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.

Big Brown Bat censusing

Big Brown Bats roosting

photo from http://www.bu.edu/


Big Brown Bat in flight

photo from http://www.uwgb.edu/

White Memorial's Green Barn, which is located in the Main Area right behind the Museum, has hosted a Big Brown Bat colony for as long as anyone can remember. Since 1999, we have conducted sporadic censuses of this colony, usually as they exit in the evening to feed. This work has become increasingly important in the past few years with White Nose Syndrome decimating bat populations. Little Brown Bats are now greatly diminshed in numbers around this area because of this disease, but Big Brown Bats are still holding on in good numbers. They may not be affected by this disease quite as badly as other bats, or it is just a matter of time before it hits them hard, too. This year they had problems dealing with prolonged cold, wet weather in June. We found a total of 22 dead pups on the floor of the barn during this time period. Our censusing has also been adversely impacted by persistant lousy weather this year. Bats are not inclined to fly in the rain, so we don't try to census them under those conditions. With many other tasks to perform, it has been hard to find time on nice evenings to count the bats. On one such evening in early July I counted 193 bats exiting the barn. I didn't have another opportunity until Saturday, 8/6, when the bat census was supposed to be a major component of our "Serenade for the Bats" program for the public. However, heavy rain descended upon us about 5 minutes into the count after 70 bats had emerged. Not only did bats cease to come out, but the bats that had just come out went right back in. We quit counting them at that point. The rain didn't quit until the next day. I was a lot luckier the following Saturday, 8/13. The weather was mostly clear and warm with a light breeze. I parked myself on the northwest side of the barn where I could see the primary exit point under the peak of the roof on the west side and the secondary exit out through the front doors on the north side. I started watching for bats at 7:35 p.m., but didn't see the first one emerge until 7:47. The peak action occurred between 7:55 and 8:05. The last bat exited the building at 8:17. I went into the barn at 8:25 to see if any bats were still there, and didn't see any. The total that night was 164 bats, with all but 13 exiting from the west side. Almost all of them flew toward the Lake Trail and Ongley Field. The weather this past Saturday evening, 8/20, was also perfect for the bats and for us to count them. This time it was part of our "Things That Go Bump In The Night" program for the public. Twenty people participated in this walk which wound up at the Green Barn at 7:40 p.m. We postioned ourselves to see the west and north sides easily, and were rewarded with a total count of 149 bats between 7:45 and 8:20 p.m. Just like last week, the peak activity occurred around 8 p.m. When we went into the barn at 8:25 to check for remaining bats we didn't see any. All but 9 of the bats had exited from the west side of the building. We can't account for the decrease in bats with any certainty. We could have missed seeing bats exit the east or south sides of the building, or they may have been roosting in a different building, or they may have left the area, or they may have been eaten by an owl or other predator, or they may have died from some other cause. We did look for dead bodies in the barn and didn't see any. It is interesting to note that I saw a Great Horned Owl perched on the barn's roof right over the exit hole on Tuesday, 8/9, and we heard a Barred Owl hooting from the Interpretive Trail on Thursday, 8/11. We'll see what the rest of the summer brings for bat numbers as we continue to try to count them on a weekly basis. The more people helping to count, the better, so come on out.

Early American Woodcock & other birds on 2/18/11

American Woodcock photo from

http://www.jczinn.com/

On Friday, 2/18/11, Jim Kandefer, Mike Amodeo, and I censused several parts of White Memorial for the Great Backyard Bird Count. We came up with fairly good numbers of most of the expected species around the Museum Area, Pike Marsh, Bantam Lake Outlet, and N. Shore Rd. This included 4 Wood Ducks at the Outlet, 2 Red-breasted Nuthatches at the Museum feeders, and a total of about 25 Eastern Bluebirds. We ended the day with a successful hour and a half of counting along Webster Rd., including Catlin Woods and Miry Brook Marsh. Arethusa Farm yielded a large mixed flock of blackbirds that included about 50 Red-wings and 20 Common Grackles with 500+ European Starlings. Unfortunately, we couldn't find the American Kestrel that we saw there on Wednesday. Heading back into Catlin Woods we heard a Great Horned Owl hooting from the area of the intersection of White's Woods and Webster Roads. Then we were astounded to hear an American Woodcock giving its "peent" call from Miry Brook Marsh. After a few "peents" it picked up and flew around the marsh before settling back down and resuming "peenting". Then it lifted off, flew around the marsh, up Webster Rd. over our heads, and northbound over Catlin Woods. We didn't hear it again after that. I think that this is only the third time that I've encountered a woodcock as early as February in the Litchfield/Morris area. Right after the excitement of finding this bird had subsided I started whistling for Northern Saw-whet Owls. We have found these birds quite regularly in Catlin Woods in mid and late February. After about 2 minutes of intermittent whistling we heard a Saw-whet answer from the north side of the road in the thick hemlocks. We saw it fly among the sapling-sized trees and then disappear. Not wanting to subject it to any more disturbance or being preyed upon by the Great Horned Owl, we stopped whistling and left it alone. When I get all of the results from our GBBC counters compiled, I'll post them in a future bog.