Winter is Coming!

 

10:15 to 11:30, 68 degrees, Cloudy, Wind 6mph ESE

So far one of the coolest sit spots, especially for the time of day. Merlin heard a few birds that should not be here for another few weeks or a month. Dark Eyed Junco, Red Breasted Nuthatch, White Throated Sparrow. They could be early arrivals. They could be wrong guesses. Either way, winter is coming. 

I am definitely seeing better into The Little Forrest. I saw this Blue Jay and never heard its cry. A very cropped picture. Way up in a tree on the other side of The Crick. By the time Merlin heard a Blue Jay this one was long gone from my sight. How many birds have gone through my line of sight without me seeing them? I saw many more birds today than any other day! Yes, it was longer than any other sit spot. However, it was longer because I was seeing birds! I was able to get pictures of this Jay, a White Breasted Nuthatch and a Downey Woodpecker. 

At one point I heard a hawk on the wind above The Little Forrest. I am not sure how I knew it was a hawk but I knew it was a hawk. Not sure I have heard enough hawks while seeing them for this knowledge. Micah Mortali, often talks about ancestral knowledge. Perhaps this is how I knew. Eventually, Merlin showed a red tailed hawk. Likely in Portland today! That was a really cool experience. Getting in tune with my spot and nature in a way I have not before. 

I also heard a Great Blue Heron on high flying from the south (Back Cove) to the north. (perhaps Sebago Lake) I heard and knew before Merlin showed Great Blue Heron. Also, I could hear it after Merlin stopped lighting it up. While the heron and hawk did not stop in The Little Forrest, I count them on the bird list as they are here: visibly and audibly.  

Motion

 4:45 to 5:30, 78 degrees, Partly cloudy, Wind 2mph SSW, 

The birds were fairly quiet, as they are at this time of the day. Eleven bird species, only one not in Portland today. The American Redstart. Played the recording and it matches. 

The squirrels were about as active as I have ever seen them be. Part of that, I suspect, is that I am getting better at picking up motion. Or maybe a better way of saying what is happening is " I am seeing motion caused by animals/birds better." The Little Forrest is in constant motion from the wind. I noticed motion in the ferns down by The Crick. I really wanted it to be not a squirrel. The animal was not hopping like a squirrel. However, whenI got a good look: Squirrel! It is the first time I noticed this behavior. I suspect it has been happening and I have just not picked up on it. At one point I saw the motion of a shadow go through the Little Woods. Then crow calls. Was it a crow that flew over? Probably. 

Flicker!

8:45 to 9:15, 69 degrees, Clear Skies, Wind 9mph NW

With the wind and the shade of the trees it felt cooler than 69. Gusts would sometimes blow drops of water off the leaves. A storm came through yesterday afternoon. Bird feeder was turned a bit. No doubt it was from the storm. Hard to tell if the seed level has gone down. 

I am definitely getting better at telling the different types of motion. The wind moves the trees a certain way. Motion throughout the Little Forrest. A squirrel will make one branch move. Or several branches if it is jumping from one place to another, a more localized motion. I saw some motion up high across The Crick and to my right. My first thought was squirrel. However it was not moving like a squirrel. Then it was clear that it was moving like a woodpecker. I figured Merlin was going to give me Downey Woodpecker soon. I heard some interesting calls and looked down to see Northern Flicker. (Not likely in Sit Spot today) I played back the merlin tape and all 11 calls on Merlin. It definitely could have been a flicker. So I am counting it. 

Merlin heard 16 different species today. 

Nest?

 8:45 to 9:15am, 68 degrees, drizzle to part sunny, Wind 3mph W

When I got to the sit spot, there was a squirrel coming down Old Red. The squirrel had a small branch with leaves on it. I know squirrels use leaves in building their nests. Their nests are called dreys. So far I have only seen grey squirrels here. Was this nest building behavior? Do squirrels like oak leaves better than maple leaves. Those are the predominated trees in the Little Forrest. I guess it will be easier to find nests in the Little Forrest when the leaves fall. 

Not a lot going on this morning. There was some construction going on off behind house number 1. Big earth moving equipment sounding noises. So, things were kind of subdued. The construction noises overpowered the bird sounds. At one point the goldfinches sounded closer than they have ever been before. 

Merlin identified 10 species. Nothing new or not likely in Portland today. Saw a couple of birds flying high and cruising over the Little Forrest. Only caught glances of them as they passed on the wind.

Oops! forgot

 7:00 to 7:45 am, 68 degrees, cloudy, wind 4mph NW

Forgot to write up yesterdays sit spot. The goldfinches were more active again. I have only been at it for a month or so. It is possible they were active like this before I started sitting. They sounded lower at one point yesterday. At one point I thought about moving so that I could see around Pinky. So far, when I hear birds I remain in my seat. Even If I think I can see a bird if I get up and move a bit. 

There was a human moving around the yard in house number 2. It is hard to see the house because there is a dense spot of vegetation at the top of the gully where their lot is. It looks like there are some vines going up the trees at the back of their property. At different times of the day, there are different activities going on in and around The Little Forrest.  Thinking about a trail camera. 

I think the birds have found the bird feeder. I did not fill it to the top when I put it out. That would have been helpful in hindsight. It does have some lines, that I am now paying attention to. More will be revealed!

East End Bird List

 Osprey

Blue Heron

Snowy Egret

Great Egret

Northern Mocking Bird

Cedar Waxwing

Northern Yellow Warbler

Canada Goose

American Crow

Semipalmated Plover

Song Sparrow

Grey Catbird

Black Capped Chickadee

Spotted Sandpiper

American Goldfinch

Mallard

Forster's Tern 

Arctic Tern

American Herring Gull

Blue Jay

Northern Harrier 

Baird's Sandpiper

American Robin

Common Tern

Cormorant 

Chimney Swift

American Kestrel 

Red Winged Blackbird

Ring Billed Gull

Least Sandpaper

House Finch

Goldfinches Everywhere and Then Nothing

 5:00 to 5:40 pm, 81 degrees, some clouds, Wind 12 mph NW, Humidity 46%

It was the coolest feeling 81 in a long time. Wind and lower humidity was nice. In the first five minutes only Goldfinches, Blue Jay, and Song Sparrow.  Goldfinches are usually off to the right towards Fall Brook. And that is where I heard them first, in the distance. Then some off to my left almost as if they were doing call and response. And for a minute or so the entire canopy of the Little Forrest was lit up in goldfinch song. I kept expecting to see them explode through the canopy and fill the understory. Unfortunately, they remained high in the canopy. Around ten minutes in there was an agitated squirrel off towards Fall Brook. Then the bird sounds stopped for close to twenty minutes. Nothing not a distant crow, not a transient seagull, nor geese honking on high.  What set the squirrel and birds on alert? I do not know. Many such mysteries in the Little Forrest.

There were however some exciting new discoveries. There was activity at the Barrow's house! (Not their name, but it could be.) I have decided that is their name because the have a wheel barrow in the yard across the gully, that has the crick in it. Across the gully there are four single family homes I can see. The Barrow's have a golden retriever. Also, a daughter? who was weeding and looking at her phone. Much of society thinks humans are not part of nature. We are part of nature and shape it in many way both intentionally and unintentionally. 

I cannot imagine what The Little Forrest looked like as old growth forest. It looks as if at one point the gulley was clear cut. No Little Forrest, however the Crick would have been there. It looks as if some of the trees were there before the condominiums were built. Certainly Pinky and Old Red were there. Most of the other tress I have come to know seem much younger than fifty years. The Little Forrest has come to be mostly through neglect. Not a bad thing! Nature abhors a vacuum. Something will happen even if you do nothing! I have much curiosity about my sit spot. More will be revealed!