Eric Mills reports...
This morning, there is an impeccable adult Little Blue Heron in a saltmarsh pond in Westport. It is preening and feeding actively - apparently newly arrived
Sunday, April 10, 2011
Saturday, April 9, 2011
Spruce Grouse
Eric and Anne Mills report...
Rarity is relative. This afternoon, Anne spotted a male Spruce Grouse scuffing about in the leaves near the S end of the Camp Road. We watched (and photographed) it at our feet for half an hour or so. This is only the second documented record for the island, the first being one I saw dead in a hunter's hands, also on the Camp Road, on 11 October 1971.
Other birds of the day: a few migrating D-cr. Cormorants; a Sapsucker; a Downy Woodpecker (scarce); am imm. Northern Shrike; a singing Cardinal; migrant R-w. Blackbirds; and a singing male House Finch (super-scarce). Many Robins, Song Sparrows and Juncos moved out overnight.
Rarity is relative. This afternoon, Anne spotted a male Spruce Grouse scuffing about in the leaves near the S end of the Camp Road. We watched (and photographed) it at our feet for half an hour or so. This is only the second documented record for the island, the first being one I saw dead in a hunter's hands, also on the Camp Road, on 11 October 1971.
Other birds of the day: a few migrating D-cr. Cormorants; a Sapsucker; a Downy Woodpecker (scarce); am imm. Northern Shrike; a singing Cardinal; migrant R-w. Blackbirds; and a singing male House Finch (super-scarce). Many Robins, Song Sparrows and Juncos moved out overnight.
Friday, April 8, 2011
Bird Sightings
Eric and Anne Mills report...
On Brier Island, we found a male and two female Barrow's Goldeneyes with ten Commons in the big pond Pond Cove, and nearby a Wilson's Snipe, a Killdeer and an Ipswich Sparrow with many Song Sparrows. An E. Phoebe was feeding on rocks at the N end of Westport, and there were still three Fox Sparrows (one singing) at a feeder along the Camp Road. It was an interesting mix of late winter and early spring today.
On Brier Island, we found a male and two female Barrow's Goldeneyes with ten Commons in the big pond Pond Cove, and nearby a Wilson's Snipe, a Killdeer and an Ipswich Sparrow with many Song Sparrows. An E. Phoebe was feeding on rocks at the N end of Westport, and there were still three Fox Sparrows (one singing) at a feeder along the Camp Road. It was an interesting mix of late winter and early spring today.
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Brier island Christmas Bird Count
BRIER ISLAND CHRISTMAS COUNT, 14 DECEMBER 2010
Weather overcast with showers, then broken cloud; 7-4C. Wind SSW 10-15 kph
0800-1700 AST
Participants: Cindy Garron, George Garron, Louise Garron, Anne Mills, Eric Mills (compiler), Richard Stern, Anne Mills.
54 species, 1833 individuals
Black Duck - 39; Mallard - 1; Common Eider - 107; Surf Scoter - 14; Black Scoter - 11; Long-tailed Duck - 42; Bufflehead - 3; Common Goldeneye - 7; Red-breasted Merganser - 16; Ring-necked Pheasant - 1; Red-throated Loon - 3; Common Loon - 14; Horned Grebe - 1; Red-necked Grebe - 23; Northern Gannet - 22; Double-crested Cormorant - 1; Great Cormorant - 100; Great Blue Heron - 1; Turkey Vulture - 2; Bald Eagle - 1; Northern Harrier - 3; Sharp-shinned Hawk - 1; Red-tailed Hawk - 2; Peregrine Falcon - 1; Purple Sandpiper - 2; Herring Gull - 240; Iceland Gull - 5; Great Black-backed Gull - 92; Black-legged Kittiwake - 307; Jaeger sp. - 1; Dovekie - 6; Razorbill - 204; Black Guillemot - 27; Atlantic Puffin - 1; alcid spp. - 122; Rock Pigeon - 13; Mourning Dove - 31; Northern Saw-whet Owl - 1; Hairy Woodpecker - 1; Northern Shrike - 1; Blue Jay - 13; American Crow - 94; Common Raven - 5; Black-capped Chickadee - 79; Boreal Chickadee - 1; Red-breasted Nuthatch - 2; White-breasted Nuthatch - 1; Golden-crowned Kinglet - 1; European Starling - 79; Bohemian Waxwing - 70; Dark-eyed Junco - 3; Northern Cardinal - 3; Red-winged Blackbird - 2; Common Grackle - 4; American Goldfinch - 6.
Birds during count week but not on count day: White-winged Scoter, Ruffed Grouse, Rough-legged Hawk, Ring-billed Gull, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Great Horned Owl, Rusty Blackbird, Brown-headed Cowbird.
Comments: We were lucky to get a count done only 12 hours after the violent storm on December 13 had ended. The numbers of birds seem to have been reduced by the storm. No Song Sparrows! no White-throated Sparrows! despite plenty of both in the preceding two weeks. Gull numbers were way down, despite the presence of many hundreds sheltering from the storm the day before. With only three observers in the field (the other three did a stellar job on feeders) we couldn't pay enough attention to the sea where there was a day long flypast of Kittiwakes, Razorbills, and probably other species. Our numbers represent only a small sampling of what must have passed the island while we were attempting to sample all the island's habitats.
Eric L. Mills
Weather overcast with showers, then broken cloud; 7-4C. Wind SSW 10-15 kph
0800-1700 AST
Participants: Cindy Garron, George Garron, Louise Garron, Anne Mills, Eric Mills (compiler), Richard Stern, Anne Mills.
54 species, 1833 individuals
Black Duck - 39; Mallard - 1; Common Eider - 107; Surf Scoter - 14; Black Scoter - 11; Long-tailed Duck - 42; Bufflehead - 3; Common Goldeneye - 7; Red-breasted Merganser - 16; Ring-necked Pheasant - 1; Red-throated Loon - 3; Common Loon - 14; Horned Grebe - 1; Red-necked Grebe - 23; Northern Gannet - 22; Double-crested Cormorant - 1; Great Cormorant - 100; Great Blue Heron - 1; Turkey Vulture - 2; Bald Eagle - 1; Northern Harrier - 3; Sharp-shinned Hawk - 1; Red-tailed Hawk - 2; Peregrine Falcon - 1; Purple Sandpiper - 2; Herring Gull - 240; Iceland Gull - 5; Great Black-backed Gull - 92; Black-legged Kittiwake - 307; Jaeger sp. - 1; Dovekie - 6; Razorbill - 204; Black Guillemot - 27; Atlantic Puffin - 1; alcid spp. - 122; Rock Pigeon - 13; Mourning Dove - 31; Northern Saw-whet Owl - 1; Hairy Woodpecker - 1; Northern Shrike - 1; Blue Jay - 13; American Crow - 94; Common Raven - 5; Black-capped Chickadee - 79; Boreal Chickadee - 1; Red-breasted Nuthatch - 2; White-breasted Nuthatch - 1; Golden-crowned Kinglet - 1; European Starling - 79; Bohemian Waxwing - 70; Dark-eyed Junco - 3; Northern Cardinal - 3; Red-winged Blackbird - 2; Common Grackle - 4; American Goldfinch - 6.
Birds during count week but not on count day: White-winged Scoter, Ruffed Grouse, Rough-legged Hawk, Ring-billed Gull, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Great Horned Owl, Rusty Blackbird, Brown-headed Cowbird.
Comments: We were lucky to get a count done only 12 hours after the violent storm on December 13 had ended. The numbers of birds seem to have been reduced by the storm. No Song Sparrows! no White-throated Sparrows! despite plenty of both in the preceding two weeks. Gull numbers were way down, despite the presence of many hundreds sheltering from the storm the day before. With only three observers in the field (the other three did a stellar job on feeders) we couldn't pay enough attention to the sea where there was a day long flypast of Kittiwakes, Razorbills, and probably other species. Our numbers represent only a small sampling of what must have passed the island while we were attempting to sample all the island's habitats.
Eric L. Mills
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