Cape Elizabeth birding report

Across town breeding season is in full swing. Our backyard is now abuzz with youngsters. After a brief hiatus Baltimore Orioles have returned to our yard and on the 21st the first fledgling Orioles showed up as did a female Rose-breasted Grosbeak.

Often times there is a line-up of birds waiting to find a spot on the suet station. At one point two young Orioles and two young Red-bellied Woodpeckers managed to peacefully dine together. Additionally, for the second straight year in a row our resident pair of Bluebirds has decided to nest in the Downy woodpecker cavity in the side of our house.

Other backyard patch notables include a sizable uptick in Gray Catbirds and Blue Jay numbers. We also have a Wild Turkey (hen) who visits our yard feeders twice daily.

Over the last several weeks I have traversed much of Robinson Woods I, II and III listening for birds. One of the most active place to be before dusk is definitely where the deep woods meets the upper wetland fringes of Pond Cove.

From here the pulsing call of the Pileated Woodpecker and Ovenbird still reach far and wide. Our resident canopy dwellers including the Black-throated Green Warbler sings its buzzy ringing “trees, trees I love trees” and from the shadows of our primeval White Pine stands emanates the steady trilling song of the Pine Warbler. Adding to the chorus at sundown are Common Yellowthroats and Yellow Warblers, American Redstarts, Veery’s, Great-crested Flycatchers, Eastern Wood-Peewees and Red-winged Blackbirds.

A mother Wood duck who sensed my presence one evening let out a “oo-eek” to alert her clutch. On more than one occasion Glossy Ibis have been observed taking to the wing from the depths Pond Cove’s interior wetlands - flying with neck and feet outstretched towards their nighttime roosting spots on islands across Casco bay. Despite being able to identify many of the bird songs and calls, there are also many that are mysterious and unrecognizable to me!

Regarding birds that have eluded me this season, I have not yet caught wind of the rich, cheerfully warbled song of the Warbling Vireo (which does nest in deciduous forests across Cape). Although the female takes on the lion share of responsibility for incubating, I recently learned that males are known to sing their prideful tune up until dusk while taking a turn to relieve the female on the nest. What a day that would be to come across such a sight!

While wandering the Willow-brook Trail (connector trail to Gull Crest Trail running back behind Cape Memory Care) a Chestnut-sided Warbler was spotted feeding a youngster. This warbler is very sensitive to habitat loss, preferring swaths of edge habitat and bushy pasture. This is the second year in a row I have found Chestnut-sided Warblers in this special patch.

Other mentionables include two new bird sightings. The first being a single Least Tern which was spotted actively hovering and hunting prey along the shoreline of Crescent Beach. Slightly bigger than a Robin this bird is the smallest of American terns and its populations are endangered in many areas of the U.S. because of the increased impact on nesting areas (beaches) where predation and harassment by unbridled dogs is still rampant.

Additionally, in the waning afternoon hours of June 22 I happened upon my first Bobolink of the year along the Spurwink Trail. Related to blackbirds and orioles, the Bobolink may breed in small numbers in Cape and can still be seen on occasion within our uncut pastures and overgrown fields. Ornithologist Edward Forbush describes this bird best when, in 1927 he wrote, “ The Bobolink is a harlequin of the spring meadows. He is a happy-go-lucky fellow, with his suite on wrong side up, the black below and the white above; a reckless, rollicking sort of a fowl, throwing care to the winds, and always bent on a lark. His spirits are of the effervescent kind, and his music bubbles irrepressibly forth at such a rate that half a dozen notes seem to be crowding upon the heels of every one uttered.” Truly a complex creature, Bobolinks rank as one of the most spectacular long distance songbird migrants travelling 12,500 miles to southern South America every year.

One way that Bobolinks are able to build up significant fat reserves for long flight is by feeding well after dark under a well-lit moonlight. Additionally, these birds are both polygynous and polyandrous.

Historically Bobolinks have endured many hardships. In the early 1900s these birds were shot under the guise of being destructive to rice fields in the U.S. I say this because at the height of their abundance in the late 1800s to early 1900s Bobolinks were considered a delicacy (by the wealthy and the curious) and were shipped in massive quantities to New York, Philadelphia and Paris at the cost of seventy five cents for a dozen.

With a current U.S. population decrease of a whopping 65%, today the biggest threat to Bobolinks is change in land use. Specifically, farmers who mow fields only once annually and do so before Bobolink nestlings have fledged.