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| Trumpeter Swans, Stone Tavern Lake |
Last week Shari & I looked for the annually-recurring, long-staying
Trumpeter Swans at Stone Tavern Lake (a section of Assunpink) and didn't find them. Today it didn't take me a minute to find them on the far side of the lake, right where they should be and usually are. The lake isn't that big, really a pond, so when we missed them, they certainly weren't on the water out of sight. I wonder where they go when they're not home. They weren't on the much larger Assunpink Lake last week. They can fly long distances and could be on any body of water within 50 miles I suppose, but why would they just up and leave...and then come back? As my mentor in the printing business used to say to me in a different context (usually when all hell was breaking loose): "Larry, that's what makes it all interesting."
On Stone Tavern there were also one
Mute Swan and a small flock of
Lesser Scaup. And that, aside from decoys of Mallards and Canada Geese on Assunpink Lake, was all the waterfowl for the day. The duck hunters did not look happy today as their pathetic little sets of fake ducks and geese were not attracting any targets. I've read enough articles in Ducks Unlimited Magazine to know that you have to put out a lot of decoys to be effective, numbering in the dozens, not the 8 or 10 that I see on the water.
So, considering that the water was empty, I did pretty well. There were a couple of flocks of bluebirds on the road follows the shape of the lake and a few of them were investigating the kestrel box that hasn't been used in a while, considering how covered in vines it is. Saturday, at Cloverdale, I assumed it was too early for bluebird nesting but apparently it isn't too early to go house hunting.
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| Eastern Bluebirds on kestrel box |
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| Gray Catbird |
The millet fields had about 100
White-throated Sparrows and a single immature
White-crowned Sparrow. I had parked my car at the model airplane field and it wasn't until I worked my way back that the birding got really interesting. On a rutted trail that leads down to east end of the lake the birds were active and I picked up my first
Ruby-crowned Kinglet of the year as well as my first
Gray Catbird. Catbird is one of the birds that are "half-hardy" meaning that if it isn't too cold (and it hasn't been) a few may stick around. Interestingly, a couple of years ago I remember finding a catbird in more or less the same area as today. Something about those thickets--must be berries in there.
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| Pileated Woodpecker |
The exciting bird for me today was the last new one I found. Years ago Shari & I saw a Long-eared Owl in a pine grove near where the old HQ used to be, so I was kicking around in there looking at all the trunks to see if I could spot another (I know there's one at Assunpink again, I just don't know where), when I heard a woodpecker call. I thought it sounded like a
Pileated Woodpecker by the process of elimination since I know what all the other woodpeckers sound like, but I wasn't absolutely sure. The woodpecker was insistent, so I gave up on the owl quest and walked across the field looking for the bird. Amazingly, within a few minutes I found the huge crested crow-sized woodpecker banging away on a tree. I got great looks at it which my photographs don't show because the camera insists on focusing on the branches and not the bird. Pileated Woodpecker is not rare around Assunpink but I don't see very many of them and it is one very impressive bird. And I impressed myself by finding it.
For my two stops at Assunpink I had 30 species.
Mute Swan 1
Trumpeter Swan 2
Lesser Scaup 25
Great Blue Heron 1
Black Vulture 2
Turkey Vulture 4
Red-tailed Hawk 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker 5
Downy Woodpecker 5
Hairy Woodpecker 2
Pileated Woodpecker 1
Northern Flicker 1
Blue Jay 10
American Crow 2 Heard
Carolina Chickadee 2 Heard
Tufted Titmouse 1 Heard
White-breasted Nuthatch 3
Carolina Wren 5 Heard
Golden-crowned Kinglet 1
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 1
Eastern Bluebird 12
Gray Catbird 1
Northern Mockingbird 1
European Starling 25
American Goldfinch 2
White-crowned Sparrow 1
White-throated Sparrow 125
Song Sparrow 7
Yellow-rumped Warbler 5 Little flock on trail near airplane field
Northern Cardinal 5 Scattered around
So, considering that the water was empty, I did pretty well. There were a couple of flocks of bluebirds on the road follows the shape of the lake and a few of them were investigating the kestrel box that hasn't been used in a while, considering how covered in vines it is. Saturday, at Cloverdale, I assumed it was too early for bluebird nesting but apparently it isn't too early to go house hunting.
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