24 when I saw some twenty birders spying the hedgerow on the north-east side of Lily Lake in West Cape May. The number of Warblers was so large and their movement so nervous that identification became a group effort. The only new Warbler of the year that I saw was a Wilson's, but earlier that morning, at Highbee Beach, I had good looks at a Philadelphia Vireo, one of the target birds on our May trip to Baxter State Park in Maine.
Bird #300 was a Greater White-fronted Goose that was hanging around in Bombay Hook. I saw it on a regular Delaware trip on October 24. The next two months only brought two more species, though if I had made special efforts I could have added several more.
To some extent keeping the list satisfied my curiosity about how many species we could see without becoming "chasers." In comparison with localized lists of full-time birders ours was not a bad result. Yet, I wont be keeping another one simply to avoid the "pressure of the count" which, especially towards the end, took away from the pleasure of birding and its unsuspected surprises such as that of the hedgerow off Rte 9 on May 16.
ADDENDUM: Contrary to the last paragraph, I used the 2013 list for 2014 also and came up with an even 300 (5 less than 2013), of which 18 were birds not seen in 2013, thus in 2013 we saw 23 birds not seen in 2014. Some of the 2014 birds were pelagics, including an Audubon Shearwater, on the annual Maine puffin trip and the whale tour (that came after a bad storm that also brought a Mississippi Kite to Southport Island), but most were Cape May vagrants, including a Smith's Longspur (a lifer) one of the target birds that we missed on our Alaska trip; also a Vermillion Flycatcher and a Western Tanager that were watched by many people as we drove by the same road at different times and a Whiskered Tern that was around for 10 days on the pond in front of the Hawkwatch. For none of the 18 we made a special trip though some took a bit of repeat searching.
Actually I broke my parameter, for at the end of May we made a specific 10 day trip to places in Maine that are father away from our vacation location of Southport Island (see the entry "August in Maine"). That trip consisted of 2 days around Scarborough, 3 around Machias and 2 in Baxter State Park, with stops on the way to these places. Birdwise that trip was not bad with some 29 year birds and 4 "lifers." But the weather was uncooperative with one 4-day period of constant and sometimes pouring rain; our planned trip for Machias Island' s pelagics was cancelled. Most of the food was 1950s "family restaurant," but the tree meals that were not were pretty outstanding. As it turned out of the 303 birds on the list even 3 of the 4 lifers could have been seen in Southern Jersey or Delaware and 2 of them I actually saw during fall migration, only the Spruce Grouse being strictly a northern species. In August, however, we saw several pelagics on boat trips out of Boothbay.
The highlights of the May trip were the Black Terns at Belgrade, the Spruce Grouse that walked calmly across the road in front of our car in Baxter, the Red Phalarope that flew up the Machias River, seen from of our room, and the five different sparrows on the Kennebunk Plains where the Vesper and Grasshopper Sparrows were target birds and a Clay-colored a nice bonus.
Black Terns are regular fall migrants at Cape May and in Delaware, but their wheeling around above marsh reeds reminded me of the ponds in the meadows of my childhood when I would drift in my kayak among them. Other good memories, in spite of the icy winds were the many Yellow-rumped Warblers in breeding plumage darting among the vegetation at the edge of a pond below Mt. Kathadin that itself was impressive in its fresh snow cover that virtually hung below its cloud enveloped summit. Then there was the odd appearance of a Hawk Owl on top of a spruce along Rt. 95 just before the Millinocket turn off, a flashback to our trip to Alaska.
The weather improved on our last day when we drove from Baxter to Freeport where we stopped for the night. The sky was blue and the sun was bright and as we had time we stopped off at Reid's Beach, one of our usual summer haunts. Colette took a long walk up and down the longer stretch of sand while I birded the park roads. She saw some Piping Plovers while from the height of the parking lot I watched several Common and two Red-throated Loons as well as the 4 usual terns. But most appreciated was the blue sky, the flat ocean and the spring-like temperature.
One of the consequences of the rainy weather, especially during the days we spent in the Moosehorn NWR, resulted from the fact that neither of us uses modern birding technology. This led to some experiences that were both challenging and amusing. If there was light rain we birded from the car with the window on the lee open. As I have hearing - and that only 70% - in my right ear only, this meant that Colette and I frequently changed seats to be able to lean out of the "dry" window, which was especially helpful if the bird was singing on that side. But one-ear hearing often creates an erroneous direction. If it poured the windows were opened for an inch or so. Identifying birdsong, especially of very high notes or from soft singers becomes an identification hazard. The upshot was that Colette tried to imitate sounds and cadences while I paged the likely warbler species in Peterson Warbler Guide and 2 other books. Slashing in the mud in a drenched trench coat was often the only way to establish a modicum of certainty.
I had a long time to watch the rain drench the rushing Machias River and among the things that went through my mind was the likelihood that the term "Godawfull weather" may have originated with some Christian farmer thinking about the biblical Deluge as his plough got stuck in the mud.
90% of the birds on the list birds posed fewer problems as we saw them in our regular haunts. Nearly all the ducks came in the first two months. A King eider appeared at Cape May but for the Common one we had to wait for Maine. The odd one out was an Eurasian Teal in Cape May on 3 March. An Eared Grebe hung around Indian River Inlet, Del. in February and a Red-necked appeared in Wildwood in April. Brown Pelicans regularly occur during the fall, but a White was in Bombay Hook NWR, Del. on 9/19. Least Bitterns were regular at Bombay, but I did not find one until Sept. 6. In that month there was also an invasion of White Ibis in Delaware and I saw several on that Sept. 6 trip when I saw also the only Mississippi Kite of the year though there had been several of them in May and June in New Jersey.
A rare find among the shorebirds were the Lapwings in NJ (for which we made a slight detour on the way home from Cape May) on March 10. Sand-hill Cranes had been reported at that location also, but we missed it and it remained elusive throughout the year. Both Godwits are regular at Bombay Hook, but a Buff-breasted Sandpiper was a real find along Rte 9 near Bombay Hook where it remained for more than a week and attracted many viewers. Because of our Maine trip we missed the Knots on their Delaware Bay stop-over, but some turned up in Delaware and NJ in the Fall.
Among the gulls etc. we saw 2 Sandwich Terns over the Hereford Inlet in Stone Harbor, a Long-tailed Jaeger and a Parasitic Jaeger on the beach at Cape May on 9/14 and 9/24 respectively. As we rarely make specific target trips, owls are always a rare find. In 2013 we saw 5 of them, a Snowy as one of the much reported invasion on 12/5, a Barred on 3/23 off Rte 9, a Screech on 12/22 at Bombay and a Great Horned on 5/16 also at Bombay. A Chuck-will's widow was a "lifer" on Sept. 6 when we nearly drove over it on a unpaved road of Rte 9. It only flew away when I got out to see whether it was alive.
Sometimes a new bird appears in our garden (which is on the edge of a wood transected by a vernal creek), this year it was a Red-headed Woodpecker on 4/27. I saw 2 rare flycatchers, an Olive-sided on 6/26 in the Cape May State Park and a Western Kingbird on 9/17 along Rte 9 (and another on 12/5 in Cape Henlopen St. Pk. in Del).
It's obvious by now that Rte 9 in Delaware is part of our normal birding spots, specifically the stretch from Odessa to Bombay Hk. NWR. and its side roads. It goes by Taylor's Gut and the Woodland WMA and some of its side roads go through blocks old forest. It's rare that we don't find some 10 species on a Spring or Fall trip and once in a while we hit a bonanza. Such was the case on May 16 when in the space of 50 yards along a side road with a thick hedgerow across from a brush-filled high forest there was a "fall out" of some fifty birds which were a pleasure to watch as they did not appear to move on and occasionally flipped across the road back and forth. My oldest US friend, usually very matter of fact if not phlegmatic, became very engaged pursuing each specie until he had a sure identification:
"That's a Yellow-throated Vireo" or "there's a Blue-headed" or "See that Summer Tanager"or "Did you get that Kentucky Warbler" or" this must be a Bay-breasted."
I also had my eyes on some Blackpolls that, confusingly, flitted in the low brush were several Black and Whites were gleaning the bark of the spring refurbished branches. When the excitement ebbed we had identified 14 species. A local lady, walking her dogs had stopped to watch us remarking: "They have been there all morning."
And as if to celebrate an Orchard Oriole and a Scarlet Tanager began to sing, the one in the top of the hedgerow and the other in a high beech.
Such "fall outs" occur more frequently during Fall migration for which Cape May has become famous, but even in our garden on a good day there may be several birds of up to seventeen species. One such fall-out occurred on 9/24 when I saw some twenty birders spying the hedgerow on the north-east side of Lily Lake in West Cape May. The number of Warblers was so large and their movement so nervous that identification became a group effort. The only new Warbler of the year that I saw was a Wilson's, but earlier that morning, at Highbee Beach, I had good looks at a Philadelphia Vireo, one of the target birds on our May trip to Baxter State Park in Maine.
Bird #300 was a Greater White-fronted Goose that was hanging around in Bombay Hook. I saw it on a regular Delaware trip on October 24. The next two months only brought two more species, though if I had made special efforts I could have added several more.
To some extent keeping the list satisfied my curiosity about how many species we could see without becoming "chasers." In comparison with localized lists of full-time birders ours was not a bad result. Yet, I wont be keeping another one simply to avoid the "pressure of the count" which, especially towards the end, took away from the pleasure of birding and its unsuspected surprises such as that of the hedgerow off Rte 9 on May 16.
ADDENDUM: Contrary to the last paragraph, I used the 2013 list for 2014 also and came up with an even 300 (5 less than 2013), of which 18 were birds not seen in 2013, thus in 2013 we saw 23 birds not seen in 2014. Some of the 2014 birds were pelagics, including an Audubon Shearwater, on the annual Maine puffin trip and the whale tour (that came after a bad storm that also brought a Mississippi Kite to Southport Island), but most were Cape May vagrants, including a Smith's Longspur (a lifer) one of the target birds that we missed on our Alaska trip; also a Vermillion Flycatcher and a Western Tanager that were watched by many people as we drove by the same road at different times and a Whiskered Tern that was around for 10 days on the pond in front of the Hawkwatch. For none of the 18 we made a special trip though some took a bit of repeat searching.
Monday, February 24, 2014
the modest birder (20) winter 13-14
This is a miserable winter. The long term forecast has frost and snow showers through March 10.
Until the week of Thanksgiving everything was pretty normal, then on Monday11/25 the temp. was 14-29. This was followed by more normal temps but 0n 12/8 it was in the 20s with snow and from then on it remained winter. All the likely winter residents were present, including three white crowned sparrows (1 juv.) which turned out to be the only rare visitors. In Dec. my jobber removed snow three times (once for 6"). In January he came four times as he did this month (8" once) so far. There were few days of 40 degrees and most days the thermometer remained stuck in the 20s with some lows of -3!!. One morning, after icy rain overnight, even the branches seemed to be weeping as some of them broke under the weight of their tears.
We went birding in Delaware or New Jersey only three times when the weather was bearable for a few days. It was surprising how many fields were bare while we had still 6" of hard snow everywhere. But even there winter affected the birds as see ducks flocked together in large rafts along the coast and others appeared in the warmer waters of the bays.
Since the December snows the resident sapsuckers, flickers and Carolina wrens have been absent. There are only two, perhaps three red-belly woodpeckers; only one regular hairy (some days there are two), the regular compliment of small and large downies, but only one white-breasted nuthatch and brown creeper. Last year there were two regular hairies, three or four nuthatches and three creepers. The numbers of other species are also down. In stead of up to thirty mourning doves there are 4 to 6 and some days none at all (one ended up, frozen stiff, in the garage) and there are at most 10 juncos rather than the occasional 50 or so that would forage among the weeds down the slope. On the other hand there have been more goldfinches, up to eight which last year was the number in March. Most surprising is the number of white-throated sparrows that varies between 12 and 16 (only 5 of them adults). There are only two pairs of house finches which normally outnumber the gold finches in January and February and this year we have at least two pairs of Carolina chickadees in stead of three odd birds.
A surprise was the fact that when a sapsucker appeared, it was only for a day to forage in the trees near the creek without coming to the suet which, every other year, was a steady source of food on warm days as well as cold. One Carolina wren hang around for 3 days in February and no flicker put in an appearance at all.
On the other hand we have had a flock of perhaps 20 cowbirds (2 females) on several separate days, a flock of 40+ grackles( 6 females) 3 times at week intervals and one rusty black bird two different times. Each of these flocks stayed until the feeders were empty and the larger stuff in the snow was gone. Where they went each time remains a puzzle as I haven't met with them on my travels around.
A bit bizarre was the frequent appearance of one or two robins that sat in the trees. All our berries have long since been eaten, even those of the holly although they do not seem very attractive to robins, for near the post office there is one glorious tree laden with bright red berries every winter while there is also a small flock of robins hanging around.
The raptors were probably the least affected by the weather, though an adult male and a juvenile sharpshin occasional raid the feeders whereas the last few winters no shapshins were around after December. Each winter we have a female cooper's, but this time there's also an adult male. Each of the shapshins and the cooper's a come around on different days and each would make several appearances during the day. They were, as usual, not very successful: the male sharpshin caught a small bird twice, each time flying away with its back toward me; the female cooper's caught s starling one time and soon thereafter fewer starlings haunted the feeders, i.e. 3 or four instead of up to 11.
There were no redtails until 2 weeks ago when the resident pair from the adjacent farm returned to their wind damaged nest. The first days they patrolled along the tree tops and began circling higher and higher, but now they have become scarce as they must roam farther afield for prey. Last week I shot three squirrels off the feeders in on hour. One was lame in a hind leg, it came back the next day, but appears gone. One died below the suet tree. Within the hour one of the redtails tore much of it apart before flying to a nearby tree. Not long after the other came and finished the job. The 3d squirrel died below the spruce and lay there for 2 nights, the local raccoon has likely made off with it, though the surface of the snow is so hard that no clear tracks were visible. No other squirrels have crossed the creek so far.
Yesterday I ordered the seeds for spring planting, always a gesture of hope, but I have difficulty being optimistic.
Perhaps because the storm predicted for March 2-3 passed to the south of us, a male cardinal was "feeding" a female on the feeder pole. At the beginning of this winter we had a low of 2 males and one female, but suddenly in Febr, there were one morning 5 males and 4 females all at once on the feeders and on nearby branches. Now there are mostly 4 males and three females.
Until the week of Thanksgiving everything was pretty normal, then on Monday11/25 the temp. was 14-29. This was followed by more normal temps but 0n 12/8 it was in the 20s with snow and from then on it remained winter. All the likely winter residents were present, including three white crowned sparrows (1 juv.) which turned out to be the only rare visitors. In Dec. my jobber removed snow three times (once for 6"). In January he came four times as he did this month (8" once) so far. There were few days of 40 degrees and most days the thermometer remained stuck in the 20s with some lows of -3!!. One morning, after icy rain overnight, even the branches seemed to be weeping as some of them broke under the weight of their tears.
We went birding in Delaware or New Jersey only three times when the weather was bearable for a few days. It was surprising how many fields were bare while we had still 6" of hard snow everywhere. But even there winter affected the birds as see ducks flocked together in large rafts along the coast and others appeared in the warmer waters of the bays.
Since the December snows the resident sapsuckers, flickers and Carolina wrens have been absent. There are only two, perhaps three red-belly woodpeckers; only one regular hairy (some days there are two), the regular compliment of small and large downies, but only one white-breasted nuthatch and brown creeper. Last year there were two regular hairies, three or four nuthatches and three creepers. The numbers of other species are also down. In stead of up to thirty mourning doves there are 4 to 6 and some days none at all (one ended up, frozen stiff, in the garage) and there are at most 10 juncos rather than the occasional 50 or so that would forage among the weeds down the slope. On the other hand there have been more goldfinches, up to eight which last year was the number in March. Most surprising is the number of white-throated sparrows that varies between 12 and 16 (only 5 of them adults). There are only two pairs of house finches which normally outnumber the gold finches in January and February and this year we have at least two pairs of Carolina chickadees in stead of three odd birds.
A surprise was the fact that when a sapsucker appeared, it was only for a day to forage in the trees near the creek without coming to the suet which, every other year, was a steady source of food on warm days as well as cold. One Carolina wren hang around for 3 days in February and no flicker put in an appearance at all.
On the other hand we have had a flock of perhaps 20 cowbirds (2 females) on several separate days, a flock of 40+ grackles( 6 females) 3 times at week intervals and one rusty black bird two different times. Each of these flocks stayed until the feeders were empty and the larger stuff in the snow was gone. Where they went each time remains a puzzle as I haven't met with them on my travels around.
A bit bizarre was the frequent appearance of one or two robins that sat in the trees. All our berries have long since been eaten, even those of the holly although they do not seem very attractive to robins, for near the post office there is one glorious tree laden with bright red berries every winter while there is also a small flock of robins hanging around.
The raptors were probably the least affected by the weather, though an adult male and a juvenile sharpshin occasional raid the feeders whereas the last few winters no shapshins were around after December. Each winter we have a female cooper's, but this time there's also an adult male. Each of the shapshins and the cooper's a come around on different days and each would make several appearances during the day. They were, as usual, not very successful: the male sharpshin caught a small bird twice, each time flying away with its back toward me; the female cooper's caught s starling one time and soon thereafter fewer starlings haunted the feeders, i.e. 3 or four instead of up to 11.
There were no redtails until 2 weeks ago when the resident pair from the adjacent farm returned to their wind damaged nest. The first days they patrolled along the tree tops and began circling higher and higher, but now they have become scarce as they must roam farther afield for prey. Last week I shot three squirrels off the feeders in on hour. One was lame in a hind leg, it came back the next day, but appears gone. One died below the suet tree. Within the hour one of the redtails tore much of it apart before flying to a nearby tree. Not long after the other came and finished the job. The 3d squirrel died below the spruce and lay there for 2 nights, the local raccoon has likely made off with it, though the surface of the snow is so hard that no clear tracks were visible. No other squirrels have crossed the creek so far.
Yesterday I ordered the seeds for spring planting, always a gesture of hope, but I have difficulty being optimistic.
Perhaps because the storm predicted for March 2-3 passed to the south of us, a male cardinal was "feeding" a female on the feeder pole. At the beginning of this winter we had a low of 2 males and one female, but suddenly in Febr, there were one morning 5 males and 4 females all at once on the feeders and on nearby branches. Now there are mostly 4 males and three females.
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