Cape Elizabeth birding report

Over the last couple of weeks shorter days and no shortage of yardwork have made it tricky to keep an eye out for errant migrants. A few observations are worth mentioning though.

On Nov. 2, a solitary Spotted Sandpiper was popping around the far end of Pond Cove’s rocky beach. Out of all the sandpipers this has got to be the easiest bird to identify.

Even after its sharply contrasting black spots on a bright white breast have disappeared, the bob and weave teetering motion this bird makes is a giveaway. Interestingly, the function of the teetering motion has yet to be determined by experts. Chicks even do the teeter quite soon after they hatch. Only when alarmed does this bird stop teetering.

Another good tidbit about these sandpipers is the primary role in parental care, including incubation, is handled by the male. And it is the female that arrives on the breeding grounds early in order to establish and defend the territory. Some of the population are only short-distance migrants. Later in the season birds like this one are most likely not going to be traveling much further than the southern United States. Others travel further and will push all the way to southern South America.

On Nov. 9, I observed two bluebirds giving playful chase to a nearly crow sized Pileated Woodpecker. Minutes later these same two bluebirds were chased off the suet by a mouse-sized Downy Woodpecker. The rhythm of the natural world is a wonderful thing!

Time spent in Robinson Woods on the same day yielded good numbers of one of my favorite forest denizens, the Brown Creeper.

While trying to focus my son’s attention on an impressive v-shaped formation of Canada Geese chasing the last rays of sunlight overhead, the tender song notes of more than a couple creepers could be heard all around us.

Creepers seem most easily found at this time of year. A small bird, brown above, speckled and streaked with whitish below, often tags along with a little group of woodland birds such as chickadees, nuthatches, kinglets and woodpeckers.

Much like our Cape resident Northern Flying Squirrel who climbs a tree and then sails down to the next and repeats, the creepers favorite foraging habit is to climb straight up a tree or spiral around, and when it reaches the top it will glide down to the bottom of another tree and begin the process over.

On Nov. 11, Veteran’s Day, I heard House Finches singing and a local Carolina Wren snooping about in the pachysandra berm. Oddly I’ve seen very few Black-eyed Junco’s so far this season, and after an early wave of action the White Throated Sparrow count is behind last years tally as well.

Lastly, in other bird related matters, researchers from a prominent ornithology institution recently published a study finding that traffic noise or noise pollution suppresses normal glucocorticoid blood levels in Zebra Finches. In summary they found that the chicks of noise-exposed (think highway noise or plant) nests are smaller than chicks in quiet nests.