Maggie's Farm

We are a commune of inquiring, skeptical, politically centrist, capitalist, anglophile, traditionalist New England Yankee humans, humanoids, and animals with many interests beyond and above politics. Each of us has had a high-school education (or GED), but all had ADD so didn't pay attention very well, especially the dogs. Each one of us does "try my best to be just like I am," and none of us enjoys working for others, including for Maggie, from whom we receive neither a nickel nor a dime. Freedom from nags, cranks, government, do-gooders, control-freaks and idiots is all that we ask for.

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Wednesday, April 27. 2011

Birds of the Week: My Migrants

Saturday morning, a stroll around the shrubby areas of the Olde Farm revealed a big movement of migrants overnight.


Towhees, calling and scratching in the ground cover:



Flocks of noisy Blue Jays - who do move south in the fall, leaving us in New England with the Canadian birds during the winter. You know what they look like.


Veeries low in the shrubs:



Flock of around 40 Robins, including a bunch without full adult plumage.


An Ovenbird (heard), and a couple of Kinglets:




Two flocks of about 20 White-throated Sparrows, scratching for bugs under the rose bushes and in the overgrown dead vegetable garden, singing their Spring song:



And a Sharpie buzzed past, doubtless following, and feeding upon, the tasty, tender little migrants:



Good morning, World!


Most images and links from/to the fine CLO bird info website.


In four days, this post is almost outdated. I heard Parula and Palm Warblers singing this morning -

Posted by Bird Dog in Natural History and Conservation, Our Essays at 13:00 | Comments (11) | Trackbacks (0)

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A male Ruby-crested Kinglet once flashed his crown on a limb just outside my kitchen window here in urban Chelsea-by-the-Sea just north of Boston once: A wondrous sight.
#1 Sissy Willis (Link) on 2006-10-11 07:48 (Reply)
BANG
#2 gun dog on 2006-10-11 10:31 (Reply)
Yes, you rarely see the crown.
And, to Gun Dog - Bad Dog.
#3 bird dog on 2006-10-11 11:13 (Reply)
OOPS that LOOOKED like a pheasant !!
#4 bad dog on 2006-10-12 10:02 (Reply)
How about a post on attracting blue birds here in Connecticut?
#5 Terry (Link) on 2010-04-22 06:02 (Reply)
Can do. Probably did it once already
#5.1 Bird Dog on 2010-04-22 06:05 (Reply)
Ahh, the white throated sparrow! They spend their winters here in North Carolina, with their drunken, off-key song. For years we didn't know what bird they were, and never saw them, so we called him "the taunt." We finally did catch sight of one about a year ago.

Carol has learned to sing back to them, and get them to answer her.
#6 diane on 2010-04-22 07:58 (Reply)
I love these little guys' songs. They've showed recently in my back yard in Atlanta. One of their tunes is this sad, lonely whistle of descending notes; like they're saying "here I am where are you" and not expecting an answer.
#6.1 T.K. Tortch on 2011-04-27 21:48 (Reply)
They're turning over the cornfields at one of the places I walk. There's usually a big flock of Kildeer there all summer. They haven't arrived yet. I did see a Wood Duck fly up out of the stream and land in a tree, never saw a duck in a tree before.
#7 Santay on 2010-04-22 08:38 (Reply)
Wood Ducks nest in holes and cracks in trees. Lots of types of ducks do.
#7.1 Bird Dog on 2010-04-22 08:57 (Reply)
Sad news from the Norfolk Botanical Garden in Virginia. On Tuesday the female was struck by an incoming plane at the nearby Norfolk Intl Airport, a favorite hunting ground. The decision was made to remove the three eaglets and send them to the Virginia Wildlife Center to be raised until they can successfully hunt for themselves. Plan is to release them in late summer. The live cam stayed on through the removal and into Wednesday night, long enough to see the father deliver a fish to the empty nest and later come back and spend a few minutes looking around for his mate and eaglets. He has been spotted today by ground observers flying overhead and perched in a favorite tree.

It is tempting but unwise to assign human feelings to these creatures, so I'll content myself with thinking that perhaps the male thinks his eaglets have fledged.
#8 Retread on 2011-04-28 21:05 (Reply)

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