Cape Elizabeth birding report

Wind direction is important for migrating birds as are other variables. One in particular is called photoperiod, which is the amount of solar light that occurs during the day and this is related to the repositioning of the sky given that the earth has moved a quarter way around its orbit. This means that older, more experienced birds (flying at night) during the fall are seeing stars from a bit of a different angle than what they had seen back in the spring.

Thus, it’s not impossible to imagine songbirds following a star map, navigating via the position of the constellations in the night sky. Perhaps these same migrants use the constellation Cygnus (the swan) throughout the night during their spring trip north and, as autumn arrives, take cue from the constellations waning period of visibility in the night sky. Magnetic fields and geographical landmarks both play important roles in migration as well. Overall, there is still a lot to learn about this amazing journey taken every year by millions of tiny creatures.

Forest birds and any bird migrating over land that gets blown by north/northwest winds, especially young birds, will hit the edge of the coast (Cape Elizabeth for instance) and then continue migrating south using the Atlantic coastline, the so-called Atlantic Flyway. Many other birds such as hawks, ducks and geese use the mountains and take advantage of the air bouncing off the mountain ranges. A key difference between spring and fall migrations is that in the fall birds are on average a lot more patient and willing to wait for the right conditions. Conversely, during the spring migrating birds are focused on reproduction and territory establishment, thus more willing to fly through weather conditions to get where they need to be.

That said, one of the best things about birdwatching in the fall is that the southward migration is more leisurely, thus the window of opportunity for seeing birds is a lot greater than in the spring. Actually, identifying them is a different story, as many birds have changed in feather coloring (commonly referred to as non-breeding plumage). In addition to this, species like warblers and vireos conveniently spend most of the daytime high in the upper canopies and virtually out of sight. For these reasons bird identification at this time of year can be touch-and-go. Of note, many of the bird sightings I have had over the last couple weeks have come from looking out my windows (often).

Additional mentionables over the last two weeks include, on September 4 I had what I like to call a “three run homer”. I saw and heard two Great-horned owls beginning their courtship rituals while a Barred Owl caterwauled somewhere nearby in the dark woods. On September 7 there were more than a couple Brown Creepers singing in Robinson woods. On September 8 a beautiful female Yellow Warbler briefly visited our bird bath. On September 9 four Common Nighthawks were spotted hunting high above our house. On September 11 our yard was visited by multiple Rose-breasted Grosbeaks, Pine Warblers, a Black and White Warbler and a male Baltimore Oriole. The following day I saw a Veery (thrush) and one of my favorites, a Red-breasted Nuthatch.

On September 12 a female Rose-breasted Grosbeak emerged from the overgrowth surrounding our garden to give my son and I perhaps what would be our last glimpse of this wonderful bird until next spring. On more than one occasion mixed flocks of vocal Black-capped Chickadees and Tufted titmice were tip-offs to other travels as well.

This fellowship of the feather yielded some reasonable numbers of warblers including on September 13 immature and adult American Redstarts and an ensemble of Northern Parulas gleaning/fluttering in pursuit of small hairless inchworms like the fall canker worm.

Smallest of the warblers in New England, this gleeful little gnome sings a weak, high-pitched, drawly, buzzy song. The birds ‘beat’ is between the forest underscrub and the tops of all but the very tallest of our trees. Fortunately, come autumn neither male nor female Parulas experience much change to their coloring which means their white eye crescents, chestnut breast band and yellow-green patch remain year round. Characteristically less nervous and at times seemingly tame, on one occasion this tiny colored gem showed up briefly no more than a couple feet from me on the other side of our living room window (bird-strike proofed of course).