Random Notes on a Rainy Day

On Union Pond

When I'm wandering around some place and a non-birder asks me what I'm looking for, I often reply, "Whatever's not supposed to be here." So, the other day just after dawn (I can't say "sunrise" because it's all murk and gloom), as I was driving to "my" parking spot at Whitesbog, I was surprised to see a big white bird in Union Pond. It is at least a month too early for the Tundra Swans to come back and take up residence for the winter. Getting a little closer I saw it was a Mute Swan. "Big deal," you say. Well, it is. 

Mute Swans are uncommon in Burlco. I have never, until this week, seen one at Whitesbog. A few years ago I made a special trip to Reeves Bogs because a pair were in the front bogs and I wanted to get them onto my Burlington County life list. I was of two minds about this sighting. I was glad to add it to my Whitesbog life list (175 on the Burlington side). I was depressed at the thought of Mute Swans colonizing the bogs to the detriment of all the other winter water fowl. Of which there were two others on the pond--a Bufflehead and a Hooded Merganser, both hens, both FOS. 

There's a positive outcome to the story. Later, on the Ocean County side, I ran into my friend and told him about my sighting. He'd seen the bird too and he'd also seen it fly out of the pond, over Ditch Meadow, and disappear. I was there yesterday and there was no sign of a swan. 

🐦🐦🐦

The irruption of winter finches from the boreal forests of Canada this year has been spectacular, but the downside of having 30 to 40 Pine Siskins at your feeders is that they go through seed so fast you start wonder at the expense. Plus, they are bullies and tend to keep the other birds away. A swarm of Pine Siskins is interesting for the first few minutes, but then you'd like to see some other birds. We have 7 feeders and the siskins still can't fit on them all, so they gather on the ground and feed off the seeds knocked down by the frenzied birds above. All the while it has been pathetic to see a cardinal off to the side waiting its turn, or to see a Red-breasted Nuthatch chased away by the sharp beak of a siskin. 

A small sample of siskins

I don't want to anthropomorphize (I just like to use the word) but it was a great sight this morning when a male cardinal finally said to itself, "Okay, I've had enough of these guys," and plopped down in the middle of ten ground feeding siskins. An explosion of birds in every direction while the cardinal, joined by a female, calmly started to feed on the easy pickings.