Cape Elizabeth birding report: October 1-15

Notable mentioning’s over the first two weeks of October include a close encounter between a Pileated Woodpecker and a Belted Kingfisher within “Robinson Woods III”, a Barred Owl calling before dusk almost every night in Robinson Woods I, a slight uptick in Red-breasted Nuthatches and Blackpoll Warblers high and low.

During the first week of October Cape experienced huge numbers of migrating Yellow Rumped (Myrtle) Warblers. Often times it was futile to even try to count them. There has also been a very impressive inundation of White-throated Sparrows, many of which will stick around until next Spring.

On October 8th I came across a Ruffed Grouse along outskirts of the Gull Crest trails. We have two types of Grouse in Maine however only Ruffed Grouse inhabit Cape. The bird approached me and might have even given me a peck had I not shooed it off. Upon further investigation I learned that there is in fact something called the “tame” grouse phenomenon. The two most plausible theories explaining this strange behavior are - one, that tame grouse are not tame at all, rather they are crazy territorial (I did flush a second grouse not far from this bird). If this theory holds weight than I suppose that this bird was not being friendly. I also read that you can test this theory by reaching for the bird. If you reach for it, it will try to attack you... and it did. The tame-grouse phenomenon is usually short-lived and occurs mostly in the spring and fall, when hormones are all in a flux. Once the hormones settle down and the day length shortens, the tame grouse will vanish back into the woods.

The second tame grouse theory is that the birds are “a genetic throwback” to grouse, pre-European colonization, where the Ruffed Grouse was considered very foolish and could be knocked from a tree branch with ease, hence the old nickname “fool hens”. Anyhow, most modern-day Ruffed Grouse have been “educated” generation after generation over the past several hundred years into a healthy fearfulness of us humans.

Additionally, Brown Creepers and Ruby Crowned Kinglets have been wonderfully abundant. Both species seem to take their time on Fall migrations which is more than fine by me as I will miss their rollicking songs that intertwine and echo from our beloved forests.