As a birder who is really worried about the overall plight of birds, the question above was on my mind when I woke up Saturday morning. After a couple cups of coffee, I decided to head up to Myers point to see what migrants might have braved the light, southeast winds overnight. I also was interested to see if the White-rumped Sandpiper reported Friday (when I was tethered to my computer by work) was still be around.
I immediately checked the spit and nearby sandbars when I arrived at Myers and could only muster up one Semipalmated Sandpiper and a couple of Killdeer. The woods across Salmon Creek also seemed remarkably quiet. Eventually, I made my way up Salmon Creek to find three, dapper, little, dabbling ducks that I immediately recognized as being unlike the three-quarter-grown contingent of Mallards hanging out nearby. I was a little excited because there have been both Blue-winged Teal and Green-winged Teal in the creek that last two weekends. Indeed, when those teal hang out together, they are not very hard to tell apart even in female plumage. Yes, females of both species are small, generally brown (like female mallards), with dark bills (unlike female mallards, which have orange bills with dark blotches). But female Green-winged Teal are darker than female Blue-winged Teal (subtle, but noticeable if they are swimming literally side by side), and have green speculums (on their secondaries) set off by brownish feathers above and below while the Blue-winged Teal have blue patches (hidden when the wing is folded) on their wing coverts and little green-colored trailing edges to the wing. When their wings are folded, only the trailing-edge feathers peak out. So, the Green-winged teal show a little bit of brown in their gray-black folded wing, while Blue-winged Teal actually show the little bit of green-colored trailing edge to the wing. Sneaky little birds, whether they know it or not. Anyway, the three birds I saw on Saturday all where the same shade of dark gray/brown, and clearly showed big blue patches in their wings when they took flight. Why did they fly away? Could have been the couple who left their dog walk unleashed along the creek bank, or the inquisitive kayaker who wanted to see how far upstream they could paddle against the slack current. Instead, the teal took wing because a group of 200+ intimidating bullies showed up -- winged ones -- noisily riding the wind onto the scene like a big group of bikers rumbling into town for the Sturgis motorcycle rally. Some of the Canada Geese (none of which assuredly never have been to Canada) acted all intimidating and threw threatening stares in the direction of all the other birds in the creek. I'm pretty sure a couple of them had their t-shirt sleeves rolled up to hold their unfiltered Camels, and to better show off their scars. I was really worried that these bullies might have scared off any shorebirds that were on the stony islands in the creek, but I scanned the banks of the islands all the same. On an end of the one island away from the boisterous geese, I found what I was looking for. First, I found three more Killdeer, and the first Semipalmated Plover that I have seen this fall, then a few Least Sandpipers, and another Semipalmated Sandpiper. Then I found another peep (a commonly used term for the group of relatively small sandpipers -- Least, Semipalmated, Baird's, and White-rumped). This one looked like it had been hitting the gym more than the others. Least sandpipers really are small, and this time of year are a fairly warm brownish above. In decent light, their light-colored legs help them stand out from all the other peeps that have black legs (beware of dried mud that can make legs look lighter than they are. Semipalmateds typically are grayer than Leasts, and just a bit longer-bodied (making the Least seem a bit more compact than the Semis). The bird I was looking at was ever so slightly bulkier or just a bit larger than the nearby Leasts and Semis. It had a noticeable pale supercilium (although immature Semis in their first fall migration also can show a lot of light coloration above and behind their eye). When the bird walked perpendicular to me, I could see clearly that it's wings were long, extending about a half inch or more beyond the tip of the tail when the wings were folded (this eliminated both the Least from consideration as well as a super fat young Semi). As I watched the bird longer, it did a lot of preening (migration puts a lot of wear and tear on feathers, and migrants especially spend a lot of time caring for their feathers). I could see a completely white rump (lower back) as this bird lifted one wing and then the other while preening. Maybe the weather conditions overnight were not as conducive to migration as I had surmised. The White-rumped Sandpiper seemingly had stayed around. After taking lots of notes on the sandpiper, I went over to Salt Point to see if I could find any migrant warblers. It was quiet there. Really quiet. But, I did get more (even better) looks at the little mixed flock of shorebirds on the island in Salmon Creek. As I got out to the lakeshore, three small birds literally dropped out of the sky and landed in the top of a tree with bare branches. I was hearing some American Goldfinches somewhere nearby and was ready to add three more to my eBird list. Even as I was raising my binoculars to look at them, my brain was registering that they had slightly notched tails (a trait of most of our finch species). However, these birds showed a "UU" notched tail rather than "VV" notch like potato chip birds have (Goldfinches seem to say "potato chip potato chip" when in flight -- or maybe I just go birding when I am hungry). Turned out that the three birds that dropped in were Yellow-rumped Warblers. They almost immediately started catching insects (flying ones and little caterpillars), so I think I witnessed what is refered to as "visible migration". It was a neat experience. Finally, as I was about to leave the site, another bird caught my attention. Again, I was fooled by it's behavior. This bird was foraging rapidly in the tree canopy, much like what you see warblers doing in the spring when they have migrated overnight and are really hungry. This little thing was going after insect prey like an Angry Bird. I expected to see a warbler of some sort when I finally got binoculars on it. But, I found a vireo instead. My brains said (I know because I wrote it down), "that is a funny looking Warbling Vireo. Warbling Vireos breed at Salt Point and I heard a couple earlier. But this bird had a dark line through the eye, going all they way in front of the eye to the bill (so do Red-eyed Vireos, but REVIs are greenish above whereas this bird was grayer on its back and head). Even more noticeable was that it had a quite yellow throat and upper breast. Warbling Vireos can show yellowish washes on their sides, but their throats and upper breasts are whitish. Yellow-throated Vireos obviously have yellow throats, but they are ripe banana yellow. This bird had yellow more like French Vanilla icecream (and no yellow "spectacles"). It was the first Philadelphia Vireo I have laid eyes on this fall. So, the White-rumped Sandpiper seems not to have decided to migrate out yet, but I witnessed visible migration of Yellow-rumped Warblers and a very hungry Philadephia Vireo that does not breed around here. Not a lot of indivudals, nor a great diversity. Still, it is comforting to know that it was a good night for bird migration and at least a few birds still are able to take advantage. If you are wondering what you can do for birds this time of year, send me a private message. The Cayuga Bird Club Conservation Action Committee has some ideas for you. Good birding Jody Jody W. Enck, PhD Conservation Social Scientist, and Founder of the Sister Bird Club Network 607-379-5940 -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
