Road Trips (2): Quincy MA

Ruby on rail

Our other road trip this summer was to Quincy, Massachusetts for our favorite science-fiction convention, Readercon, which I blogged about a couple of years ago.

such purple, very finch, wow

Our friends Barbara and Jim drove us up, and as we do every year we stopped at Traveler Food and Books in Union CT (they seem to have no website, but here's a newspaper story about them). They have good food, a used bookstore in the basement, and they give away free books with every meal; highly recommended.

They also have bird feeders right outside their window, and the feeders are quite active.

eating on the run

So we got in some bird-watching while we ate. (I don't seem to have ever blogged about the place before; how odd.)

looking sharp

Even through the window, I got some pretty decent photos. The hummingbird feeder was used by four birds, which I think were a female with two fledglings, and a male.

showing the kid the ropes

Telling a female from a juvenile is hard with Ruby-Throateds, but I saw one plain-throated bird bird show up with another on two occasions, and the second bird I think was different each time.

what the heck, one more hummingbird photo

And the male came from the opposite direction. Males have nothing to do with raising the young, anyway.

Readercon used to be in Burlington MA, and we'd go to Middlesex Fells on the first morning before the con began. This year, we went instead to the nearby Blue Hills Reservation. It seems very nice, but we got there a bit late in the morning, so the birding was slow. We did hear a bunch of singing Scarlet Tanagers, but nothing presented itself for a good photo.

full bloom of youth

The hotel in Quincy was set on the top of a hill, and at the bottom was a nice pond. Ther were geese and ducks, of course, and a Green Heron hunted on the far side. Closer up, the Red-Winged Blackbirds were abundant, including the interesting bird above, one of a group of what appeared to all be young males. Note the epaulettes; I don't think I've seen them so yellow before.

color photo, black-and-white scene

Also there were chickadees chasing each other around in low trees. This fellow had a lot to say, both singing and scolding.

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

End of summer

I feel there should be some fine Japanese calligraphy on this one

This weekend was the technical end of Summer. Of course, that means that Fall migration is about halfway done already--more for some birds, such as shorebirds.

Despite that, there was a report on Saturday of a very unusual bird for New York, a Pectoral Sandpiper, at Muscota Marsh in Inwood Hill Park. They come through the region on migration in the Fall fairly regularly, but apparently there had never been one in Manhattan before.

Sunday morning, a report from eBird said the bird was still there, so off I went to the very northern edge of Manhattan.

The Pectoral gets its name from the fact that it's upper chest is quite buff. Seriously.

And there it was, hanging out with a couple of dozen Semipalmated Sandpipers. Our hero bird was notably larger and browner. I was very lucky--after I had watched the flock from some distance awhile, they took off---and landed not thirty feet in front of the bench I was sitting on.

Pectoral and Semipalmated Sandpipers synching up

I watched them there for a long time, then went off to see what was doing in the rest of Spuyten Duyvil Creek (answer: not much). When I returned, another birder told me that a Peregrine Falcon had flown in and perched atop a light tower at Baker Field (the Columbia University athletic complex right next to Inwood Hill Park). The sandpipers had mostly flown off, except a few very brave or very foolish Semipalmateds.

The Peregrine eventually gave up, but the Pectoral did not return while I was there. Which doesn't mean it's gone.

dinner is served

Meanwhile, in Central Park this weekend, migration also continued. Scarlet Tanagers, Rose Breasted Grosbeaks, and a good variety of warblers are all around. Oh, and hummingbirds. Did I mention the hummingbirds? They were all over the place.

right now, wherever there's jewelweed, there are hummingbirds

I also had a Red-Breasted Nuthatch at the Pinetum--my first of the year, and I had only one in all of 2013 as well--, a Kingfisher (always charming to see) and various confusing fall warblers. One of the warblers might have been a very dull Bay-Breasted, but most were Pine Warblers, I think.

confused Fall warbler

The Red-Breasted Nuthatch was my 178th species in New York County this year, and the Pectoral Sandpiper was my 179th (and a life bird).

Prattsville, conclusion

Ruby-Throated resting by the roadside

Sunday morning in Prattsville, my host and I took a long walk down a road toward Schoharie Creek, and on a gravel path branching off from that. Unfortunately, neither road came very close to the creek itself, but there was a fairly good variety of birds, like the male Ruby-Throated Hummingbird above and this American Redstart.

Redstart rockin' in the branches

There were interesting sights that weren't birds, as well.

why did the newt cross the road?

That's an Eastern (Red-Spotted) Newt who crossed the road in front of us, and on our return a butterfly settled down on the driveway

goodness gracious, Great Spangled Fritillary

I know little about butterflies, but I think this is a Great Spangled Fritillary.

Back in the meadow next to the house, the birds continued singing all day long, but mostly stayed out of sight. The Song Sparrows were the most visible.

sing! sing! sing!

The Common Yellowthroats and the Chipping Sparrows sang constantly, but I only had glimpses of them. This is the closest photo I had of either species:

Chipping Sparrow, momentarily out in the open

Other birds were in the vicinity as well--we had a glimpse of a Black-Billed Cuckoo and heard a Yellow-Billed Cuckoo sing several times. I never heard a Purple Finch singing, but they must be nesting nearby since I saw a small group of females.  This one stopped on a low branch for a minute until the others caught up; then they all flew away.

leading the way

It's a hard life being a bird

It's a hard life, being a bird. On Saturday came the news that the Ruby-Throated Hummingbird nest near Oak Bridge had been raided and destroyed by a Baltimore Oriole.

Photographer Roman Brewka was there when it happened and photos are on his website at birdsofnewyork.com in the "Recent Photos" gallery. They may be a little disturbing (or I may be too tender-hearted towards small birds), but he's an excellent photographer and you should check out his other galleries at least.

On a cheerier note, the latest set of Pale Male's offspring has fledged and today the area around the Toy Boat Pond was full of the cries of the young Red-Tailed Hawks. One remained perched in one place, taking a lively interest in passing small dogs.

don't let your dog run off-leash, OK?

One of his siblings flew in and rested in the grass awhile.

hawks on the grass, alas

People passed by; some noticed, some didn't.

just another New Yorker

The third was calling frequently somewhere to the north, but eventually flew into another nearby tree.

this must be the place

I say this was "cheerier", but the squirrels, and especially the Grackles, didn't really agree. The Grackles especially were very unhappy about the hawks hanging around their nesting area.

In the Ramble, things were quiet. A strange thing happened while I watched this fledgling Blue Jay.

they grow up so fast

Once in a while an adult jay would come by and smack the youngster on the head. Is this parental affection among Blue Jays? Was the young bird too close to someone else's nest? It wasn't a mobbing--the adults weren't hanging around to harass the youngster, just coming around every couple of minutes, peck, off again.

Start of summer birding

Spring migration is over, and attention turns to unusual nesters and the occasional accidental sighting.

I went up to Inwood Hill Park Tuesday, following a report of Eastern Screech Owls (maybe transients, maybe taking up residence). I didn't find them, but I eventually made my way to Hudson River promenade, where there were quite a number of Mockingbirds and Song Sparrows.

Song Sparrow, singing

In between looking at them, I scanned the water--there was a goose family swimming across the river--and the Jersey cliffs. I caught sight of a tiny bright flash of white, and in my binoculars I saw a bird with a white head and tail, and an all-dark body and very long, all-dark wings. It could be nothing else but a Bald Eagle--as Peterson says, the bird is "all field mark".

I watched the eagle climb a thermal, high and higher, then glide north on flat wings and disappear in the haze. There were a couple of nesting pairs on the Palisades last year, perhaps this was one of them. It would certainly be very late for a migrating eagle.

No photo, alas. I could not get my camera to focus on such a small moving target so far away. I think it would have been about 20 pixels long even if I had snapped it.

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The next day, I went out to Governor's Island to look at the nesting colony of Common Terns. I really don'r recommend going there on a weekday. Many of the areas listed as being open to the public are in fact blocked by construction, including a lot of the shore. Yankee Pier, where the most accessible nesting colony is, is a ferry terminal on weekends, but during the week it is padlocked lest someone steal it. You can only get a distant view of the terns from the shore.

red-billed agents of the Common Tern

I did get a nice sculptural shot of some nearby cormorants resting.

sculptural seabirds

There were a lot of crows around. Some were silent, some cawed like American Crows, but several gave the distinctive nasal double call of the Fish Crow. (How do you tell a Fish Crow? Ask a crow it's an American Crow, and a Fish Crow will say "Nunh-unh! Nunh-unh!")

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The Ruby-Throated Hummingbird is still on her nest at the Upper Lobe of Central Park Lake. The nest is now festooned with lichen, just like it says in the books.

hummingbird home decoration

The surrounding area is festooned with birders and photographers.

People are saying this is the first recorded hummingbird nest in Central Park. I don't know how it works with hummingbirds--if she has already laid the eggs, or if she is ready to lay but can hold them until the nest is ready, or if she's actually still in need of a male. In that last case, this may not turn out well--it's kind of late for hummingbirds to come through.

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I'm finding it as hard to write about identifying Empidonax flycatchers as it is ti identify them in the first place, so that post may be a while. For now, let me just count up: I had Acadian, Yellow-Bellied, and Alder flycatchers (in addition to Least), which got me to 164 species. The Bald Eagle, Common Tern, and Fish Crow make it 167 in the county. Last year, I got my 167th species in November (and was at 145 on this date), so it continues to be a busy year.

Nesting season

The flow of migrants has pretty much dried up, and the resident nesting birds are dominating Central Park. The first broods of Robins fledged a couple of weeks back, and many nests are still active. Starlings, Grackles, and House Sparrows are tending their first crops of fledglings as well. Cardinals are nesting all over, and so are various woodpeckers. A number of Warbling Vireos and at least two Red-Eyed Vireos are singing in and near the Ramble, so presumably are nesting, as are Eastern Kingbirds at the Upper Lobe at least.

And then there's this:

A Ruby-Throated Hummingbird, on a nest near the Upper Lobe. They don't usually nest in Central Park. I'm trying to fid out if that's ever happened before, in fact.

That nest is about the size of an espresso cup. It's made largely of spiderwebs and a bit of plant material. Usually there's some lichen stuck on the outside--I'm not sure this one is finished yet.

The next few weeks will be interesting.