Waiting for the shorebirds

Great Blue Hunter

It's the end of July and I'm waiting for the shorebirds to show up. As far as I know, nobody's been seeing much in Manhattan--no sandpipers at all, for one thing. I've read that Jamaica Bay is quite uncharacteristically slow, too--maybe the migrating shorebirds are avoiding the whole area.

I was up at Inwood Hill Park the other weekend, and although there were no sandpipers or plovers, there were a few birds of the heron family, including my first Great Blue Heron of the year in Manhattan--two of them actually, hunting quite successfully in the coves.

Snowy Egret

There were also at least one Snowy Egret, and a Great Egret. All nice to see, but I'm still waiting for my peeps.

Great Egret, workin' hard

Breaking News!

There's been a lot of stuff happening. Here's a quick rundown:

Fall migration has begun

first warbler of the Fall

I had my first warbler of the Fall migration season on Wednesday, A Yellow Warbler calling constantly and foraging in the trees beside the dock at Turtle Pond.

Also at Turtle Pond, a pair Kingbirds had nested above the dock, but I haven't seen any signs of fledglings, and today Junko Suzuki notices that they seemed to gathering more nesting material. I saw that as well, after she pointed it out. Do Kingbirds ever re-nest if they've had a nesting failure, or start a second brood after fledging the first? I've read that they only ever have one brood.

Tern festival!

TERN FESTIVAL

Elena and I went to Governor's Island on Sunday for the Audubon Tern Festival. It was too hot for us to do any of the bird walks, but we did have a nice look at the colony on Yankee Pier.

OMG baby terns

The fledgling terns are coming along nicely. Terns will re-nest if there's a problem with their first batch of eggs, so the baby terns range from these fuzzy globular chicks to well-plumaged adolescents.

Man, are they all noisy.

Governors Island Yellow-Crowned Night Heron update

we're a happy family

The Yellow-Crowned Night Heron nest on Governors Island has not just one, not two, not three, but four baby birds in it (you can see three in that photo). It was a 90-degree day, and the parents and nestlings were visibly panting. I had the impression that the adults were mostly standing there to shade the young ones.

They're about three weeks old (Ben Cacace first saw a nestling on July 2, and it was not more than a couple of days old at that point). They are supposed to take 30 to 42 days to leave the nest, so we're looking at the very end of July or the first week or two of August for the fledging.

There's also a second nest on the island--I don't know where, exactly--but the reports sound like the same male might be responsible for both. I have not heard about any nestlings there.

There's a very nice YouTube video of the nest, by Cathy (who is quoteny on YouTube and @Cathyewe on twitter).

Also on Governors Island, we saw a large number of Brown Cowbirds, none of them adult males; many seemed to be juveniles to my eyes. Anyone know what's up with that?

Margaret Morse Nice, The Watcher at the Nest

Song Sparrow, Bryant Park

Every year, we go to a speculative literature convention near Boston called Readercon, driven up by friends who are also birders. This year's Readercon was last weekend, and as always we got a little birdwatching in on the trip, and I'll have a post about that soon. But while at the con, we went to dinner at a little Korean BBQ place, next door to which is a used book superstore called Used Book Superstore. Well, of course we went there. What do you take us for?

So I picked up a battered copy of a little book called The Watcher at the Nest, which would be a good title for a horror novel but is actually about Song Sparrows. The author, Margaret Morse Nice, pioneered life-history studies of birds in an era that was mostly concerned with finding and cataloging species. The Wilson Ornithological Society gives an award in her honor.

This very charming book is an account of her observations of the Song Sparrows who nested near her home in Columbus, Ohio during the eight years she lived there. Here's her description of the life of a male Song Sparrow dealing with the stress of nesting season with one brood just fledged and a nest full of eggs for the second batch:

Life for the Song Sparrow husband and father in the midst of the nesting season is a complicated affair at best; he has an incubating wife to protect, troublesome neighbors to watch, a brood of young hopefuls to feed, and his own living to get, not to mention keeping himself and his family out of the clutches of prowling enemies. The reason that he can successfully cope with such a multiplicity of details is that he does one thing at a time with all his might, and in the next minute, perhaps, turns his whole attention to something else.

That's an approach worth considering for all of us.

Nice's work in Columbus resulted in an immense two-volume study Studies in the life history of the Song Sparrow. I need to read that, I think; also her biography Research is a passion with me.

Nice called the area "Interpont" because it was between two bridges, and thanks to an excellent post at a blog called Bee's First Appearance, I found the location on Google Maps and then found an eBird hotspot for Tuttle Park, which is basically exactly the area she explored.

It's pretty decently birdy there, still. On an image search it seems a bit more manicured than Margaret Morse Nice would have liked:

Weeds were one of the glories of Interpont--the giant ragweeds that towered above one's head, the thistles that offered snug homes to Goldfinches, the incredible cow parsnips in May, the asters and goldenrods that wove bright patterns along the ditches. Despised by many, weeds are in reality an important element in our landscape, holding the precious soil, providing nesting places for many birds, extending hospitality to migrating hosts of native sparrows that find upon them a harvest of insects, and finally affording food and shelter to those hardy birds that brave the northern winter, Let us therefore leave weeds and shrubs and tangled vines wherever we can along roadsides and fence rows, for where such things are, there will birds be also.

Preach it!

Nesting season notes

In early Summer, the migration is over, and the main points of interest are the nesting birds. There are twenty or so species nesting in Central Park. In early June, my attention was held by the Warbling Vireo nest I mentioned in an earlier post.

That's one of the probably three nestlings getting what looks like a whole moth all his own, just a couple of days before they fledged. They did it on a weekend I was away, and a week before I thought it would happen. The nest must have been there well before I first saw it.

Right after the Vireos, I noticed a Baltimore Oriole nest near the bathrooms in the Ramble.

This photo, too, was only a day or so before fledging. I don't know how I missed this very obvious nest right over the path, but I didn't see it until I was standing under another tree nearby and Mama Oriole came out and scolded me.

She didn't like anyone anywhere near her nest tree.

One species that has had a hard time nesting in the Park lately is the Canada Goose. The Central Park Conservancy has been on a goose eradication campaign for some years, which has included paying "experts" to go and oil or break eggs and destroy nests.

Despite the efforts of the Goosestapo, one or two pairs do manage to breed every year. I found these lazy half-grown goslings hanging out at the edge of the Reservoir the other week.

On the other hand, everybody loves ducklings. Remember the gang of young Mallards at Turtle Pond that I posted a photo of some time back? They're growing into fine young ducks.

At least the survivors are, anyway. There were ten originally, and it looks like four have been taken by predators. But not to worry, right after I took this picture, I saw this:

That's ten more Mallard ducklings and another busy mama duck.

Elsewhere, the various Red-Tailed Hawk nests have fledged, Ben Cacace reports that the Yellow-Crowned Night Heron on Governor's island has thatched, and I see from photos online that the young Common Terns are doing well.

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.

Governors Island

On Sunday I made my annual pilgrimage out to Governors Island. As always, I saw barn Swallows swooping around the lawn in front of Fort Jay as soon as I got off the Ferry. This year, there's a special attraction--a Yellow-Crowned Night Heron nest, apparently the first ever on the island.

I was able to find the nest due to excellent directions from Ben Cacace. Ben maintains a great set of pages about NYC-area birding hotspots. Here's the one about Governors Island

Yellow-Crowned Night Heron nest

The usual major attraction has always been the nest colonies of Common Terns on the piers of the east side of the island. Two of the piers are in the part of the island still closed to tourists, but the third is at Yankee Pier, where the ferry from Brooklyn arrives. I think this is the only Common Tern nesting area in the region.

Common Tern nesting area on Yankee Pier

Terns nest right out in the open, building a small cairn of pebbles and shells.

Tern on nest

I'm going to try to get out to the island again in July when the eggs hatch.

There are other breeding birds on Governors Island as well. At Ligget's Terrace, which is where the food trucks are, I stopped to watch this singing Mockingbird.

Sing out!

After he flew off, I noticed that a Herring Gull was repeatedly diving on a man walking by. It was quite a sight. He stopped to talk for a few minutes--the gull screaming and diving all though the conversation--and I directed him to the tern colony. It was only after he left that I spotted the baby gulls on a path nearby.

Even baby gulls are cute. Look, they're like little Kiwis!

There's a field nearby on the west edge of the island, slated for eventual development but currently home to several Herring Gull and Great Black-Backed Gull nests.

Before going back to the ferry, I visited the heron nest again. The bird was quite undisturbed by the many passers-by, or by the large number of crows (American and Fish Crow both). I suspect the crows do not want to deal with that massive sharp bill.

in command of the situation

Spring is over, but summer hasn't started

Let's start with the big news from Central Park: the Warbling Vireos have hatched!

Warbling Vireo feeding nestling

The hatching happened over the weekend while I was sick, but I was able to get a couple of nice photos of the nestlings being fed today. I'm pretty sure there are at least two nestlings, and this species usually lays four eggs, so they might be more.

It was interesting watching the nest. It seems to work just as I've read: most of the feeding is done by the female, though the male does some and is always nearby guarding the area. What happens is, he'll give a short burst of song, then fly in to quickly check the nest, and fly off; sometimes he'll sing again after flying out. The female arrives a minute or so later and does a more thorough job of feeding.

Also, the intervals between feedings are surprisingly long (again, just as I've read), between five and ten minutes. They're supposed to get increasingly frequent during the two weeks it will take the little ones to fledge.

That seems backwards, doesn't it? Shouldn't the newborns demand constant feeding? I wonder if it's a defense against parasitism. The much larger cowbird babies need more feeding. That's why they kick their host's offspring out of the nest--they'd starve if they had to share resources at all--and kicking them out is part of why they have to be larger at hatching. Anyway, it seems to me that the very slow feeding schedule of the Warbling Vireos would be bad for such nestlings--maybe that's enough to keep their nests from being parasitized.

Anyway, Spring ended with the traditional sighting of a flurry of female Blackpoll warblers.

that's all, folks!

Blackpolls are the latest Spring migrants among warblers, and the females (as in many species) migrate later than males, so when you see female Blackpolls coming through, it's about over.

Of course, there are some later-arriving non-warbler species, like this Yellow-Billed Cuckoo.

a two-cuckoo year!

That sighting game me both Cuckoo species for the year, which doesn't always happen. And there are always stragglers, like this Lincoln's Sparrow who is stuck in Bryant park:

Lincoln's lurking near the library

There was a nice Swamp Sparrow, too, and a couple of White-Throateds, all around the birdbath in the northeast part of the park. Hopefully the'll all find their way out soon.

So spring is gone, but it doesn't feel much like Summer yet--cool though humid. But there are fledling birds all over--robins and Starlings and House sparrows, and at Turtle Pond, a raft of ducklings.

a raft of ducklings

I think these are Mallards, but another observer thought Gadwalls. There is a possibly nesting Gadwall pair as well as a female Mallard nesting near the pond. I think their bills are too long for Gadwalls, though those flank spots are very Gadwallish.

Since we're back to the baby birds, here's another pic of the Vireos. Wonderful little birds.

I warn you, you're going to be seeing a lot of this nest the nest couple of weeks