Kathie's Birds

 Sandhill Cranes at Whitewater Draw, AZ 2-13

In honor of our move this weekend I thought I’d post a few of my best photos of birds in flight. These were taken in various years all across the United States. Dates, species, and locations are beneath each photo. Enjoy!

 Lesser Nighthawk, Corona de Tucson, AZ 2008

 Purple Martins, Corona de Tucson, AZ 2008

 Canada Goose, Stirling Bog, Andover, MA 2010

 Turkey Vulture, Colchester CT 2015

 Cattle Egrets and White-faced Ibis, Imperial Ag Fields, CA 2012

 Red-tailed Hawk, Tucson, AZ 2012

 Harris Hawk, Tucson, AZ 2013

 Common Black Hawk, Tubac, AZ 2013

 Northern Flicker (yellow-shafted) Andover, MA 2012

 Great Blue Heron and Great Egret, Tucson, AZ 2013

 Zone-tailed Hawk, Sahuarita, AZ 2013

 Neotropic Cormorants, Reid Park, Tucson, AZ 2013 

 Northern Harrier, Bosque del Apache, NM 2012

 Crested Caracara, FL 2014

 American White Pelican, The Salton Sea, CA 2012

 Manx Shearwaters, Revere Beach, MA 2012

 Mountain Bluebird, Three Points, AZ 2009

 Brown Pelicans, The Salton Sea, CA 2012

 Great Egret, Lakeside Park, Tucson, AZ 2012

Check out all the birds at Feathers on Friday 

A line of cormorants flies low over Lake Ontario, NY at sunset 2011

“Oh that I had the wings of a dove, for I would fly away and be at rest.”

Psalms 55:6

 Female and male Ruby-throated hummingbirds 5-21-15

Things are moving right along here at Mere Point. It’s been a busy week so far with packing and sorting and deciding all kinds of things. My bird feeders are still up and will be one of the last things I take down. It always makes me sad to see the birds looking for the feeders, though at least at this time of year there is plenty of other food available. My hummingbirds have been few and far between during the nesting season, but suddenly they are starting to show back up at my feeders. The old feeder in the photo above seems to be their favorite one. It has been through many moves with me and fed hummingbirds from Tucson, to Andover, MA, to Tucson and now, back in Maine. I hope there will be hummingbirds in Harpswell before Autumn comes and they all migrate away.

Earlier this spring the hummingbirds seemed to like sitting on these bare patches of dirt for some reason. I saw others posting about witnessing this same phenomenon and I can only guess it was their attempt to warm up. I have not seen them do this since then.

This little cottage has been a great place to live, in spite of its lack of a garage or driveway. It was hard to go through the flood last summer, and disappointing that the fireplace never worked, but the windows in this house are amazing and this has been my best yard ever for spotting various bird species with 117 species seen in the 18 months I have lived here.

Only 4 more days of bird feeding, and then we are gone. Hopefully the new tenants will continue to feed the birds as they said they would. Until then…

It’s back to packing!

P.S. I do not know when I will be doing my last blog post. I hope to get a couple things scheduled before they break my computer down and then I will not have access to it or my photos for at least a couple of weeks, but I will be able to access my blog from other computers. So, I hope to check in and say HI when I can and keep you all posted on our progress and adventures! See you again soon!

We are into our final week here at Mere Point and the packing has begun. While I have removed our name from the mailbox I am still feeding and counting birds. It has been hazy, hot, and humid around here for the past week or so, which makes it hard to sit outside since there is no porch here. The mornings are damp with dew and by the time the sun burns the damp off the table it is too hot to sit outside. Still, I watch the birds from inside while I move about the house, cleaning and packing. It has been a long time since I have had to pack myself and move. I must admit that I am spoiled in this regards as my husband’s company usually sends packers and movers to do it all for us. But this is not a company move and we have to do it ourselves. Thankfully I have great kids who live nearby and are willing to help. We have rented a truck for the day and hope it will take just one load to go from here to there.

I must admit that I hate clutter, and so most of my energy so far has been focused on the basement where I do not have to look at the boxes and bins I have packed. But it can’t stay like this forever and with only one week to go, I have moved the packing to upstairs.

These are the bins we have already packed.

These are the boxes waiting to be filled! Breezy Boy is not concerned at all, as you can see! All those books have to come off the shelves, go into boxes, and come back out again. My daughter and I took all the artwork down earlier this week and packed it away for 9 months. We are in a unique situation as we will be renting someone’s summer home for only 9 months, so the house comes furnished. Most of our stuff will have to be stored until we find a permanent place to live. We would like to go back to Tucson and we tired to make that happen this time around but the job did not come through, so here were are, wondering what to do with ourselves.

The walls looks so bare and cold without artwork on them.

I will not be displaying any of my art in the new house we are renting since it is only a temporary place until we figure things out. We could decide to stay in Maine as well. I just know that I want my own house again!

All the paintings and other stuff is off the mantle as well. It was fun to decorate this mantle at Christmastime. It was just a pity that the fireplace could not be used. But there is hope ahead. Our new landlord sent me a photo of a robin’s nest beneath the deck he is rebuilding. He texted me wanting to know what to do about it. I know he needs to get the deck rebuilt as he is leaving in two weeks and cannot wait, so I told him he could try to move it safely to a new location. He sent me a photo of the lovely eggs in the nest, then the next thing I know he texts me to say the chicks have hatched! I asked him if he moved the nest and he tells me, no. He is building around it instead!

Robin’s Eggs in Nest at our new rental house!

A sign of Hope!

I was in a bit of a funk about all of this a couple of weeks ago, and couldn’t seem to pull myself out of the doldrums, so I did what I often do, I wrote a poem. You can read it on Kathie’s Poet Tree. It is called The Fog of Summer. Just know that I am feeling better now.

 Mere Point Bay as seen from Mere Point 4-4-14

I am still settling in and getting to know my way around Mere Point. In my mind it is broken up into different birding segments. I count birds at my home, which is Mere Point Cottage. I count birds at Mere Point Boat launch, which is a Public Access site to the bay. I count birds along Mere Point Road, which is 5 miles from my driveway to where the road ends in Brunswick, and I count birds at Mere Point Point which is Private Access Only. You must live there or have permission from someone who does live there to access the site. Anyway you look at it, I am surrounded by water and birds. In just the week since I posted my latest Mere Point Cottage Yard List I have already added 6 more species of birds! I am now at 48 Yard Birds in a little over 2 months time and migration is just beginning! I have yet to add a warbler to my yard list. Sparrows are well represented with Savannah and Chipping Sparrows being the most recent additions! I heard a Carolina Wren on April 11th calling several times, but I have not heard it since.  I had a Northern Flicker show up on the 13th and a Golden-crowned Kinglet on the 14th! While I had heard Fish Crows in town already I was surprised to hear one outside in my yard on April 15th. At this point I have no idea what species is going to show up next! I had not seen the Fox Sparrows for a few days, but then they showed up again on the 14th. White-throated Sparrows have now become the most numerous sparrow species in the yard, displacing the Song Sparrows who held that title for a couple of weeks.

I continue to do battle with the squirrels and hoped that this cheap baffle I bought at Wal-Mart would do the trick. It only cost me $8 bucks and I  would have done better spending that money on additional seed. It didn’t take them long to figure it out and find a way around it. The black plastic bowl balances on the hook but it is easily tipped by the wind and the squirrels which scramble down the chain, tip the black bowl and twist and grab the feeder to climb up and eat at their leisure! Back to the drawing board for me. It looks like I will have to break down and buy a $40 baffle from the bird store instead!

 Long-tailed ducks in Maquoit Bay 4-7-14

One local resident gave me permission to walk down to the water’s edge near his house. I stood in awe on the shore and looked across Maquoit Bay. There were so many ducks in it, but only a few of them were close enough for me to identify with my binoculars. There was a large flock of Long-tailed Ducks raising a ruckus out in the water. They made so much noise! I don’t quite know how to describe the sound, but they would all get in a bunch or in a line and then dive simultaneously. I do not know if this was a hunting and feeding technique or if they were just diving whenever they realized I was looking at them through my binoculars!

 Great Black-backed Gull on the seaweed covered shore of Maquoit Bay.

I found it so amazing to be standing on the shore with tall trees and woodland birds behind me and sea birds in front. When the tide goes out the seaweed covered rocks are exposed and yes, they are this golden! While I see gulls on the rocks all the time, I have yet to see any peeps along these shores though, I do keep on looking for them. April 7th was such a nice day that I did not want to go inside, so I decided to cross the street and go count birds at the Boat Launch.

On the short road in I found this little Black-capped Chickadee in the leaf litter alongside the road. In the trees along the sides of the parking area I saw and heard several species of blackbirds as well as Mourning Doves, Blue Jays and more Song Sparrows. While I am not surprised that the blackbirds are over here, I am surprised that the Blue Jays like to hang out in this area more than my yard, which is a stone’s throw away. I cannot always count on seeing jays in my yard but they are a sure bet over here!

The effects of spring migration are being seen with the return of the Great Blue Herons. These are just two of the four that flew over my head while counting birds at the boat launch. But then I was surprised by another string of migrants…

Double-crested Cormorants! My FoTY* in Maine!

I would love to tell you that life is settling down here at My new Nest in Mere Point Cottage, and while it is starting to feel like Home, there is still so much to do. We are registering our cars in Maine and finding doctors, dentists and hairdressers. I still have boxes to unpack but I need some shelves built and I keep getting distracted by the birds! I wake up every morning and grab my bins before I even get dressed and start watching and counting them. I keep telling myself that I should take a shower and get dressed first, but I cannot resist looking, and once I take one look I have to start counting them! Everyday is something different and I find it all so new and exciting, even though I have seen most of these birds before. This is my first time living in Maine as an eBirder and eBirding has taught me how to pay attention to the timing of birds and their behavior. Birds are part of the rhythm of life wherever one lives and learning and feeling this rhythm is what makes me feel part of Life!

So many times I would “Bird My Way Home” from a trip, yet my home keeps on changing. Perhaps I have finally Birded My Way Home for good. Perhaps after all these years of wandering around the country and longing for Idaho (my first love), perhaps I have finally found my real home at last.

*First of The Year

My Mere Point Birds by the Numbers:

• Mere Point Patch—59 species (all my locations on Mere Point)
• Mere Point Yard List—48 species
• Mere Point Boat Launch—37 species
• Rossmore and Mere Point Roads—21 species
• Mere Point Point—15 species

Explore Rossmore and Mere Point Roads, an eBird Hotspot

Canada Geese Flying over Mere Point Boat Launch 4-7-14

 What Warbler is this?

I saw this warbler in Cave Creek Canyon on October 4, 2013 near the Sunny Flats Campground Area. It was high in the trees alongside the road so most of these photos are blurry or my view of the bird is obstructed in one way or another. I really hope it is a Hermit Warbler in fall plumage but fear it is simply a Townsend’s. I only have one clear shot of the bird’s head as it flew from one branch to another. Otherwise it simply crept along the branches and my only views of it are of its underbelly or sides.

Are those cheek patches or shadows?

There appears to be a few fine streaks on the sides.

But there isn’t any yellow on the breast.

View from below.

Back and side view.

Full on side view.

Besides the fall plumage issue, these two species do interbreed and produce hybrids. While a Hermit Warbler would be a Life Bird for me, I don’t want to claim it if I haven’t seen it. All of these photos were taken within a 60 to 90 second time frame.

So…is it a Hermit Warbler or a Townsend's Warbler?

What say you?

Notes: By the time this publishes Gus and I will be on the road and headed east. I will check in whenever I can, but we are travelling with 2 cats and a dog and trying to out maneuver the winter storms! We’ll see how THAT goes!

You can read all the posts from Cave Creek Canyon by clicking the link below.

• Cave Creek Canyon