Local birding report

Cygnus the Swan constellation of stars flies high along the Milky Way in August and somewhere between the treetops and the cloud bottoms a buzzy tseep call drips down out of the darkness to call my attention to the fact that fall migration for some songbirds has already begun.

Throughout August the dreamy tune of Eastern Wood Peewees can still be heard among treetops deep within Robinson Woods. While flycatchers are not considered songbirds, this dusky haunter of tall shady trees sings a song of three sliding notes that is simple and true. If you find yourself in the woods after sundown listen for their whistled twilight song.

A few mentionables from the field and yard in early August include, on the morning of August 2 while exploring Trundy Point my son and I were met with the bright, good cheer of a male Yellow Warbler singing, sweet, sweet, sweet, sweetie – reminding me that summer days are far from over. Habitually this tiny gem keeps to the shrubbery and is likely the most common nesting wood warbler across Cape besides the Common Yellowthroat.

At dusk on August 3 I flushed a Great Horned Owl from its hunting perch along the fringes of the overgrown field in Robinson Woods. Interestingly, this is the third time this year I have come across “old Bubo” (scientific name is Bubo virginianus) in the exact same location and at roughly the same time of day. With a few stiff, silent wingbeats the large owl glided across the field and disappeared into the dark forest.

Later that same evening I heard a Barred Owl calling from the upper portion of the Pond Cove Brook Corridor and not all that far from where I had seen the Great Horned earlier. Barred Owls are slightly smaller and less aggressive than Great Horned Owls. And, although the two species often live and hunt in the same general area, Barred Owls will move to another part of its territory when a Great Horned is present. The Great Horned Owl is the most serious predatory threat to Barred Owls. In fact, there are accounts of Great Horned Owls attacking and eating Barred Owls.

On August 4 I was called from my house by a sound I had not heard that often this summer. I eagerly made my way outside and soon found a female Eastern Towhee. The bird sprang from the brushy undergrowth, hopped to the top of a habitat pile and, with the sun’s rays acting as a spotlight, uttered her two-parted, rising “chewink” calls. In the days of Henry David Thoreau Eastern Towhees were simply referred to as “Chewink” birds after the sound of its call note. Of note, both males and females make this sound. I had made the habitat pile by stacking up a pile of cut tree limbs, boughs and dead branches. Habitat piles attract birds and become valuable natural features over the long term in your yard.

The following afternoon I heard the shrill, rapidly repeated whistle call of an Osprey high overhead. The bird was soaring and swooping at such an elevation that it was barely visible. Perhaps this was a juvenile bird testing its wings, mastering the intricate problem of flight? Or maybe this “Fish hawk” as they were once called was frustrated over dropping its catch. Early in the summer my son found a dead Blueback Herring in our yard. The markings on the fish seemed to indicate that it had been in the talons of a large raptor and, from time-to-time Osprey have been known to lose their grip on struggling fish as they fly. Of note, Osprey can also travel significant distances (up to twelve miles) to and from the nest location and are very fast fliers, capable of speeds of up to 80mph.

The following day, August 5 along Sawyer Road I spotted nine Least Sandpipers and a single Pectoral Sandpiper. The latter sandpiper is a medium-sized, stout shorebird that is about the size of a robin and has a rather long, noticeably thick bill and long wings. Adults are cloaked in brown, gold and black above with a white belly and neat dark-brown rows of “stipples” across the breast. Males are a striking 50% larger than females.

Pectoral Sandpipers are long distance migrants that nest in the wet grassy tundras across Alaska and into Northern Canada. And even though the majority of Pectoral Sandpipers migrate across North America via the Central Flyway (versus the Atlantic Flyway) they are spotted with some frequency in Cape starting in late July through early October.

On this same outing I saw and heard two Nelson’s Sparrows and one Saltmarsh Sparrow. The two were once thought to be a single species, the “Sharp-tailed Sparrow” until The American Ornithologist’s Union formally split the species in 1995 based upon habitat and song. The Saltmarsh Sparrow’s whisper-like song trills, buzzes and even gurgles. Although quite close in sound, it is distinguishable from that of the Nelson’s Sparrow, which is a louder hissing buzz followed by a buzzy chip.

Lastly, on August 6 a male Baltimore Oriole, two Grey Catbirds and two Red-breasted Nuthatches dined together on suet in my backyard while the chattering silhouettes of Chimney Swifts crisscrossed the open sky.