Category Archives: Songbirds

helllo and thank you!

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Dear Friends,

I hope you are doing well. We are all in this together and I just know we will get through these difficult times. I am so proud of my community for the way organizations and individuals are pulling together to help the food insecure, especially The Open Door and Common Crow.

Wildlife stories and dramas continue despite all and I am grateful for that. I’ve only touched very lightly on posting about the amazing fall migration still underway. Look for upcoming stories about a tiny bird with the outsized name, Golden-crowned Kinglet, a pair of sweet Pectoral Sandpipers that stayed for a one-day stopover on their supreme 17,000 -20,000 mile round trip migration, a three woodpecker sighting day, and much more. Aren’t these atmospheric months of September, October, and November wonderful! Stormy weather and high winds sometimes bring not often seen creatures to our shores, only needing a brief respite, before resuming their extraordinary journeys.A male Pectoral Sandpiper – you can see he is a male because males have an inflatable air sac in his chest that he also utilizes to puff out his feathers during mating displays

I don’t think I shared the video about the fabulous four plants for pollinators – The Fab Four Plants for Monarchs (and Bees)! There are still a few Monarchs straggling along, some still even in Ontario. The latest I have ever seen a Monarch in our area was November 4th. It was memorable because it was also the year Barack Obama was first elected president. A note about the Fab Four plants. Common Milkweed can be substituted with Marsh Milkweed, Seaside Goldenrod with Canada Goldenrod or Tall Goldenrod, and Smooth Aster with either New York or Purple-stemmed Asters. The idea is sturdy nectar-rich plants that also provide a convenient landing pad and that bloom late in the season.

I was nominated for the City of Gloucester’s Kindness Campaign by our Ward One City Councilman Scott Memhard, and accepted the award on behalf of our wonderful team of dedicated and kind Plover ambassadors and friends. Please read more here.

November 1st and 2nd are the days Dia de Muertos is celebrated. One of the most evocative locations we were invited to film at during the making of Beauty on the Wing was a small family cemetery in Macheros, a remote village at the base of Cerro Pelon Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve.

Honoring our loved ones with offerings on this beautiful Dia de Muertos.
xxKim

Yellow Warbler Particular Insect Eater

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I thought the warblers were attracted to the bushes because of the abundance of berries but no; watch how she snatches a winged insect and only eats the abdomen, tossing aside the wings.  

Yellow Warblers primarily eat a wide variety of insects including caterpillars, beetles, spiders, mosquitos, and moths. During the fall and winter months especially, they also eat fruits and berries.

Winged Wonders – Dark-eyed Juncos, the ‘Snowbird’

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You may have noticed an influx of sparrow-like birds foraging on the ground. They seem to be gathering along every lane and woodland edge. The Juncos blend in easily enough, until disturbed, and then all alight at once, softly twittering while heading for the nearest tree or bush.

Dark-eyed Juncos bear the nickname ‘Snowbird’ as they often signal the onset of the coming cold weather. The ones we are seeing in our neighborhoods at this time off year are feathered in lovely shades of charcoal gray to Mourning Dove brown, as you can see in the video and photos. This little flock was eating the tiniest seeds, grass seeds I think, and also foraging around the small cones of this very spectacular Red Spruce. I think of this native tree as spectacular, not only because of its majestic beauty, but because of the wonderful array of wildlife supported by its cones and resin.

Please write and let me know if you are seeing Dark-eyed Juncos in your area.

 

Homegrown National Parks Coming to Cape Ann!

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What are Homegrown National Parks?   HNP is an exciting movement that raises awareness and urgently inspires EVERYONE to address the biodiversity crisis. How can we as individuals and organizations do this? By adding native plants and removing invasives where we live, work, learn, pray, and play.

We all know that wildlife populations are crashing the world over. The statistics are staggering, with approximately one-third of our breeding birds lost since 1970, or about 3 billion birds, and 40 percent of our insects (bird food!) in the past 40 years. HNP is showing people how we can address this crisis, backyard by backyard.

Sunday evening, Doug Tallamy, the esteemed entomologist, author, and co-founder of Homegrown National Parks, presented “The Power of Plants.” The event was hosted by 400 Trees and the Annisquam Village Church, and was followed the next morning by an informal idea-sharing discussion at our newly renovated gorgeous library. The presentation was rich with imagery and case studies of what can be accomplished in our own backyards, from teeny urban lots to suburban homes to substantial acreage. The group discussion was especially thoughtful and interesting, providing a wonderful opportunity to meet people in our community with similar interests, missions, and goals, Many, many thanks to Peter Lawrence and Sara Remsen for organizing the Tallamy talk and discussion.

Visit the Homegrown National Parks website. It is overflowing with super helpful information to get you started on your native plants journey. You can also listen to several of his excellent talks right there on the website. I have been teaching people how to grow pollinator gardens and documenting the wildlife supported by native trees, shrubs, wildflowers, and ground covers for over twenty years now. Not a day goes by where I don’t observe and learn some new, vital and fascinating information about the beautiful ecosystems created in a native plant’s habitat. When you plant native they will come!

Join the Movement Now!

1. Plant Native

2. Remove Invasives

3. Get on the Map

Where Shall We Start?

Images courtesy Doug Tallamy “The Power of Plants”

Identify the most productive plants. How to find native plants keystone species –

Native Plant Finder from the National Wildlife Federation: go to the following website and type in your zip code for an extensive list of highly valuable native trees, shrubs, wildflowers, and ground covers specifically beneficial to wildlife in your region. https://nativeplantfinder.nwf.org/

I was listening to Doug’s talk via Zoom in my office, which is also Charlotte’s art room. Charlotte is illustrating a book she is working on, all about the history of Gloucester’s monsters. It’s very imaginative and even includes mini side bars of illustrations of the eggs unique to each monster, along with the monster’s baby pictures (Nessie is well-represented). She was also enjoying glancing over at all the fascinating caterpillar images in Doug’s slideshow, when she overheard the expression ‘keystone species.’ She commented, “just like oysters are a keystone species for the ocean.” We had been to the Seacoast Science Center a week earlier where she had learned about the importance of keystone species in an ecosystem. I just thought how wonderful for her to connect the two and how much like mental sponges are these beautiful curious-minded children of the up and coming generation. I surely never learned at eight years old what a keystone species is, but how easy it was for her to understand the concept. If for no other reason, our beautiful children, and our children’s children, are why we simply can not leave to them a barren, diversity-less world.

 

Beautiful, Beautiful Migration

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Dear Friends,

The much needed rainy weather is giving me time to catch up with you. During this past month the days have been lovely and the early mornings filled with documenting the beautiful migration occurring along our shores. We have had two waves of migrating Monarchs, one very modest at the beginning of September and one recent, quite robust movement, when a large population flew in off the water. The Monarchs didn’t stay though despite that the meadows are rife with Seaside Goldenrod in full glorious bloom. Wind conditions were just right to carry them further along and they only stopped briefly to nectar before attempting to fly over the bay toward Westport.

Autumn Meadowhawk

Saturday was spectacular weather for observing migrating creatures. Warblers were out in full force, which usually means a Merlin is not too far away. Sure enough, he/she was perched at the tip of a tall dead tree, intently scoping out its next meal. That same morning, an American Pipit was spotted wagging its tail feathers while foraging atop a pile of seaweed. A large mixed flock of Semipalmated Plovers, Semipalmated Sandpipers, and Sanderlings were devouring the invertebrates in the surf and seaweed and were joined by three Yellowlegs. An abundance of Autumn Meadowhawk Dragonflies were mating during the warmth of mid-day and I filmed a dragonfly landing on a Little Blue Heron’s leg. Not a good place to perch as it instantly became a heron snack. That beautiful day ended with a last sighting of the Whimbrel pair while three American Oystercatchers flew overhead.

The following morning I eagerly returned to find only our ubiquitous Song Sparrows and Catbirds. It’s interesting and mysterious how migration patterns unfold. There is still a bounty of nectar-rich wildflowers, ripe berries, and fruit for more traveling warblers and what nots. I imagine additional waves of winged wonders will be passing through. Please write and let me know what you are seeing in your neighborhood. I have posted several posts, and more posts are planned, featuring these beautiful creatures so please check in with my website for all the photos and short videos, more than I can send in emails.

Two events/activities for local friends that you may be interested in – Saturday, the 27th, from 2 to 4pm, historian Maria Millefoglie will be at the stunning newly renovated Sawyer Free Library to discuss some little known history about Gloucester, which she uncovered when working on a project for Gloucester’s 400th anniversary celebration. “Branded: Enemy Aliens in Gloucester” chronicles the discrimination towards Italian Americans during WWII. And through the weekend, my friend Paul’s sunflower and dahlia fields are still open. His farm is wonderfully family friendly with adorable pet-able bunnies and goats and you can also pick your own flowers.

Have a lovely week and please again let me know what creatures you are seeing in your neighborhoods. Thank you 🙂

xxKim

P.S. Please keep in mind Lights out for Birds! during these weeks of peak migration. Thank you again <3

One Night. One Building. 1,000 Dead Birds: A Simple Change Made a World of Difference

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My friend Deborah shared this fantastic article. Please read 🙂

50 States, 50 Fixes

An Illinois Building Was a Bird Killer. A Simple Change Made a World of Difference.

Chicago is one of the most dangerous cities in the United States for migrating birds, and a glassy lakefront conference center was especially lethal.

By Catrin Einhorn

Reporting from Chicago

The morning promised to be deadly.

High above Chicago, in the predawn dark, flew an airborne river of migratory birds. It was peak spring migration traffic, in late April, and the tiny travelers were arriving at one of the most perilous points along their journey.

These birds, inhabitants of forests and grasslands, do not perceive glass as solid and get confused by its reflections. Bright city lights seem to attract them, luring them into glassy canyons. The gleaming buildings of Chicago, curving along the shore of Lake Michigan, are especially lethal.

Palm Warbler

 

50 States, 50 Fixes is a series about local solutions to environmental problems. More to come this year.

A call went out to volunteers across the city: Be ready to hit the streets early to rescue the injured and document the dead.

But at the building that has long been the city’s most notorious bird killer, a sprawling lakefront conference venue that claimed almost a thousand birds on a single day in October 2023, new protections were in place.

Read more here

Yellow-rumped Warbler eating Poison Ivy berries

Love is in the Air

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There are currently so many creatures migrating through our region that it is challenging to keep up with all. In addition to the beautiful northward migrating shorebirds and songbirds, our resident wildlife are setting up house, and also mating like crazy! On Friday I took the entire day off to film and was delighted that in the span of an hour, a pair of Killdeers mated several times, and at every Osprey nest that I like to check in on, pairs were mating, also repeatedly!Great Egret with it’s distinctive green eye feathers, only seen during mating season

Killdeers mating

Male Osprey swooping in to mate

Male and female White-tailed Deer. Look closely and you can see the male’s budding antlers.

Mom and Dad PiPl mating

Plover nest scrapes

Female Red-winged Blackbird building her nest in the reeds.

Male Red-winged Blackbird

 

 

Thoughts About Leaf Blowers and How We Can Possibly Find a Solution Working Together :)

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Whether or not to ban gas-powered leaf blowers sure is creating a maelstrom of divisiveness in our communities. Everyone who has an opinion feels strongly, very strongly, that their viewpoint is the correct pov. Let’s think of the pros and cons and perhaps there is a solution. If I missed a pro or con, please feel free to write so we can include your point of view.

PROS of Gas Powered Leaf Blowers

Landscapers and homeowners appreciate the lower cost associated with gas-powered leaf blowers.

GPs are more powerful than electric, saving time and money.

Many landscapers and homeowners already own gas powered blowers.

CONS of Gas Powered Leaf Blowers

Gas powered leaf blowers are very loud particularly when multiple blowers are in use simultaneously.  The noise pollution is disruptive and unpleasant to neighbors.

GP blowers emit a strong odor of gas fumes, harmful to the environment and to the person operating the leaf blower.

Some observations – our home is located in a middle class neighborhood where leaf blowing does not occur regularly, if at all, whether gas or electric. I do however have clients in more affluent neighborhoods where the use of leaf blowers is much more prevalent. People are correct, the noise level is extremely loud. A crew of men, typically Latino, will disembark from company pick-up trucks, with gas powered blowers strapped to their backs and ear phones snugly wrapped over their ears. The crew of half dozen or so will spend a good part of an hour blowing the leaves off a driveway that won’t even be driven on again until the summer resident homeowner returns the following year. Not only does it seem like an utter waste of time, it concerns me that the employees are breathing the fumes. This is also the same crew that I see spraying pesticides around the base of the homeowner’s foundations, also not wearing protective covering. I am wondering if protective masks and clothing can be provided to the employees that are required to use gas-powered leaf blowers and pesticides.

Do homeowners need half a dozen men blowing leaves off driveways and the street in front of their homes? Perhaps with less demand for an immaculate leaf-be-gone landscape, one gentleman wearing a mask, as opposed to six maskless men, could do the work. If a homeowner is having considerable work done and a leaf blower is needed to assist in clean-up, that seems to me like a reasonable use. Or if a pathway is covered with wet leaves creating an unsafe situation for an elderly person, that too seems like a reasonable use.

In my own landscape design firm, I encourage clients and friends not to remove leaves and the expired stalks of flowering plants. To my way of thinking, leaves on lawns and in flower beds is a beautiful thing! Not only are the decaying leaves providing a protective layer and adding nutrients to the soil, leaves also provide habitat for all manner of insects. I think at this point in our shared awareness about the environment, we all understand that insect populations the world over have plummeted.  We homeowners and landscapers can help insect populations by leaving leaf litter in our gardens. The most delightful benefit of a garden that supports insects, is that the insects attract a host of beautiful songbirds that in turn conveniently eat the insects <3

For the benefit of insects, especially native bees, we also do not cut down the expired stalks of flowers until the end of April. In the late summer and early fall, native bees and other insects burrow into the stalks. When we do eventually cut down the stalks, we leave them in a pile for several weeks before discarding, hoping our little pollinator friends have wiggled out of their winter home.

Perhaps if we can change people’s mindsets about what constitutes a healthy landscape, the fashion of blowing leaves will become mush less problematic.

The song of a Carolina Wren chortling from a treetop has to be one of the sweetest songs you can imagine hearing in you garden. They love to rumple about in the leaf litter, foraging for insects. Insects are an important part of a songbird’s diet, especially during the breeding season when the females are producing eggs.

Carolina Wren nest with eggs tucked under our porch eaves – 

Later in the season, a Carolina Wren fledgling is perched on the back fence. She was made fat and healthy from a diet rich in your average garden variety insects – 

 

Date with an American Tree Sparrow!

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My first encounter with the sweet little American Tree Sparrow, but perhaps not; I may have been looking right at one all along and thought it was a Song Sparrow or any one of a number of little brown songbirds. Now that I know what to look for, most notably its beautiful rusty brown cap and that the bottom half of its beak is yellow, it may be easier to notice.

Several were foraging alongside a mixed flock of songbirds. They were feeding on the ground but at the tiniest disturbance, flew into the camouflage provided by neighboring trees. As territorial as was the Dark-eyed Junco, the Tree Sparrows behaved just as badly to one of its own kind.
American Tree Sparrow range map, courtesy Cornell

Snow Bunting Toes!

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A favorite winter visitor to our shores is the wonderfully engaging Snow Bunting. Whether foraging on snow covered scapes or on windswept sand, they appear at first to the untrained eye to be convivial. Don’t let their social foraging habits fool. Snow Buntings spend a great deal of energy tussling amongst themselves for seeds, even snatching food from another’s beak. I have taken a number of images and much footage of little Snow Bunting fights and am looking forward to making a video of this behavior. In the meantime here is a short video taken on a super windy morning. Notice all the seaweed flies in the photo below. The tide was extremely high that day forcing all the flies to move out and up from the seaweed and onto higher ground, making for a very easily accessed breakfast.

Snow Buntings are Arctic specialist. They are ground dwellers with toes well adapted to snow and ice, which I think makes their toes also especially well-suited for running and hopping in the sand, along rocky shores, and in piles of seaweed. Their toes look like snowshoes as they bound about finding seeds buried in snowdrifts. When they are here in our region, I see them mostly feeding on  insects found in seaweed and the intertidal zone, along with a variety of wildflower seeds.

“The snow bunting is the most northerly passerine bird in the world. It breeds in a circumpolar range, south to Scotland and Iceland, and it is a common breeder in suitable habitats in northern Scandinavia, Greenland, Svalbard, arctic parts of Russia and the northerly parts of North America.” However, the species is in significant decline in North America  with reasons ranging from habitat redistribution to the heavy use of pesticides in croplands where the birds feed heavily during the winter months.

A snowy morning flock of Snow Buntings from a year ago January

Rarely Seen in the Northeast: The Wonderfully Acrobatic Scissor-tailed Flycatcher

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The very special Scissor-tailed Flycatcher was at Mass Audubon’s Ipswich River Wildlife Sanctuary for several weeks before departing. For we in the northeast it was a rare beauty treat to see this exquisite little bird as she twisted and turned on a dime, snatching up insects before returning to her perch to devour. I filmed her late one afternoon eating loads of bittersweet twining through tree branches but couldn’t find much information about Scissor-tail berry eating. They mostly feed on insects, including beetles, grasshoppers, wasps, bees, flies, caterpillars, spiders, and Lepidoptera. Berries are typically only eaten in winter. The Ipswich S-tF appeared to be dining  very well, fattening up before (hopefully) resuming migration.

A collective sigh of relief was felt by all when she departed as she was so very far, far away from her breeding and wintering grounds. She needs to be in warmer climes.

The photos in the gallery above are not mine but were gathered from wikicommons media. They are included to show the beautiful salmon pink underwing patches and how long is the bifurcated tail of the Flycatcher. An adult’s tail may reach 9 inches!

The closely related Eastern Kingbird feeding its young a damselfly

Scissor-tailed Flycatchers are closely related to the Eastern Kingbird and Eastern Phoebe, which are much more common in our region. According to several websites, Scissor-tailed Flycatchers are reportedly tolerant of people, which appeared to be the case at the Audbon sanctuary.

As we can see on the range map from Cornell, the Scissor-tailed Flycatcher breeds mostly in in the southern Great Plains and south Texas, wintering over in southern Mexico and Central America. The Scissor-tailed is the Oklahoma state bird and are not rare in their usual territory. There was one in Truro a few years back (2017) and they are known to occasionally wander far afield. S-tF reportedly make spectacular flocks of 100 or more birds as they gather for their southward migration.

 

Winter Robins in the Neighborhood!

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We so look forward to the return each winter of flocks of American Robins and Cedar Waxwings. Currently on our shores we have a mixed flock traveling also with three beautiful Bluebirds and several juvenile Cedar Waxwings!

Juvenile Cedar Waxwing

The Robin photographed here reached on tiptoes to get at the crabapple tree fruit, brandished his wings while almost losing his balance, and then success 🙂 If you have planted your garden with any of the following, including hollies, winterberries, crabapples, Chokecherry, cedars or junipers, you will most definitely be graced with the beautiful winter Robins.

I wrote the following post 10 years ago and it is still very relevant to attracting Robins to your garden –

Birds of New England: The American Robin and Bird Food!

During the winter months Cape Ann often becomes home to large flocks of robins, and we have had the joy of hosting numerous numbers in our garden. I can’t help but notice their arrival. Their shadows descend, crisscrossing the window light, followed by a wild rumpus in the ‘Dragon Lady’ hollies. This pair of hollies is planted on opposing sides of the garden path, alongside my home office. I have learned to stealthily sneak up to a window, as any sudden activity inside startles birds that are investigating our garden, and they quickly disperse. Dining not only on berries of the ‘Dragon Ladies’, but also the ‘Blue Princess’ Meserve holly and winterberry bushes, I find dozens of noisy, hungry robins.

These winter nomads flock to trees and shrubs that hold their fruit through December, January, and February, feasting on red cedar, American holly, Meserve hollies, chokecherries, crabapples, and juniper. Robins traveling along the shores of Cape Ann also comb the shoreline for mollusks, and go belly-deep for fish fry. Depleting their food supply, they move onto the next location. Gardens rife with fruiting shrubs and trees make an ideal destination for our migrating friends.

Winterberry (Ilex verticillata)

Habitat Gardening Tip:

The garden designed to attract nesting pairs of summer resident robins, as well as flocks of winter travelers, would be comprised of trees and shrubs for nest building, plants that bear fruit and berries that are edible during the summer and fall, and plants that bear fruits that persist through the winter months. Suburban gardens and agricultural areas provide the ideal habitat, with open fields and lawns for foraging insects as well as trees and hedgerows in which to build their nests.

The following plants, suggested with robins in mind, will also attract legions of songbirds and Lepidoptera. The list is comprised primarily of indigenous species with a few non-native, but not invasive, plants included.

Trees for nesting ~ American Holly (Ilex opaca), Eastern Red Cedar (Juniperus virginiana), Red Maple (Acer rubrum), Sugar Maple (Acer saccharum), Flowering Dogwood (Cornus florida).

Summer and autumn fruit bearing trees, shrubs and vines for robins ~ Black Cherry (Prunus serotina), Blackberry (Rubus spp.), Flowering Dogwood (Cornus florida), Gray Dogwood (C. racemosa), Red-osier Dogwood (C. sericea), Silky Dogwood (C. amomum), Elderberry (Sambucus canadensis), Apple (Malus pumila), Virginia Rose (Rosa virginiana), Highbush Blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum), Lowbush Blueberry (Vaccinium angustifolium), Wild Grape (Vitis spp.).

Trees and shrubs with fruits persisting through winter ~ Winterberry (Ilex verticillata), Mountain Ash (Sorbus americana), Crabapple (Malus spp.), Sargent’s Crabapple (Malus sargentii), American Holly (Ilex opaca), Meserve Hollies (Ilex x meserveae), Eastern Red Cedar (Juniperus virginiana), Common Juniper (Juniperus communis), Chokecherry (Prunus virginiana), Smooth Sumac (Rhus glabra), Staghorn Sumac (Rhus typhina).

Beautiful Autumn

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Autumn scenes from around Cape Ann

 

 

Pocket-sized Ruby-crowned Kinglet

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Only weighing about as much as a quarter, the Ruby-crowned Kinglet’s tiny stature belies its vigorous foraging habits. The Kinglet flits and forages along the pond’s muddy edge, energetically snatching insects, all the the while flicking its tail. He leaps from stem to stem then takes off to hover mid-air, simultaneously pecking spiders from slender stalks.

The Kinglet’s ruby crown is well-hidden and mostly seen in spring during courtship display. RCKinglets are so incredibly fast; I was just hoping to capture some tiny bit of footage/documentation and was absolutely delighted when one flew to an adjacent bush only several feet away. He began floofing after his bath, with brilliant vermilion crown on full display.

We are at the tippy northern range of the Ruby-crowned Kinglets wintering grounds. Perhaps with the warming weather trend, we will see more and more.

For comparison sake, two years ago (November 2022), a flock of Golden-crowned Kinglets graced our eastern most shores, staying for about a week.

 

United Nations World Migratory Bird Days!

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In honor of World Migratory Bird Day, yesterday I visited the Manomet Center for Conservation Sciences. The Center is located in Manomet, a seaside village of Plymouth. Special free programming included a presentation by the Center’s bird banding experts, children’s activities, and a bird-a-thon. I was especially interested in learning how the Center bands songbirds. Banding takes place annually from April through November. Some days the Center bands as few as 10, on other days, upwards of 200. Manomet has records on migrating and resident birds dating back over 50 years and it was fascinating to learn about their banding protocols and population trends.

Juvenile Carolina Wren – The Carolina Wren population is growing in Massachusetts

while the Blue Jay population is in steep decline.

The theme of Wold Migratory Bird Days 2024 is insects and the importance of insects as a critical source of protein for migrating birds.

Insects sightings at Manomet on included Autumn Meadowhawk damselflies, American Lady Butterfly, skipper of unknown species, a variety of bees, and several Monarchs. Unlike Cape Ann, the Seaside Goldenrod is still blooming on Cape Cod.

Monarch Butterfly and Seaside Goldenrod

The public is welcome from dawn to dusk to walk the trails, enjoy the view from the bluff and bird watch.

Address:
125 Manomet Point Road
Plymouth, MA 02360
(508) 224-6521

From the Center’s Website:

Overview of the Bird Banding Lab

At the Trevor Lloyd-Evans Banding Lab, we use science and education to create opportunities that connect people to nature. Migratory and resident birds have been banded at our Manomet’s Plymouth, Mass. location since 1966.  Manomet’s Founding Director Kathleen (Betty) Anderson banded the first recorded bird – a Black-capped Chickadee.

For more than 50 years, Manomet has maintained a spring and fall migration bird banding program. Bird banding is an effective method of research that helps answer important questions on issues from conservation to climate change. Manomet’s banding lab, one of the first bird observatories established in North America, focuses on areas including:

  • Migration: When and where birds arrive can tell us about habitat and food availability. This information can be used to inform habitat management and land use strategies.
  • Population: With the data we collect in the lab, we can produce estimates on changes in population and notate trends over time.
  • Life history: Banding contributes valuable information on longevity, habitat, diet, and other physiological trends across species.
  • Productivity: Banding helps us detect shifts in age or sex ratios that would otherwise go undetected.

Manomet staff has recorded over 1,000 plant, animal, and fungus species on site, showing the value of our coastal forest and shoreline as a rich laboratory for research.

Why band birds?

Migratory bird banding operations represent an underutilized source of data about bird migration. Long-term data sets in ecology, like ours, may lead to discoveries often missed in shorter-term studies, and are critical for establishing baselines and tracking changes in the natural world. Because birds are widely surveyed by professional and amateur observers alike, and their natural histories are often well-understood, wild bird populations can be useful sentinels of environmental change and ecosystem condition.

Check here for weekly summaries of current and past banding seasons.

The banding team operates 50 mist nets on the property surrounding Manomet headquarters in southeastern Massachusetts along Cape Cod Bay. Nets are kept open during daylight hours, Monday through Friday, in the spring and fall. Banders walk the net lanes, safely removing trapped birds and returning them to the lab where their species, age, sex, weight, and fat content are measured and recorded. We have banded over 250,000 birds and handled over 400,000 since banding began on the property in 1966. We band around 2,500 new birds each year.

As Manomet’s longest-standing program, the banding lab has helped train hundreds of prospective researchers, educators, and conservation advocates since its inception. We educate about 1,000 visiting school children, volunteers, and college students every year. We strive to engage people of all ages with nature and to measurably increase people’s understanding of environmental change.

 

What is World Migratory Bird Day?

In 1993, the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center created International Migratory Bird Day (IMBD). This educational campaign focused on the Western Hemisphere celebrated its 25th year in 2018. Since 2007, IMBD has been coordinated by Environment for the Americas (EFTA), a non-profit organization that strives to connect people to bird conservation.

In 2018, EFTA joined the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS) and the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA) to create a single, global bird conservation education campaign, World Migratory Bird Day (WMBD). Continuing our tradition with IMBD, WMBD celebrates and brings attention to one of the most important and spectacular events in the Americas – bird migration.

This new alliance furthers migratory bird conservation around the globe by creating a worldwide campaign organized around the planet’s major migratory bird corridors, the African-Eurasian flyway, the East Asian-Australasian flyway, and the Americas flyway. By promoting the same event name, annual conservation theme, and messaging, we combine our voices into a global chorus to boost the urgent need for migratory bird conservation.

EFTA will continue to focus its efforts on the flyways in the Americas to highlight the need to conserve migratory birds and protect their habitats, and will continue to coordinate events, programs, and activities in Canada, the United States, Mexico, Central and South America, and the Caribbean at protected areas, refuges, parks, museums, schools, zoos, and more. As many as 700 events and programs are hosted annually to introduce the public to migratory birds and ways to conserve them.

Blue Jay Caching Acorn!

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What a treat to observe the half dozen or so Blue Jays zooming around the garden, caching acorns for the winter.  They’d perch with nut in beak, carefully eyeing  the ground for an ideal spot. Once located, the Jay would swoop down. I didn’t want to move from my perch and risk being noticed so I couldn’t see exactly how they were hiding the acorn but when they resurfaced, no nut!

Some interesting notes about Blue Jays – Research has shown Blue Jays making over 1,000 trips in one day to hide food. They mainly select undamaged nuts that are viable, meaning if the bird does not recover the nut, it will grow. The record a Blue jay traveled to hide food is 2.5 miles. This behavior has greatly helped helped the the range of expansion of oak trees and now over 11 species of oaks are dependent upon Blue Jay dispersal of acorns.  The rapid expansion of oaks after the ice age may be a result of the northern transport of acorns by Blue Jays.

 

Welcome to the Garden of Dissipating Beauty

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The seeds of both Zinnias and Sunflowers are Goldfinch favorites. No dead-heading in this garden!

Wiggly Worms for Breakfast and Other Wonderments

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So many wonderful wildlife happenings at this time of year! Caterpillars hatching and growing, songbird and shorebird fledglings learning to forage and to fly, young herons studying the ways of fish and frogs, early migrants beginning their southward journey – I have a huge backlog of wildlife stories/photos/footage to share from pond and sea and will start with this one –

I believe this may be our ‘Rainbow’ House Finch from last autumn. Notice he sports not only red feathers, but also yellow and orange. Read more here about the reasons for the yellow and orange pigments here: https://kimsmithdesigns.com/2023/11/20/yellow-orange-rainbow-house-finch/

 

Baltimore Oriole Males all in a Kerfuffle

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What’s all the fuss about? The males are establishing their territories. The last clip shows the more subtly feathered female.

 

More from the Industrious Yellow-bellied Sapsucker and Time to Hang Your Hummingbird Feeders!

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Despite that our little woodpecker friend has an injury under her right wing, the extraordinarily industrious Yellow-bellied Sapsucker has, for the past five days, worked on, and dined from, her sapwells. She arrives each morning at sunrise, departing around noontime. The timelapse video shows only one hour of her morning, compressed into one minute.

Dubbed Miss Featherton by Charlotte, the Yellow-bellied Sapsucker arrived bedraggled and injured but I think is becoming rejuvenated from the sap. Insects, too, are beginning to appear at the wells. I read that Ruby-throated Hummingbirds often follow the migration of sapsuckers as they too will imbibe on the sap and insects attracted. We usually hang our Ruby-throated Hummingbird feeders out at the end of March, but with all the sap flowing, we hung our feeders a few days ago.Notice the red wound under her right wing from the still taken from the video

WONDERFUL WILD CREATURES 2023 YEAR IN REVIEW!

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Saying goodbye to 2023 with a look back at just some of the magnificent creatures and scenes we see all around our beautiful North Shore.

The slide show begins with January and runs through December. When clicking through, you can see the photos are captioned and dated. If you would like more information, all the photos are from posts written throughout the year, and most of the posts have short videos featuring the animal.

Some of the highlights were a Northern Lapwing blown far off course, Barred Owls, flocks of Snow Buntings, successful Gray Seal rescue by Seacoast Science Center, the return of handicapped Super Mom and Super Dad to Good Harbor Beach, Great Blue Herons nesting, Rick Roth from Cape Ann Vernal Pond team helping me find frog’s eggs for my pond ecology film, Bald Eagle pair mating, Earth Day Good Harbor Beach clean-up, Osprey nesting,Creative Commons Collective native plantings at Blackburn Circle, mesmerizing encounter with a Fisher, Mama Dross Humpback and her calf, Beth Swan creating PiPl logo, PiPl chicks and Least Terns hatching, Pipevine Swallowtail pupa, PiPl t-shirts and decals selling at Alexandra’s Bread, rare Nighthawk, Spring Peepers, chicks fledging, trips to Felix’ Family Farm with Charlotte, Monarchs in the garden, Merlin, juvenile Glossy Ibis, and a  flock of Horned Larks.

Perhaps the very most memorable moment was a wonderfully close (and extended) encounter with a Fisher. Read more about that here: Lightning in a Bottle

 

Happy New Year Friends. We’ll see what 2024 brings our way <3

Shadblow blooming in a gentle spring rain

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Simply one the most beautiful sites has to be when our native Shadblow comes into bloom. The airy white flowers light up the woodland scene and water’s edge.

Shadbow, Shadbush, Chuckleberry Tree, Serviceberry, and Juneberry are just a few of the descriptive names given the beautiful Shadblow tree.

Shadblow (Amelanchier canadenisis) is one of the first of the natives to bloom in spring, growing all along the Atlantic coastal plains. A fantastic tree for the wild garden, over 26 species of songbirds and mammals, large and small, are documented dining on the fruits of Shadblow (including bears). The small blue fruits are delicious, though rarely consumed by humans because wildlife are usually first at the table.

The foliage of Shadblow is a caterpillar food plant for the Red Admiral Butterfly. Look for her eggs on the upper surface at the tip of the leaf.

Shadblow buds with dewdrop necklace

GOODBYE 2022, HELLO 2023 BLUEBIRD OF HAPPINESS!

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Closing out 2022 taking snapshots at the Magnolia Pier with my daughter Liv, and finding Eastern Bluebirds on the first photo foray of 2023. Happy New Year Friends!

Male Eastern Bluebird

WHERE EVER TRAVELS A FLOCK OF SONGBIRDS, SO FOLLOWS THE COOPER’S HAWK

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Throughout the summer and autumn, juvenile Cooper’s Hawk(s) have been observed hunting on Eastern Point. We see them zooming low and stealthily down roadways and soaring high amongst the treetops. There is no way of knowing if they are one and the same although one bird in particular appears to have developed a keen interest in the flock of Dark-eyed Juncos currently foraging in the neighborhood. Nearly every evening at dusk he hungrily swoops in, but never seems to capture one.

Well-camouflaged Dark-eyed Juncos, also known as Snowbirds

The Snowbirds have a neat set of tricks. They all scatter to the surrounding trees and shrubs. The slate gray and brown Dark-eyed Juncos are well camouflaged but that is not their only secret to survival.  Rather than singing their typical lovely bird song, from their hiding places, they all begin making an odd chirping-clicking sound. From every bush and shrub within the nearby vicinity, you can hear the clicks. I think the clicking is meant to confuse the Cooper’s Hawk!

He’ll first dive into a bush hunting a Junco, come up unsuccessfully, then swoop over to a nearby tree, perched and well hidden in the branches while on the lookout for dinner. The Snowbirds click non-stop until the Cooper’s departs. After the hunter flies away, they all come out of their hiding places, some from branches mere feet from where the Cooper’s was perched. After a short time, they resume their lovely varied birdsong.  I recorded audio of the Junco’s clicking and hope to find out more about this fascinating behavior.

Although we hope the young Cooper’s is finding food, I am rather glad he’s not that good at catching Snowbirds.

Cooper’s Hawks are a conservation success story. You can read more about the reason why in a post form several years ago: SPLENDID COOPER’S HAWK – A CONSERVATION SUCCESS STORY GIVES HOPE. Note the difference in the plumage in the two stories. The Cooper’s Hawk in that post is an adult. The Cooper’s chasing the Snowbirds is a juvenile. Both are about crow-sized, with the typical flat topped head.

Adult Cooper’s Hawk

Juvenile Cooper’s Hawk

INVASION OF THE GOLDEN-CROWNED KINGLETS AND SNOWBIRDS!

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Dark-eyed Junco (Snowbird)

A beautiful multitudinous flock of choristers has been chattering from every vantage point. The mixed flock of Dark-eyed Juncos and Golden-crowned Kinglets arrived to Cape Ann’s eastern edge on the same day. I don’t know if they are traveling together but they can be seen foraging in close proximity, from leaf litter to treetops.

Golden-crowned Kinglet

Golden-crowned Kinglets are one of the teeny-tiniest of songbirds;  a bit larger than the Ruby-throated Hummingbird, but not quite as large as the Black-capped Chickadee. They zoom in and out of the trees (mostly evergreens), hovering and hanging every which way when probing for insect prey.

The Dark-eyed Juncos (also know as Snowbirds) are mostly foraging close to the ground in grass and fallen leaves. They hop from place to place and flip up leaves looking for seeds. The Snowbirds fly up to the trees and shrubs when disturbed.

Note the array of shading in the individual Snowbird’s feathers, from slate gray to milk chocolate

Learn the birdsongs of these two beautiful species and you will easily be able to locate them. The Golden-crowned Kinglet sings a lovely ascending high pitched series of notes that end in a lower pitched warble. The Snowbird sings a series of kew, trills, whistles, and warbles that is also lovely and when the two are foraging in close proximity, it’s a joy to hear their mini symphony.

Golden-crowned Kinglet range map

Dark-eyed Junco range map