Indigo Buntings

I got out early this morning to beat the heat and the bugs, and took my two dogs with me on our usual walk along the West River trail bordering the cornfield behind the Marina. The dogs love to plunge down the slides made by beavers who cut down the tall cornstalks and drag them across the trail down a steep slope into the river. I kept my eyes on the cornfield and watched Indigo Buntings dipping in and out of the plants. Both males and females were well into their post-breeding molts.









Saturday I was to embark on my big adventure, an overnight extreme pelagic trip out of Hyannis, but it was cancelled because of hurricane Bill. Since I had already booked a motel for Friday night I decided to drive out anyway and do some birding along the seashore - get away from the heat and enjoy a fresh ocean breeze, and keeping my fingers crossed that it won't rain!

Marbled Godwit on Plum Island

Off to Plum Island yesterday in the rain, but it was dry by the time we arrived in Newburyport. The day remained mostly overcast, softening the light, which is actually an advantage when taking photographs. There were just a few gulls at the boat launch and harbor, and a lone double-crested cormorant in the water.

I had only about an hour at low tide to look around in the PRNWLR since I had to leave my husband and our dogs outside. The North Pool at first was disappointingly empty except for some black ducks on the opposite side and a small group of peeps at the far end. But as I watched the peeps picking in the mudflats suddenly a large bird landed close by: my first marbled godwit. It stayed for about 5 minutes and then flew off again. Here are some pictures:







Marbled godwits are scarce and local along the Atlantic Coast. This was probably a migrant, as migration for this species starts in July.

After the bird flew off I paid closer attention to the peeps. They turned out to be white-rumped sandpipers. Another lifer for me! These too were most likely migrants from their usual breeding grounds in the high Arctic to South America. Spring migration takes them through the Great Plains and fall migration through the Atlantic Coast according to The Shorebird Guide(M.O'Brien, R.Crossley & K.Karlson)





After lunch we drove out to the ferry landing at the other end of the island. I saw some gulls, very distant, but was able to get some shots of what turned out to be 1st summer Bonaparte's gulls:





All in all a very successful day!

Red-tailed Hawk, continued

Just a quick update: the red-tailed hawk youngster was back yesterday, on his own now. I kept hearing his thin sharp cries high up in the sky. It's been another beautiful day with white cumulus clouds at the horizon and a deep blue sky overhead. I hope it stays this way as we, my husband and I, are planning to head out to Newburyport and the PRNWLR tomorrow.



Spectrogram of squeals and click to play audio :