Local birding report

In early October the chatter of Tufted Titmice, Black-capped Chickadees and White-breasted Nuthatches busying themselves for the coming winter months is hard to ignore. Interspersed between the rattling cries of Northern Flickers and the soft chek calls of Yellow-rumped Warblers, the exquisite vocalizations of Ruby-crowned Kinglets ring out with wiry ‘tsip’ call notes that melt into a flute-like, helter skelter melody of soft liquid warblings.

The autumn Yellow-rumped Warbler migration phenomenon along our coastline continued through October 10 with many hundreds of warblers both high and low across Gull Crest, Robinson Woods, Fort Williams, Crescent Beach State Park and the old White Oak Trees in my yard. At one point I even counted five Yellow-rumpeds hopping along on our driveway. The Yellow-rumped’s chek call is important to commit to memory when sorting through the confusing fall warblers.

On October 5 the first Dark-eyed Junco of the season showed up in our yard as did two Northern Flickers who clung to our suet feeder, one on each side. On October 6 I noted five boisterous Ruby-crowned Kinglets in an old Crab apple Tree behind our house. One thing I always try to remember when distinguishing between Ruby-crowned and Golden-crowned Kinglets is that the former has a plain face and an eye-ring while the latter has a stripe above the eye and no whitish ring around the eye.

On October 8 I counted six Gray Catbirds calling and scolding along Shore Road along with several Eastern Phoebes in fresh fall plumage. Also, amongst the House Finches and molting Goldfinches I spotted a female Indigo Bunting in our backyard. The female is an unassuming brownish bird, described as sparrow-sized but finchlike in appearance, with faint streaking on the chest and a white throat. This long-distance migrant will travel as far south as Northern South America. Additionally, on October 9 I noted a first of season Yellow-bellied Sapsucker. I was alerted to this woodpecker’s presence by its nasal mewing call. On this same day, there were reports of a Black-billed Cuckoo within Two Lights State Park.

In recent birding news, according to the 2022-2023 Winter Finch Forecast this fall and winter look to be a promising flight year for several species of boreal finch including, Common and Hoary Redpolls, Pine Grosbeaks and the elusive Evening Grosbeak. These wanderers from the north depend on the berry and cone crops of boreal forests. In years where the crops fail or are insufficient, these birds often irrupt south into southern Maine and beyond.

Common and Hoary Redpolls are zippy little irruptive finches of the artic tundra and boreal forests with nifty red forehead patches, streaked sides (varies) and two wing bars. Paying extra attention to stands of birch trees and weedy fields may pay off this winter. Both species will also come to bird feeders with njger seed. I have yet to see either Redpoll type in Cape so this is definitely a bird that I plan to chase this winter.

Additionally, above average mountain-ash berry crops along the Atlantic Coast and subpar berry crops closer to home means Pine Grosbeaks will be on the move. These large, plump finches are either pinkish red overall with two white wing bars (adult males) or subtlety fetching with burnt-orange heads and rumps set against a grayish olive body (young males and females). Two years ago was the last time that Cape saw a nice influx of these heavy chested finches, often spotted in ornamental cherry fruit trees.

The forecast goes on to say that certain breeding populations of Evening Grosbeaks have increased due in large part to the expanding occurrence of spruce budworm outbreaks in Eastern Canada. Christmas may come early this year, and by this, I mean Evening Grosbeaks may show up like they did back in the fall and winter of 2020. I personally have seen Evening Grosbeaks only one time in Cape during the last seven years. This occurred on the morning of November 17, 2020 when four Evening Grosbeaks appeared on my backyard platform feeder for all of ten seconds. Ornithologist and American army surgeon Dr. Elliot Coues fittingly describes the Evening Grosbeak when he wrote, “in full plumage this a bird of distinguished appearance, whose very name suggests the far-away land of the dipping sun, and the tuneful romance which the wild bird throws around the fading light of day.”