Road Trips (1): Prattsville NY

not a sparrow

I'm sorry my blogging has been so sparse lately; I'll try to do better. Summer birding has also been pretty sparse, though it's starting to pick up. While it was slow, we went on a couple of nice road trips.

The first was to a friend's summer place in Prattsville NY. We've been up there around the summer solstice the last couple of years, and it's always great.

As before, the highlight was all the nesting Bobolink in the fields at the nearby crossroads. Interestingly, thefemales were very active and I got some wonderful close-up views of them. I'm not sure what was different from previous years--perhaps they got an earlier start with their nesting, since some of them were clearly carrying food.

"bug in beak went my love flying..."

I had never seen female Bobolinks so close before, only perching up briefly on power lines. In fact, I spent a lot of time trying to figure out what these odd largish sparrows were, until one of the males popped up nearby giving the same contact call as the "sparrows".

3-2-1 contact!

On the farm itself, most of the usual nesters were around--Prairie Warbler, Common Yellowthroat, Indigo Bunting, Song Sparrow, Chipping Sparrow--plus one I'd never had there before, a very loud Ovenbird in a stand of trees. The were mostly prety cagey this year, though, and I didn't get a lot of good photos.

One Common Yellowthroat did come out for a visit, bathing freqently in water pooled on the plastic cover of a sandbox in the yard.

making a splash

Also, a gorgeous male Ruby-Throated Hummingbird enjoyed a feeder right off the porch. I spent a couple of hours photographing him as he visited every nine minutes like clockwork. Somehow, I was never able to get a sharp photo with the right angle of light to really show off his throat. I'm pretty happy with this snap, though--oh, those feet.

a clockwork Ruby

Prattsville NY, Summer Solstice

On the first weekend of Summer, our friend Gary drove us up to his family's summer house in Prattsville NY, Catskills. It's a lovely place that I've blogged about before.

On the way up, we stopped for lunch at the original Bread Alone shop in Boiceville. Ten minutes looking at the scrubby woods at the edge of the parking lot yielded a Vesper Sparrow along with Carolina Wrens, Common Yellowthroats, and Catbirds.

We arrived in Prattsville with plenty of light left on the longest day of the year. I went for a stroll around the area. As last year, the highlight were the Bobolinks nesting in the hayfields at the nearby crossroads.

There were more than last summer, so I guess they must have done well. For the first time I heard the males singing. The males stayed out of sight until I was walking along teh edge of the field, then they rose up, one or two at a time, giving a wild song like someone tuning an old-fashioned radio. I imagine they were agitated by having a large mammal near the nest site and were trying to draw me away. Before I arrived, a couple of cars went past, and those didn't bother the birds at all.

This was also the first time I got a good look at Bobolink females. They're quite good-looking birds as well, though much more understated than the males.

Both sexes look a little haggard--feathers ruffled, tails a bit ragged.

I went down the road a little. I heard a hoarse deep screaming call in the distance, and then nearer by came an answer--a Raven, who took off from a tree, flying toward the other call.

Something else called nearby like a police whistle. As I peered into the woods to find it, a Turkey Vulture flew in above me and landed briefly in a treetop.

here's the world-famous vulture...

Back at the house, we heard Common Yellowthroats, Song Sparrows, and Chestnut-sided Warblers in the yard, and an Indigo Bunting perched on a wire. In the distance we heard a corvid party--the Ravens, along with crows and Blue Jays calling continuously for a half hour.

On Saturday night came a soaking rain. It finally let up a bit after 7 on Sunday morning, and I went off through the fields. I got good and soaked from the tall, wet grasses, too.

Birdsong was everywhere. Field Sparrow, Song Sparrow, Eastern Towhee. Catbirds sang loudly from deep within the brush. Farther away, a Prairie Warbler sang its rising buzzy song.

Later in the morning, Gary and I walked up the road partway up Bearpen Mountain. Singing Indigo Buntings were everywhere.

A large number of crows were conversing, not too distant but out of sight. We did spot some Wild Turkeys, though.

When we headed back to the house, the Bobolinks were out again.

A bit more rain came in after lunch, and by the time it was over it was time to leave. While packing the car, we heard a loud banging from the old barn.

The Sapsucker Is In

I didn't manage to get a picture of it, but this natty Sapsucker was banging the tin roof of the barn, which resonated nicely. It made a hell of a racket, that is to say, demonstrating to all potential rivals that the resident Sapsucker was on his territory and not to be messed around with.

Prattsville: Bobolinks and Blackbirds

dig that crazy-looking bird

The bird I was most excited to see was the Bobolink. I'd never seen fany before, and when very early on Sunday morning I saw a blackbird with yellow on the back of its head perched on a power wire over a hayfield at a crossroads, I couldn't work out what it was. I watched it drop down into the tall grass, then pop back up on the wire. Its only vocalization was a guttural chuck, not as metallic as a Red-Winged Blackbird.

I riffled through my field guide, ruling out a vagrant Yellow-Headed Blackbird--and somehow missing the illustration of the Bobolink; I amaze myself sometimes, I really do. I was convincing myself that it was a red-winged having a really weird molt when another showed up. They both went into the grass, but minutes later, three more flew up from a field across the road.

OK, so not just a single bird having a weird molt

It wasn't until I got back to the house and sat down with the field guide that I spotted the Bobolink picture. Oh!

I hope those fields aren't mowed until the fledglings are ready to fly out (end of July). Earlier mowing would be a disaster for the Bobolinks. I saw those fields on Labor Day weekend last year and there were round bales still sitting in those fields and the grass looked like only a few weeks' growth, so maybe it will turn out all right. Here's an interesting article from the Audubon Society about the problems Bobolinks have nesting these days. (Unfortunately, the Bobolink Project website is down now; it looks like it had a lot of good information. Update 6/30/2014 - the site is back up.)

One of the other two corners of the crossroads had a field that was closely mowed, and the last was also in tall grass, but wholly occupied by Red-Winged Blackbirds.

The funny thing was, I was out for a walk on Saturday afternoon, and I didn't see any Bobolinks, only the Red-Wingeds. One male was posted a a sentry on a power line. He was giving repeated metallic chack calls, until I got within twenty yards, when he started giving high pitched calls and shuffling back and forth down the wire.

he didn't like me one little bit

Once every minute or so, he'd fly off the wire and circle about 10-12 feet over my head, then return.

I think the Red-Winged young must be fairly well along, since I saw a few females coming out. Around here, at least, that doesn't happen until they're near fledging.

Mama needs a break

No Bobolinks

Wednesday morning, there were reports of a singing Bobolink near the Loch in Central Park. Unfortunately, single Bobolinks don't hang around very long, and by the time I got up there, the bird was probably long gone.

But I had a pleasant wander through the North Woods--lots of Northern Waterthrushes and Wood Thrushes, and a really amazing number of Hermit Thrushes--they popped up everywhere I looked. Plus I watched a pair of male Black-Throated Blue Warblers fighting--they chased each other around the bushes and pecked at each other. I've never seen that before.

I ran into Kyu Lee and Tom Fiore, who told me there was a Solitary Sandpiper not far away at the compost area on the Mount, so I set off to find it.

I've written about the Mount before. It's where all the leaf litter and downed tree branches and so on get composted. Because of all the rain this spring, there's a bit of a pool between the heaps of mulch. When I arrived, there were four Mallard drakes hanging out on the edge of the water, and some Robins and Mourning Doves were poking around, but I couldn't see the Sandpiper.

I circled around the area looking for a vantage point where I could see the most north-eastern part of the puddle. It took some doing, but eventually I spotted something walking the water's edge and bobbing its head.

Solitary Sandpiper (and nearby American Robin) at the Central Park compost area

Every time I see a sandpiper in Central Park, I'm surprised by how small it is. For a moment I took it for a waterthrush. I watched for a long time. It seemed pretty happy wading in what I assume was pretty filthy water.

Solitary Sandpiper is an infrequent bird in Central Park (though there seem to be a few out on Randall's Island right now), and is my 146th species in Manhattan this year.

On the way out, I went by Harlem Meer and saw a Great Egret fly in and perch high in a tree. That always looks wrong.

Great Egret, Harlem Meer