Welcome to the
Vinalhaven Sightings Report
November 15th,
2014
Proud to be sponsored
by the VLT and the MCHT
Highlights – pipits,
horned lark, harlequin ducks and a “bunch of other ducks”, grebes, bittern,
raptors, short-eared owl, other stuff
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| black-bellied plover tracks |
Contact us – vinalhavensightings@gmail.com . with sightings, words of wisdom, or emails to be added to our
list. Thanks for reading!
Tiit Trick –
click on the photos to enlarge.
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| just about all that remained of a peregrine falcon photo by John Drury |
Sightings – Jamus Drury reports an Iceland Gull in the Bay.
Ferry rides are back in
style again! – November is one of the best 12 months to ride the ferry and
we’ve (the royal “we’ve”) gotten the pleasure to catch the 7am to Rockland a
few times in the last few weeks. Here are some lists –
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| there are a lot of loons these days. "loose bin" |
(11/6) 111 Black Guillemots, 85 Old-tail Ducks, 69 Common Loons, 12 Bonaparte’s Gulls, 7 red-breasted Merganser, 6 Double-crested Cormorants, 2 Great Cormorants, 5 Surf Scoter, 4 Crow, Bald Eagle, male Northern Harrier, lots of eiders and gulls. 4 Harbor Seals
(11/12) 116 Old-tail
Ducks, 98 Common Loons, 79 Black guillemots, 13 Bufflehead, 6 Bonaparte’s
Gulls, 6 Black Ducks, 2 Red-breasted Merganser, Surf Scoter, Black Scoter, Bald Eagle, Red-throated Loon, Red-necked
Grebe, Purple Sandpiper, Great Blue Heron, 27 Harbor Seal, 4 Harbor Porpoise
Great rides on the boat –these mornings were the "warm after storm” sort of days, when
you (the royal “you”) would expect new arrivals to be doing their "arrival thing".
Brought in by the winds – big numbers of
Oldtail Ducks, Loons and Guillemots – kinda bummed I didn’t get to 100 loons on the 12th but
I think the 98 are the most I have seen in a day in Maine. Remember those 2000+
loon days at Pigeon Point, BAJ? ….Male Harrier
hunting over the green island just outside
the narrows was a nice one on the 6th…Purple Sandpiper and red-throated Loon were a bonus on the 12th
– really just glad to see so many birds on those trips… Captain Pete reports a huge Double-crested Cormorant day (10/28) - thousands to a gagillion Cormorants migrated thru that day.  |
| preening yellow-rumped at lane's beach |
Lane’s Island – (11/5)
American Bittern, Peregrine Falcon, Goldfinch…
(11/8) Short-eared
Owl, American Woodcock…
(11/10) 4 Red-breasted
Mergansers, Northern Gannet, Black Duck, Common Loon, lots of Yellow-rumped
Warblers…
(11/11) Common Loon,
Northern Gannet, Merlin
With lane’s it could have been the Bittern that circled the field when I was meeting with Jane Arbuckle (all around great person),
or the Peregrine that flew over us
minutes later. Or it could have been the mass amount of yellow-rumped warblers that are in the marsh, on the beach,
flycatchin’, eating bayberries – basically doing their super adaptive thing. Here's a video or two of Yellow-rumpeds in action...
It
was the Short-eared Owl hunting the
field crepuscular style that really got my
blood pumping (or is it shunting?). There were fist pumps (or shunts?) and muddled calls of enthusiasm – muddled
as to not scare the owl, but the most excited I have been (nature-wise that is)
in a long time. Good times, and the short-eared is our (the royal “our”) bird.
Super romantic. We heart Short-eareds.
State Beach – (11/3) – song and savannah sparrows, horned
lark, 10 Red-necked Grebe…
(11/8) – 4 common
loon, 7 Horned Lark, 15 Red-necked Grebe, Song Sparrow, Yellow-rumped Warbler,
Black Guillemot…
(11/9) – 2 Horned
Lark, Pipit, 10 Old-tailed Duck, 17 Red-necked Grebe, 10 Common Loon…
(11/10) – 10
Red-breasted Merganser, 42 Red-necked Grebe, 2 Horned Lark, Pipit, Song
Sparrow, Old-tailed Duck, Ring-billed Gull, 2 Bufflehead, Common Loon, Black
Guillemot, Pine Siskin...
(11/11) – Bald Eagle,
31 Red-necked Grebe, 34 Harlequin Ducks, 4 Horned Larks, Pipit, Red-throated
Loon, Black Guillemots, Ring-billed Gull, 7 Red-breasted Merganser, Northern
Cardinal…
(11/14) (after an AM
snow) 6 Snow Buntings, 11 Horned Lark, 3 Red-necked Grebe, 5 Common Loons, Song
Sparrows, Dark Eyed Junco
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| "lark's toes in snow" |
Summary - State
beach is a relatively safe place (feels safe, you know) to go during hunting
season. It also happens to be a great
place for November observing…The larks
and pipit are cool and are dissected more below….At the tail end of a
pretty good southerly blow (11/11)
several groups of Harlequins Ducks
were blown into Eastern Penobscot Bay (or maybe they meant to be there) close
enough for easy identification and observation. Group of 11 Harlequins in the surf at Greens Ledge was the highlight. Only
the second time I have seen Harlequins from State Beach. November also means Red-necked Grebe days at State Beach –
high count of 42 so far, but there’s many more to come. Or not, suddenly their numbers have dropped. And
snow buntings! Good to see some back. Never seen a northern cardinal at state
beach before!
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| this young surf scoter was in round pond. and this photo is randomly placed in this VSR |
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| premium habitat |
What’s the deal with pipits, larks and
snow buntings? Pipit and lark sightings have always been
“noteworthy”, and snow bunting sightings are a little more special (totally
biased here – acknowledged and accepted). Maybe they are noteworthy cuz we don’t
see all that many of them. Take Pipits for example- I have gone years between
sightings out here. Is that why they are noteworthy? Other than the intrinsic “pipits
are beings, amazing warm blooded feathered things” I mean.
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| snow on roger |
“The most widespread North American species (of this here
family), the American Pipit, was formerly lumped with the Water Pipit (Anthus
spinoletta). However there are substantial mDNA differences and they don’t
interbreed where ranges overlap”. Sounds like two species to us!
So is it because “our” pipit – the American Pipit (Anthus rubscens) for Christmas sake! - was recently
recognized as its own species? That can’t be it. I mean really, what’s the deal with pipits?
I asked the most localist “passionate pipit person” I know – Palmer (of whom I am husband to) – what’s the coolest thing about Pipits? Amy immediately started
beautifully “waggin’ her tail” ,
almost as if she had been waiting for someone to ask about the pipit dance. I
didn’t get a video of that (but I have one etched into my mind) but I did get a
video of a pipit waggin –
And so the old saying goes “…pipits are not wagtails, and
not all pipits wag their tail, but of course our pipit does….” “Take back the
American Pipit” speech and march on Washington
So there you have it the coolest thing about a pipit.
Impressed?
“is that it?” I
asked the “passionate pipit person –
princess palmer” (PPPPP), and that only got her all worked up – “they are
bad ass! I’ve seen them at the top of a
volcano in new Zealand , and in volcano
country in the Alaskan peninsula. They pick some harsh places to be!”.
Point well taken palmer – even here in the state (of Maine) they breed only in
one locale – at the top (or close enough to the top) of mount katahdin. Katahdin
is no state beach - don't get me wrong!
Alright then – so what’s the deal with Horned Larks and Snow
Buntings? Surely aesthetics play a role in these species being noteworthy –
striking pair they are.
Horned lark – Eremophila alpestris “Ground dwellers of open
fields, lark’s are slender billed seed- and insect eaters. On the ground they walk rather than hop” - here's a video of one searching for food.
Look at the Horned Lark range map and you will see most of
North America covered – except for much of the unchartered territory of south/central Canada where no one lives anyway,
so we as a species do not care about. And
yet even though they are found everywhere they seem to be a species that I just
don’t see that often – except for on Cape Cod.
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| lbj in snow photo by John Drury |
Is it this “infrequency of crossing paths” with them? Or is it
that yellow face? Or maybe it’s the “horns” – (Palmer’s guess). Could be the huge Horned Lark flocks you read
about “winter flocks, often immense, occ
with snow buntings , Lapland longspur”, but somehow I have only seen on
like one occasion – thank you BAJ. Head
scratcher.
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| false chantrelle in snow |
For snow buntings it’s clear
that their aesthetical beauty plays a role in their noteworthiness (sorry,
looks go a long way with people diggin’ birdies). Especially for a sparrow –
the family which has been voted “least
impressive looking (ugliest) songbird family” for the last 45 years. Drab
is the norm and this sparrow is hot. Or at least warm.
“In winter, Snow Buntings are usually found in flocks, often
fairly large ones. As they move through a field they appear to “roll along, like blowing snow as birds toward the
back of the flock leap-frog (leap-bunt) over those in the front”.
It all sounds cool – but really the reason Larks, Pipits and
Buntings are noteworthy is because they
are on island right now and easily observable! You may have already
interacted with them if you’ve walked at State Beach. These are the tweeters
that get scared up on the walk out to and back from the point with the picnic
table.
