The Zen Birdfeeder

Trip to Maine - Scarborough Marsh and East Point Sanctuary

Maine Day 3 took us still a little further north of our home base in Ogunquit to Scarborough Marsh and the East Point Sanctuary at Biddeford Pool.

Scarborough Marsh contains 3,000 acres of salt marsh ecosystem and is known as a great location for shorebird identification and bird photography. 
Google Earth Image of Scarborough Marsh

The visitor center which is staffed by the Maine Audubon Society was not open so we proceeded directly to the viewing platform.  We didn't stay long because the weather was cold again and the wind was biting. 
American Black Duck (handheld digiscoped)

We did take in 9 species:

• White-throated Sparrow
• Red breasted Merganser
• Song Sparrow
• American Black Duck
• Hooded Merganser
• Herring Gull
• Canada Goose
• American Crow
• Common Goldeneye

The Red breasted Merganser were especially entertaining, with a group demonstrating a behavior of stretching their necks out and up, pulling back, then repeating.  The group looked like a team of synchronized swimmers!

We then drove south through Saco to Biddeford, where we headed out to East Point Sanctuary on Maine's rocky coast.
Google Earth Image of East Point Sanctuary

Turkeys were on the trail ahead of us, keeping just enough ahead to feel safe. 

As you make the turn to the east side trail, Gooseberry Island comes into view, with Wood Island and the Wood Island lighthouse beyond it.  (click on image to enlarge)

We didn't bring the scope with us, so we had a hard time identifying all the waterbirds soaking in the sun on Gooseberry Island.  We saw a lot of repeats from our other stops, but did add a Common Loon to our Maine list.
Common Loon in winter plumage (with Common Eiders)

Common Eider (not the greatest image)

Black backed Gull

Herring Gull

Here's our list from East Point:

• Turkey
• Black-capped Chickadee
• Song Sparrow
• American Crow
• Common Eider
• Common Loon
• Herring Gull
• Black backed Gull
• Red breasted Merganers
• American Robin
• Dark-eyed Junco
• House Sparrow

We stayed in Maine one more day but spent the day searching for bargains not birds.  Had a great time last week, ate lots of (too much!) great seafood, added some new seabirds to our lists, and practiced our little-used skills in identifying waterbirds.

Trip to Maine - Rachel Carson NWR and Parsons Beach

On day 2 of our Maine trip, we headed up Route 1 only 10 miles or so to Wells.  Wells is home to the Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge, 5,000 acres of salt marsh ecosystem.

It was in the upper 30s, and we were again in parkas, hats, and gloves. Most of the 1-mile loop trail was still snow or ice covered, making footing pretty treacherous in many areas.

It is the Merriland River that you see meandering through this Google Earth image of the refuge.  250 bird species have been sighted in the refuge; we didn't see more than 7 species on Tuesday's cold spring day.

• Tufted Titmouse
• Black-capped Chickadee
• Canada Goose (many)
• American Crow (many)
• Herring Gull
• Red-tailed Hawk
• Mourning Dove

We moved on to Parsons Beach, a favorite summer beach spot for our late friend, Maggie Pak.  We walked the beach a little, then pulled up a spot and took a quick nap in the sun in honor of Maggie.

Before leaving, we checked out the small cove on the north end of the beach, recording these water birds:

• Black-backed Gull
• Herring Gull
• Red-breasted Merganser
• Common Goldeneye
• Horned Grebe
• Common Eider

"for all people, the preservation of wildlife and of wildlife habitat means also preservation of the basic resources of the earth..."
Rachel Carson

More from Maine tomorrow.

Trip to Maine - Ogunquit and The Marginal Way

Just got back from a few days in Maine and want to share some of what we saw along Maine's southern coast.

We stayed in Ogunquit, just about 20 miles or so into the state.  Ogunquit means "Beautiful Place by the Sea".  The population of Ogunquit is 1,200, but during the summer season, we were told it is home to nearly 100,000 people! We're glad we were there in March!

Within walking distance from the timeshare is Perkins Cove and the Marginal Way, a short walking path with ocean-front homes on one side of the path and rocky coast on the other side.
Google Earth image of Perkins Cove, Ogunquit Maine

Monday had beautiful sunshine, but it is still quite cold in Maine this time of year.  We were in parkas, hats and gloves as the temps barely reached 40 degrees.

Herring Gulls were abundant as were American Crows.  Within the cove were Mallards, as well as many Common Eiders, Common Goldeneye, and Red-breasted Mergansers, all diving ducks.

In the bramble along the path, we also spotted a Black-capped Chickadee, many House Sparrows, a singing male Northern Cardinal, a clucking Common Grackle, and a White-throated Sparrow well camouflaged on the ground.

Further along, a number of Longtailed Ducks and a group of about 14 Harlequin Ducks bobbed in the waves.  The harlequins are absolutely gorgeous birds - I just wish the photos had turned out better.

On the walk home through Ogunquit residential streets, we saw American Robins, more cardinals, and Mourning Doves. 

As we neared the timeshare, a hawk flew overhead and into a nearby tree.  I was able to capture many images of this immature Coopers Hawk just steps away from our front door.  Just like at home, sometimes you don't need to go far to experience nature!

More from our Maine trip tomorrow.

Sharpie Session #3

It must've been the distress call that made me look. My window sound monitor had been on all day, I had my head down at the computer, but something made me look up.  What I saw was a fascinating part of nature, though I have to admit my heart went out for the poor little tuftie.

I didn't see the strike.  It occurred not more than six feet from a feeding station.  There were no feathers settling to the ground from an airborne hit.  What I saw was just nature in action: a bird-eating hawk dispatching its prey, a Tufted Titmouse.

Over the past few days, I've told the stories of recent Sharp-shinned Hawk visits to my yard, providing interesting information from the "Essential Field Guide Companion" by Pete Dunne.  Here is more information from that source, this time about the sharp-shinned hunting habits:

• Most seed-eating birds fall within their prey range
• Sharp-shinned is most partial to smaller species (chickadees and sparrows).  This partiality is not absolute.
• Kills prey by constriction (that is, does not use its bill)
• Plucks prey before eating, usually on the ground where the kill was made and less commonly from a stump or elevated perch

This might have been the hawk's second kill recently near the same feeder - earlier on this same day, I had found a small tuft of relatively recent "disconnected" feathers while filling the feeders.

The hawk is pictured in a position called "mantling".  Once the prey is subdued, a predator bird may assume a position of spreading its wings out and over the prey to shield it from theft by other birds.  This sharpie had good reason to mantle its victim.

It seemed like it took a long time for him to kill the titmouse, though in looking at the camera times, it was over in less than 20 seconds.  It was the distress calls and struggling of the little bird that made it seem like an eternity.

Finally, the struggling stopped. The cries stopped. The hawk looked as if it had won a wrestling match with a pin, both shoulders to the mat.
   

But the story didn't end there.  No longer in a mantling position, the prey started looking real good to another, larger predator.  A huge form entered the scene - a Barred Owl seeking an easy meal!  At first I thought it was a large hawk (we have had goshawks in the yard), but then the large eyes and rounded head became evident - the owl I had seen in late February was paying another call.

It all happened so fast. The owl approached, the sharp-shinned took off, the owl turned, then both were gone. I don't know how the story ended other than the fact that some bird of prey had been fed.

I had to force myself to remember that it was all a part of nature and that predators take the slower, the sick, the less experienced.  The fittest, fastest, and healthiest survive, enabling the best birds of a species to live and carry on.

Sharpie Session #2 (con't)

We left off in yesterday's post after our resident Sharp-shinned Hawk left its perch in pursuit of a woodpecker.  The woodpecker got away and the Sharp-shinned assumed a new perch in the plum tree, about 4 feet off the ground and only 10 feet from the house.  (Click on any image to enlarge)

From its new perch, it began preening.

Birds preen by fluffing then running their beaks through their feathers.  Preening grooms and repairs feathers by realigning the barbs and barbules and mending splits.  Preening also waterproofs and conditions feathers with help from a wax-like substance secreted from a gland at the base of the tail.

By rubbing the gland with their beak, a bird picks up the oil and then distributes it by rubbing their beak over the feathers. The substance helps make the feathers supple and strong and prevents them from drying out.  It may also have antiparasitic properties that inhibit parasites and other harmful organisms.

Break from preening to watch a titmouse.

Back to preening.

Look regal.

Preen the back...

Now the front.

Watch a chickadee.

Looks like a very tasty chickadee...hmmmmmm...

Lucky chickadee

This one got away.  But the sharp-shinned returned the next day.  Was its next target so lucky?  Check back tomorrow for Sharpie Session #3.

Sharpie Session #2

On Monday, I had another extended visit from a Sharp-shinned Hawk.  (A visit earlier this month was highlighted in Sharpie Session #1).

It was 9:30am, this sharpie was on the east side of the house, again perched about 15 feet high.  The bright blue sky provided a great background. (Click on pictures to enlarge)

The intense look in his dark red eyes showed he was alert to all the small birds in the area.

Both a chickadee and a Red-breasted Nuthatch entered the same tree the hawk was in.  They called loudly and repeatedly, though were apparently not too threatened from their position above him in the same tree.

Here's how Pete Dunne describes the Sharp-shinned Hawk's hunting behavior in his "Essential Field Guide Companion":

• Likes to hunt in the forest beneath the canopy.
• Favorite strategy is to fly to a strategic, open perch 10-50 feet up; wait, motionless, for a period of several minutes to half and hour, then move on.

He sat on this perch for about 10 minutes before flying directly over my head to attempt a strike at a woodpecker who was at the suet feeder in the plum tree, about 50 feet away.  Unsuccessful, the hawk assumed another lookout post, this time only 4 feet off the ground in the plum tree.

More photos tomorrow as the story of Sharpie Session #2 continues.

Wordless Wednesday

Nutcracker...Sweet!

Sharpie Session #1

I've had two long visits from a Sharp-shinned Hawk recently.  The first occurred on March 4th before 8am.  While I was exercising, I noticed a sharpie in a tree not more than 25 feet from the house, and about 15 feet off the ground.

Here is how Pete Dunne describes the Sharp-shinned Hawk in his "Essential Field Guide Companion":

• Jay to flicker size
• Virtually no neck
• Head that is small and flat-topped but roundly contoured
• Long slender tail has blunt straight-cut or notched tip
• Adults have slate blue backs and pale orange underparts
• Whitish band on tip of tail is narrow and not crisply defined

This hawk was very cooperative, staying around for about an hour and showing me a couple different poses.  I even had time to get a few digiscoped images.  Not sure why he had one leg pulled up.  Warmth perhaps?

He saw a feeder bird nearby, fixed this intense gaze on it, but did not attack.

He even turned around to give me a good look at his slate-colored back.

Check back Thursday for a post about another recent visit from the Sharp-shinned Hawk.

"A Sand County Almanac" Revisited - March

I first read Aldo Leopold's "A Sand County Almanac" many years ago.  This environmental classic, published in 1949 (after Leopold's death), takes us on a tour of the seasons, month by month.

I pulled it off the bookshelf a few months ago and decided to read it differently than I had initially: I would read each month as that month was progressing in real-time.

His March entry is called "The Geese Return".  I was waiting to post the passage until I saw my first large flock of migrating geese.  I had seen a smaller group overhead at home, but on Friday while driving through Charlton, a town south of us, I saw hundreds of Canada Geese in 5 to 6 large V's headed in an easterly direction.  Hundreds more were in a cornfield that was losing its blanket of snow.

I hope you enjoy this short excerpt from "A Sand County Almanac" as much as I did:

MARCH
The Geese Return
One swallow does not make a summer, but one skein of geese, cleaving the murk of a March thaw, is the spring.
A cardinal, whistling spring to a thaw but later finding himself mistaken, can retrieve his error by resuming his winter silence.  A chipmunk, emerging for a sunbath but finding a blizzard, has only to go back to bed.  But a migrating goose, staking two hundred miles of black night on the chance of finding a hole in the lake, has no easy chance for retreat.  His arrival carries the conviction of a prophet who has burned his bridges.

Photo from the WBU Image Library

Won't You Be My Neighbor?

As you plan your wardrobe for next week, remember to wear a sweater on Thursday March 20th.

That day is being promoted as "Sweater Day" to honor public television pioneer Fred Rogers on what would have been his 80th birthday.  Fred donned his trademark sweater at the start of each episode of "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood".

Fred Rogers was a ardent supporter of public broadcasting, appearing before Congress in 1969 to oppose Richard Nixon's budget cutbacks of public broadcasting.

In support of Fred Rogers' work and public broadcasting, I'll be wearing a sweater on Thursday.  Won't you be my neighbor and wear one too?

Corporation for Public Broadcasting
PBS
National Public Radio
Public Radio International
American Public Media

WAMC Northeast Public Radio - Wild Birds Unlimited Saratoga Springs NY is an underwriter of their Roundtable program