Local birding report

The last two weeks of April through the first week of May saw colder than average temperatures and mostly unfavorable migratory wind conditions. Ruby-crowned and Golden-crowned Kinglets continued to be in abundance as were Brown Creepers. House Wrens, Eastern Towhees, Brown Thrashers and Rose-breasted Grosbeaks were sparsely reported. Chipping Sparrows arrived a full week later this year and my first Gray Catbird of the season showed up in our yard on the exact same day, April 29, as last spring.

I have often wondered whether nocturnal predators like owls take advantage of the sudden influx of American Woodcocks across Cape every spring. On April 15 around dusk while walking along fringes of the Spurwink River I flushed a Woodcock and then noticed a Great-horned Owl sitting ten feet up in a tree directly above where the Woodcock had been. And just before nightfall on April 25 I was observing a woodcock’s conspicuous display across the field in Robinson Woods when I noticed that a Great-horned owl was also watching the action (and me) from the top branch of an old White Pine Tree. From these two observations it seems reasonable to suggest that Great-horned owl diets include more short-legged shorebirds during the spring season when our wetlands and hayfields are teaming with Timberdoodles.

Two observations of note in late April included a stunning male Indigo Bunting that my wife reported seeing within the tangles of Jordan Farm Road on April 29 and, the cryptically plumed nightjar I heard somewhere along Shore Road on April 30. I had been wrapping up yardwork just after 8:00 p.m. when I heard a low clucking noise that quickly escalated into a loud rhythmic chant. Three years had passed since I heard this very song, yet there it was - the eerie refrain of the Eastern Whip-poor-will! According to spring arrival state records this is a notable, early in the season report of a Whip-poor-will. About the length of Robins but with longer wings, Whip-poor-wills lay their eggs in phase with the lunar cycle, so that they hatch when the moon is nearly full. This strategy allows the adults to forage the entire night, capturing copious quantities of insects for their nestlings. Amazingly, Eastern Whip-poor-wills have been known to live for fifteen years. Unfortunately, this crepuscular bird is irregular to rare in Southern Maine these days. This species was widespread and common across Maine as recently as the early 1900s; however, the current state of affairs for the Eastern Whip-poor-will population is not good. The reduction in numbers of large night flying moths and beetles is likely the primary factor for this insectivore’s decline. By limiting the artificial lights kept on at night in and around our homes we can help nocturnal ecosystems thrive.

Other mentionables include: on May 1 along the back trail of Crescent Beach State Park, a single Blue-gray Gnatcatcher and Red-breasted Nuthatch. On the evening of May 2 southerly breezes, breaking clouds and a guiding glow from the waxing crescent moon created the right conditions for a decent movement of migrant birds. On May 3 our first Ruby-throated Hummingbird of the year showed up at the feeder I had put out the night before. Because nectar alone does not provide hummingbirds with enough protein to survive, Ruby-throats depend on small arthropods such spiders, mites and other small insects including mosquitoes for nutrients. On May 5 the first Baltimore Oriole arrived in our yard and the following morning there were two males and one female Oriole dining on orange slices and singing. On the afternoon of May 6 along the Winnick Woods trails my son and I heard a strange series of high-pitched, metallic zapping sounds coming from a bird perched atop a tree and determined it to be an Eastern Kingbird. Later in the day I travelled across Robinson woods I, II and III and was treated to a chorus of Hermit Thrushes, several singing Winter Wrens and a single calling Ovenbird. On the late afternoon of May 7 along Pond Cove I was listening to the pleasant cooing calls coming from a gathering of Common Eiders just offshore when I noticed two rather small birds hunkered down on a nearby rock. After a few patient moments one of the two birds slipped into the ocean and I was able to clearly see a chestnut-colored head and vertical white stripe down its side, a male Green-winged Teal! Interestingly, the Green-winged Teal is the smallest dabbling duck in North America.

On May 8 a handsome, White-crowned Sparrow showed up in our yard amongst seventeen not so shabby White-throated (mostly white-striped) Sparrows. Ornithologist Edward Howe Forbush aptly states of the White-crowned Sparrow “It is a red-letter day for the novice in New England ornithology when he or she first meets this bird of distinguished appearance. Its gray vesture, black and white crown and elegant from give it an aristocratic appearance as if it were above the common herd of sparrows and in a class by itself.” Also on this same day I observed three species of wren including my first House Wren of the year, two Solitary Sandpipers and a long-awaited Yellow Warbler along the Pond Cove Brook Corridor.