Belle Isle Bird List September 17

2006.09.17
Belle Isle Marsh, 8:00 am - 1:30 pm (dst)
Soheil Zendeh, Karsten Hartel
High tide: 8:30 am; Sky: clear; Temperature: 78° - 82°F (26° - 28°C) ; Wind: calm until 10:30; ese 3 - 5 mph (5 - 8 kph)
Visibility: excellent; Bird species: 32; Odes: at least 3 species; Leps: 3 species

Notes:

The highlight of the day was a raptor show that took a little while to develop. At first, while standing on the boardwalk I noticed a Peregrine in the dead tree to the sw. A small, very dark bird with belly streaking.

Within a short time I noticed another dark raptor flying toward the bare tree. It was small. It landed 15 feet from the Peregrine and two interacted by staring at each other. Eventually I figured out the second bird was a Merlin.

Within a few minutes a kestrel appeared (I had seen it buzzing about earlier) and began to harass the other two. Then it perched in the tree. For a few minutes all three were in the same scope field. How often does that happen?

Shortly thereafter all hell broke loose when a murder of crows burst in on the scene. Then everyone was chasing everyone else untill all the raptors dispersed, but not before a small Cooper's Hawk put in an appearance. Finally, the crows were left in charge of the dead tree.

The Peregrine came back and harassed the shorebird pools a number of times during the morning. At one point, while watching it swooping and flying about, I heard croaking noises. Some terns were flying by, and they were big. 4 Caspians.

The Phragmites is continuing to encroach on the salt marsh in the bermed area. Turning over my favorite boards, I saw some baby snakes where I photgraphed a snake earlier in the summer. I guess they spend their lives there--in the salt marsh. Very strange. I guess the advance of Phrags means it's not as salty as maybe it was earlier in its life.

There was also a wolf spider with egg sac under the same board as the snakes. Looked fresh. This is a different board than the one I had been seeing mother spiders before. I'm curious now how long their reproductive season goes.

The shorebird haul of the day occurred when Karsten and I left the boardwalk and checked out the pool to the left of the path (returning to the parking lot). This is the one with a #3 self-guiding trail post mark in front of it. Very precarious standing on the piled rocks on the edge, and poor visibility due to the tall Phrags. But excellent selection of shorebirds here, as well as a female Rusty Blackbird, a first for Belle isle. Thanks Karsten!

I could not locate any fancy leps: 3 Monarchs, 5 sulphurs and about 1000 cabbage whites!

I found three different species of odes. One is the large brown one Ian Davies identified as Meadowhawk. The other two are smaller. I'm hoping the photos can be used to id them.

American Black Duck    8
Blue-winged Teal    2
Northern Shoveler    4
Green-winged Teal    5
Great Blue Heron    3
Great Egret    7
Snowy Egret    8
Turkey Vulture    1
Cooper's Hawk    1
American Kestrel    1
Merlin    1
Peregrine Falcon    1
Semipalmated Plover    1
Greater Yellowlegs    8
Lesser Yellowlegs    11
Semipalmated Sandpiper    4
Western Sandpiper    1
Least Sandpiper    1
Stilt Sandpiper    1
Long-billed Dowitcher    1
Laughing Gull    6
Ring-billed Gull    10
Herring Gull    15
small terns 14 (Commons? Forsters? bad light as they flew by)
Caspian Tern    4
Rock Pigeon    2
Mourning Dove    4
American Crow    8
Northern Mockingbird    1
European Starling    40
unid warbler (yellow breast and head, wing bars, flash of white in outer
tail tips, very athletic, never saw leg color.)
Savannah Sparrow    4
Rusty Blackbird    1
American Goldfinch    1

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