Local birding report

By mid-to-late June breeding season is well under way across Cape and birds are singing mightily as they establish territories and nests. Resident birds like Carolina Wrens, Tufted Titmice and the Bluebirds are now tending to rambunctious fledglings.

On first day of June within the dark forest interior of Robinson Woods I was treated to a dusk chorus of Veery’s, Hermit Thrushes, a Winter Wren, Black-throated Green Warblers, Ovenbirds, Redstarts and Northern Parulas. A single Wood Thrush and Scarlet Tanager also joined the ensemble. The Wood Thrushes scientific name is Hylocichla mustelina, meaning “weasel-colored woodland thrush” and refers to the bird’s rich, brownish red head, back, wings and tail. I later found this woodland minstrel in a White Ash Tree uttering his lush, flutelike ee-oh-lay hymns.

Male Scarlet Tanagers sing a song that is like that of an American Robin, albeit it sounds more rushed. Recently I familiarized myself with the energetic chick-burr calls from Scarlet Tanagers. Both male and female Scarlet Tanagers make this distinctive call. Catching a glimpse of this striking bird in dense foliage is a test of patience. Henry David Thoreau wrote in his journal “that contrast of a red bird with the green pines and blue sky! Even when I have heard the note and look for him and find the bloody fellow, sitting on a dead twig of a pine, I am always startled. That incredible red, with the green and blue, as if these were the trinity we wanted. Yet with his hoarse note he pays for his color. I am transported: these are not the woods I ordinarily walk in. How he enhances the wildness and wealth of the woods!”

A few additional notes from the field include on June 2 along the Spurwink River I spotted a Short-billed Dowitcher probing the mudflats and I heard the wheezy hissing p-tsssssshhhuk of a Nelson’s Sparrow somewhere out in the marsh. On June 3 I flushed a Green Heron hunting along the Pond Cove Brook corridor and on June 5 two charming Canada Warblers in the Crab Apple Tree behind our house were singing loud and true, their song a quick chip note followed by a series of hard to describe warbling notes. A male and female Rose-breasted Grosbeak also stopped into my yard. While the female cautiously dined at the seed feeder the watchful male whistled his sweet song from a nearby tree branch. Later in the day along the Spurwink Town Farm section of town where salt marsh meets with rolling uncut pastures I noted three male Bobolinks giving their “display flights.” Listening closely could hear their burbling chatter as it carried across the tidal dog-legs.

Additionally, on June 6 within bushy borders of Gull Crest’s woodlands I heard a Swainson’s Thrush. This thrush has a thin, high-pitched, single note whine. They also make a bink like water dropping onto a hard surface. Interestingly, the Swainson’s Thrush may have a one point bred in Cumberland County; however, it is no longer known to. A bit further along in my travels I heard an unfamiliar, vibrant repetitive warble which caused my mind to race with possibilities. After time spent trying to locate the bird I decided to see if I could lure the elusive little feathered biped out with my own “pishing” calls. Minutes later I caught site of the bird perched low in the undergrowth. I could just make out a gray hood and black chest patch, a male Mourning Warbler and my first time seeing and hearing one in Cape. The Mourning Warbler is an uncommon spring migrant and characteristically late, with some birds not arriving in nesting areas (Central Maine and points north) until early June. Across its breeding range in Maine the Mourning Warbler is rare to somewhat common.

And lastly, on June 8 I spotted two Yellow-bellied Flycatchers and an Alder Flycatcher in South Portland’s Hinkley Park.