Cape Elizabeth birding report

As November rapidly approaches, the migration spectacle still unfolds all around us. It is a time where the ordinary can seem quite extraordinary. An ancient ritual as emblematic of the changing season as the scarlet leaves falling from our maple trees.

High above Cape, Double-crested Cormorants pass through in large, often unstructured flocks - and it is not uncommon to see long strings of more than three hundred birds moving south at once. These “summer” cormorants will be replaced to some degree by their more robust cousins, the Great Cormorants, who will winter and fish the icy waters that the Double-crested has since relinquished.

American Robins are also very visible and on the move as they begin to flock together to explore new territories during the daylight hours. It is estimated that only thirty five percent of first year/fledgling robins survive until November.

Because of the drier than normal conditions this past summer, earthworms have retreated deeper into the soil. This probably has meant that these birds have had to switch their diets to almost all fruit (earlier than normal) until the spring arrives.

In addition to berries, Robins gravitate towards crab apples (and there has been a decent crop this year). When they exhaust one food supply, Robins will move along to another, remaining in one general spot only during nesting season.

On October 23 the first sizable party of Dark-eyed Juncos arrived on our property. There are significant geographic range differences between the fifteen different races of junco.

The “slate-colored” Dark-eyed Junco is one of the two most widespread forms, and the one found in our backyards starting around this time every year. Interestingly, Dark-eyed Junco have been documented to produce hybrids with White-throated Sparrows.

As of the last week of October, there have been an increase in reports of Pine Siskins, aka “winter finches” swarming nyjer feeders. There has also been at least one report of an Evening Grosbeak in Cape. Birders will continue to keep their eyes peeled for these elegant, heavy set wanderers from the north this fall and winter.

Additionally, Golden-crowned and Ruby crowned Kinglets are still in abundance across Cape’s woodlands. The fall migration is especially conducive to viewing these tiny sprites given that they often flit and forage about very low in the woods and brush.

Lastly, and just by chance, on the morning of October 24 I stepped out the back door of our garage to find a late travelling male Black-throated Blue warbler in a Lilac bush ‘spiriting’ itself from one perch to another.

Striking rather than bright, his slaty-blue topside was complemented by a black throat and sides, and a snow white belly. For an instant my mind drifted back to a warm, late spring morning deep within Robinson Woods when the relaxed buzzy, I-am-so-la-zee song of the Black-throated Blue rang out from the birch, pine, hemlock, spruce and fir trees.