Bird Counts

December 7, 2008

Numbers seem to dominate the bird watching world at this time of year, as feeder counts and Christmas count arrive. Today there are eight goldfinches battling for four positions on the niger feeder, occasionally fending off some aggressive house sparrows. The latter have also become more bold in their attempts to raid the suet cage, where they are not equipped to hang on. They manage for a few seconds, but ultimately fall away. The female downy woodpecker attended this morning, with no problems as usual.

There were no fewer than 32 mourning doves crowding around the ground feeding area outside my office window yesterday – a new record for one spot. Anywhere from two to six or eight is more usual.

At Stony Brook University, taking a stroll before a meeting at the Wang Center on Thursday, I spotted a beautiful Red Tailed Hawk in the woods about 25 feet from me. It rose from the leaf-covered ground of an oak grove and flew 50 yards or so to a perch about 20 feet up on the far side of the grove. Likely it was finishing breakfast when I happened by.

The above paragraph was written around 0830 today. At 1200, as I sat at the keyboard, the window screen next to me was hit by two of many birds scattering from the feeding area. I looked out, only to see nothing. Then, I leaned to my right and saw the reason for the chaos – what looked to be an American Kestrel. It stood on the ground, locked on the body of a white-throated sparrow not 12 feet away, scanning the area for interlopers to his lunch attack. As I raised the binos for a better view, he lifted off with his prize and disappeared. Two predator sightings in a week – not bad.

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Routine visitors now, in the colder weather with the leaves stripped away, include the aforementioned plus the downy’s mate, up to four juncos, 8-10 white-throated sparrows, a pair of cardinals, a blue jay

In the past two weeks a couple of robins, two red-winged blackbirds and a small flock of starlings have happened by.

On the water, up to a dozen mallards show up, pestering a resident pair that are regularly mating now. One or two pair of Hooded Mergansers show up now and then. A Great Blue Heron visits or flies by on patrol; a kingfisher and once in a while a young black-crowned night heron have been spotted. The usual gulls drop in, but more often are by-passers along with numerous Canada Geese, a few swans, good numbers of Golden-crested Cormorants

The cackling of more migrating snow geese and a big flock of brants were noted in late November overhead.
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