Belle Isle Bird List August 26 2007

2007.08.26
Belle Isle Marsh
6:15 - 9:30 am dst
Richard Cressman, George Cummings, Soheil Zendeh
High tide: 10:30 am dst
Sky: partly cloudy -- clear
Temperature: 80° - 87°F (
Wind: calm early, then w 5 mph (8 kph)
Visibility: excellent
Tide: mid to high

Notes:

Relief! I now know that at least one of the Ospreys that fledged here (last week?) is still around. It lands on the platform, terrorizes the shorebirds and generally is looking very much at home. Initially, I thought it was an adult. It certainly is full-sized, flies about normally and, at first glance, has the characteristic Osprey black-and-white plumage. But a close look with telescope made it obvious that, rather than the adult's clean blackish-brown on the wings and mantle, this bird has rows of fine speckles, giving it a faintly checkered appearance. There were no other Ospreys around today than this individual. It's basically a toddler!

Today, I met up with Belle Isle old-timer Father Richard Cressman. Rich was a priest in East Boston and birded Belle Isle a decade or more ago. Many of his observations form the basis for the current Reservation bird list. He was the first to document Acadian Flycatcher for the Park, and the first to confirm that Baltimore Orioles nested in the trees around the parking lot. Rich, of the Silesian Order of priests and educators, was transferred to Columbus, Ohio, about 5 years ago, but has stayed in touch throughout and
finally, when he was in town for a few days, we managed to meet up for some hours of birding today. I pointed out Western Sandpipers to him and he pointed out that cottonwood trees are sap-laden and attract flying swarms of insects. Last year I had seen Cedar Waxwings flycatching through an insect swarm near the top of this very cottonwood. This year, a host of Tree Swallows appeared out of nowhere and began buzzing around the same tree. I wasn't close enough, this time, to see the insect swarm, but the
event had the unmistakable flavor of a tree swallow feeding frenzy.

Very early in the morning, before I met Rich, I nearly blundered into a widely set spider web when walking along the Geoff Wood Trail. At first I kept searching for the spider in the middle of the web suspended above the path, but there was no sign of it there. Then I found it, on the side of the path, attached to a juicy-looking pupa. This looked like the chrysalis of a relatively large moth or butterfly, though I need help figuring out what species. But in any case this particular individual will not be leaving that chrysalis. The spider, which looked to me like a variety of garden spider with its striped and hairy legs, was happily sucking it dry. Somehow, I never thought of a moth or butterfly chrysalis as spider food, but it is so logical! If you are a spider and you can find one of these, you're in heaven. After all, the thing is already wrapped in silk, ready for your delectation. What a deal!

Today is about 13 days past the spring tide that coincided with new moon. Spring tides have nothing to do with the spring season. You get a spring tide, which is an unusually high (or low) tide when the moon lines up with the sun. This means spring tides occur at full moon or new moon. It is during those extra high tides that the salt pans in a typical salt marsh get fully replenished by sea water. In the 2 week interval between those extra high tides, the water in the pans dries out and evaporates, so that mudflats become exposed where there was standing water, and eventually the mud begins to dry and crack.

Last Sunday, it was 6 days past the new moon spring tide of August 12. There was plenty of water and fish in the pans in front of the Geoff Wood observation platform. It was jammed with herons and egrets, as well as the larger shorebirds feeding. Today, after another week of hot and dry weather, that pan was nearly dry and the herons and shorebirds were mostly at the large pans far to the east of the Boardwalk. But the smaller shorebirds were able to run around on the mudflat and find worms and grubs to feed on. The Western and White-rumped Sandpipers could stand belly deep in the shallow water and probe the mud with their longer bills.

The Sora was one I heard. It only gave a partial call, but it is unmistakeable. I had not seen (or heard) a Sora at Belle Isle since 1976!

Number of bird species:    32

American Black Duck    6
Mallard    1
Double-crested Cormorant    2
Great Egret    14
Snowy Egret    68
Osprey    1
Peregrine Falcon    1
Sora    1
Black-bellied Plover    1
Semipalmated Plover    8
Killdeer    1
Greater Yellowlegs    6
Lesser Yellowlegs    9
Semipalmated Sandpiper    160
Western Sandpiper    4
Least Sandpiper    8
White-rumped Sandpiper    2
Short-billed Dowitcher    9
Ring-billed Gull    3
Herring Gull    2
Rock Pigeon    15
Mourning Dove    3
American Crow    2
Tree Swallow    55
Barn Swallow    4
Northern Mockingbird    2
European Starling    600
Cedar Waxwing    3
Common Yellowthroat    1
Salmarsh Sharp-tailed Sparrow 3
Common Grackle    1
American Goldfinch    2

Soheil Zendeh
42 Baker Ave
Lexington, MA 02421
home phone 781-863-2392
cell phone 617-763-5637
office phone 617-528-4013