Long-billed Dowitcher and other notable birds seen at Little Pond, 9/27/11

Long-billed Dowitcher photo from http://www.gobirding.eu/

Wilson's Snipe photo by Bob Stanowski

Rusty Blackbird photo by Bob Duschene

from http://www.pvcaudubon.org/

Blue-winged Teal photo by Rob Whitney

from http://www.ducks.org/

Green-winged Teal photo by Rob Whitney

from http://www.ducks.org/

Great Egret photo from

http://www.commons.wikimedia.org/

A visit to Little Pond this past Tuesday evening, 9/27, (before the latest rainstorms inundated this area with floodwaters) turned up White Memorial's first-ever (in recent times) Long-billed Dowitcher. While scanning the shoreline for shorebirds I spotted a gray bird with a very long bill probing like a sewing machine in the mud. Since Short-billed and Long-billed Dowitchers look very similar, and their bills are only 1/4" difference in length, it was initially very difficult to determine which species we had. Even with the spotting scope it didn't show a definite characteristic for either species. However, since Short-billed has been seen here approximately 8 times in the past 12 years, and Long-billed had not been seen here at all in that time span, I was leaning toward calling it Short-billed or just Dowitcher sp. Most of the previous sightings have been in the spring when the two species have enough differences in plumage to distinguish them. Plus, all of the previous birds gave their distinctive Short-billed "tu-tu-tu" call notes while we watched them. Fortunately for us this time, this bird let loose with its distinctive "keek" call notes several times when it flushed and flew around for no obvious reason. The call notes clinched this bird's identification as Long-billed. These calls, coupled with the lack of striping on the head and back ruled out Wilson's Snipe, which we had just seen a few minutes before spotting this bird. Other notable birds seen on and around the pond on this visit included 52 Wood Ducks, 5 Blue-winged Teal, 13 Green-winged Teal, 4 Double-crested Cormorants, 1 Great Egret, and 2 Green Herons. Notable by virtue of high numbers were Mallards (99) and Swamp Sparrows (45). The Little Pond Trail produced our first Rusty Blackbird of the fall season, 24 White-throated Sparrows, a Marsh Wren, and a hooting Great Horned Owl as notable species. In all, this visit tallied 44 species of birds in 1 hour and 45 minutes. Three days later, after 5.5" of rain had inundated the boardwalk and the rest of the area, we only came up with 34 species along the trail leading in from White's Woods Rd. and the overlook area on the west side of the pond. With no feeding habitat available for shorebirds we didn't find any, but we were surprised to find a Sora trying to forage along the edge of the woods where the floodwaters were intruding into them. For ducks, we only saw 2 Woodies, 2 Blacks, and 25 Mallards. The rest of the birds seen on this visit were common resident and migrant landbirds along the trail, including 35 White-throated Sparrows.

Little Pond Does It Again!

Glossy Ibis photo by Dave DeReamus

from www.pabirds.org

Pectoral Sandpiper photo by Paul Lewis

From http://www.carolinabirdclub.org/

Short-billed Dowitcher from http://www.nrdc.org/

Pied-billed Grebe photo by Bob Stanowski

Little Pond has produced again! As usual, it is notable birds. August is one of the best months to look for this group of animals at this place. On Thursday morning, 8/4/11, Mike Doyle spotted a Glossy Ibis at the south end of the Pond, near Sutton's Bridge. This may only be the 4th record for this coastal species on WMF property. It is a bird that is prone to wandering after the breeding season, and August is when most of this wandering to inland locales occurs. I went out to Little Pond to look for this bird about 4 hours after Mike reported it. Unfortunately, I couldn't find it; and I presume that it had already moved on. However, in my search of the west side of the Pond for it, I turned up a Pied-billed Grebe with a flightless young one following it. We had seen this species sporadically here since April, and had heard it calling a few times in early May, but had given up hope of any breeding activity here this year. They did successfully nest here in 2002 and at Cemetery Pond in 2007. It is a species that is prone to nest late in the season, after water levels recede from spring flooding, so we shouldn't have given up hope for them as soon as we did. This young bird proves that. Virginia Rails will also nest late in the season, especially if they fail in their first attempts. On our visit on the evening of 8/8/11 we encountered a total of 10 of these birds along the north side of the pond. One was an adult, 2 were well-grown juveniles, and the others were all uttering fledgling food calls. One of the juveniles even hopped up on the Boardwalk, affording us excellent views of it. A major reason why Jim Kandefer, Marie Kennedy, and I went out there that day was to look for the Short-billed Dowitcher, Pectoral Sandpiper, and Semipalmated Plover that Fran Zygmont saw out there on the mud and sand bar Sunday morning, 8/7/11. Unfortunately, water levels had risen about 6" due to heavy rains, so much of the mud was under water, and none of these sought-after shorebirds were present. We did see 4 Killdeer on the remaining portion of the sandbar and 2 flyover Solitary Sandpipers. We also saw 14 Marsh Wrens along the north side of the Boardwalk; many of which were fledglings. That evening's adventure produced a total of 31 species of birds. I tallied a total of 49 species of birds the previous Friday, 8/5/11, after we installed the Purple Martin nest box near Sutton's Bridge. Most of the birds that day were the usual, common residents, plus 3 Green Herons, an adult and fledgling Virginia Rail, 2 singing Alder Flycatchers, 3 Bank Swallows, and 8 migrant Bobolinks. No matter when you go to Little Pond in August, it will yield plenty of birds.

Cemetery Pond is Really Good, Too!

Black-crowned Night-Heron adult

from www.commons.wikimedia.org

Black-crowned Night Heron immature

from http://www.commons.wikimedia.org/

Wood Duck photo by Paul Fusco

from http://www.paulfuscowildlifephotography.com/

Lesser Yellowlegs photo from

http://www.commons.wikimedia.org/

Greater Yellowlegs photo by Paul Fusco

from http://www.paulfuscowildlifephotography.com/

The last two postings raved about Little Pond and all of the birds that we've seen out there in the past 10 days. However, Cemetery Pond can be very productive, too, especially from mid-July through late October. Throughout most of this time Wood Ducks are very numerous. This is a very important place for hens to bring their broods of young in July and August to feed on an abundance of zooplankton, and for adults to molt to their feathers from late July through early September. It is also a very important place for migrants to stop and feed. The highlights there this week, along with the Wood Ducks (39 last evening), were an adult and immature Black-crowned Night-Heron found by Mike Doyle on Saturday, 7/31, and seen again by Fran Zygmont and myself last evening, and as many as 8 Green Herons there last evening. These can all be seen fairly well with binoculars. The shorebirds are most often seen feeding in the mud on the north side of the pond where the Phragmites has been exterminated. They really like this open expanse. Last evening we saw 3 Greater Yellowlegs, 7 Lesser Yellowlegs, and 4 Killdeer feeding in this patch. Some of the other birds seen last evening were a Great Blue Heron, a Hairy Woodpecker, a Willow Flycatcher with 2 fledglings, 6 adult and 5 fledgling Eastern Kingbirds, 90 Barn Swallows heading in to roost in the Cattails around the Pond, 5 Marsh Wrens singing from these Cattails, 120 American Robins heading in to roost in the Woods north of the Pond, and 16 Cedar Waxwings. These birds, along with all of the usual common species, made for a list of 37 species seen and/or heard at this "hot spot" from 7:20 until 8:40 p.m. yesterday. And for those readers who don't know where Cemetery Pond is, it is located at the intersection of White's Woods Rd. and Constitution Way in Litchfield. Both streets afford a fair amount of safe parking, but one does need to be on the lookout for speeding traffic at all times while walking or standing along the sides of these streets. This pond is also across the street (White's Woods Rd.) from St. Anthony's Cemetery, which is another good birding spot, and is one of our Cerceris Wasp monitoring locations.

An Evening at Little Pond

Gray Catbird photo from www.tringa.org

Pileated Woodpecker photo by

Leo Kulinski, Jr. from http://www.whalesandwolves.com/

Least Sandpiper photo from http://www.tringa.org/

Killdeer photo from www.gpnc.org

Great Blue Heron photo by Sean Casini

This past Saturday, 7/23/11, 6 intrepid souls braved hot, humid weather, a million mosquitoes, and thousands of Deer Flies to go on an adventure around the Little Pond Boardwalk with me from 6 p.m. until dark. We went in from the end of S. Lake St. on the boardwalk connector. Gray Catbirds were abundant along this stretch, as well as along much of the main boardwalk. Many of them were feeding fledglings. Large numbers of adult and juvenile American Robins and adult Cedar Waxwings were also found in these places dominated by berry-producing bushes. When we got to the main boardwalk we turned left and followed it clockwise around the pond. The east side produced the aforementioned species and other common birds. The south side, especially near Sutton's Bridge, produced lots of Swamp Sparrows with fledglings, an Alder Flycatcher, a couple of Willow Flycatchers, a pair of very feisty Eastern Kingbirds with fledglings, 16 flyover Killdeer, a fly-over Wood Duck and Pileated Woodpecker, a Fish Crow, a Muskrat, and a juvenile Northern Leopard Frog. Bird life along the west side mirrored that found along the east side. The north side produced the most action, as it always does. With my spotting scope we watched a hen Common Merganser with 4 young feeding out in the Pond, and 9 Killdeer, a Spotted Sandpiper, 4 Semipalmated Sandpipers, and 4 Least Sandpipers feeding in the mud between the Bantam River's inlet and outlet. Right along the boardwalk we saw more Willow and Alder Flycatchers, Eastern Kingbirds, Cedar Waxwings, and Swamp Sparrows, plus 5 Marsh Wrens and a Purple Finch. We heard a juvenile Virginia Rail calling from the big patch of sedge hummocks, but didn't see it. Two Great Blue Herons kept a respectable distance between each other along the Pond's shoreline. At dusk a total of 5 Beavers traversed various parts of the pond. At that point we exited to S. Lake St., hot, sweaty, and bit-up, but satisfied to have seen and/or heard 51 species of birds plus plenty of other wildlife and plants. All-in-all it was a successful and educational field trip.