Thursday, July 29, 2010

Plum Island continued: Eastern Towhees, Purple Martins and more

Continuing with my visit to Plum Island Part III:
---So I broke for lunch, settled myself on a bench on the Sandy Point boardwalk and unwrapped a sandwich I had brought from home. Soon however  I stopped eating, mesmerized by an Eastern Towhee singing in the tree just above my head.

Eastern Towhee


Spectrogram and wave form show repeated complexes consisting of introductory note, a trill of 3 to 4 syllables and ending in a buzzy trill

I never managed to get a good look at the bird - it remained hidden the foliage, but driving back to the exit I saw an Eastern Towhee sitting on a small juniper tree by the side of the road.

Eastern Towhee

Further along the road, a Great Egret was hunting, leaning forward, stretching its neck longer and longer until it suddenly pounced on a prey in the grass. By the time I was able to get a shot, whatever it had swallowed was already half way down its gullet.

Great Egret



An Osprey was flying over the salt marsh.

Osprey

I stopped at Ocean #1 to check out the Purple Martins. 

Purple Martin House

Purple Martin Adults

Detail: Adult Purple Martin


A very curious chick


Thanks for stopping by. Please leave a comment if you like.

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6 comments:

  1. KellyJuly 29, 2010 at 5:40 PM

    ...very cool. I loved listening to your recording! The martins are adorable. In the previous post, the Least Tern was just beautiful, and oh my gosh......the Piping Plover chicks!!!! Adorable.... I had a lot of catching up to do! Sounds like Plum Island is just a must. I hope to get there some day.

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  2. Harold StiverJuly 30, 2010 at 9:09 AM

    What a fabulous day you had and some great photos. My favorite is the hunting Egret, very intense and natural.

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  3. Whimbrel NatureJuly 30, 2010 at 5:52 PM

    Nice post. Loved the towhee recording. I've got to start getting some recordings for my blog.

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  4. BirdinggirlJuly 30, 2010 at 9:08 PM

    Plum Island is such a great spot. Looks like it was a fun day! The towhee recording is fantastic. They're one of the birds I had heard all my life and only recently matched up with the bird.

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  5. Robin RobinsonAugust 5, 2010 at 8:57 AM

    Marvelous Towhee shot. It's hard to get a clear shot of them like that one. I'm envious. What are you using for recording equipment?

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  6. Hilke BrederAugust 5, 2010 at 4:05 PM

    Thanks for your comments, Kelly, Harold, Elijah, Birding Girl and Robin.

    Yes, Plum Island is a birding hot spot at almost any time of the year for shorebirds, migrant warblers, Snowy Owl... I find recording bird songs really adds to the birding experience. I use a pocket recorder, the Olympus LS 10, with two built in mics. You don't need external mics. It's small, so you forget you have it with you until you need it. I edit my recordings with the free Audacity sound editor. The beta version has a great noise removal tool to minimize background traffic noises etc.

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