PO Box 9021, Wilmington, DE 19809, USA
E-mail: font@focusonnature.com
Phone: Toll-free in USA 1-888-721-3555
 or 302/529-1876
 


The BIRDLINE, by ARMAS HILL


Seabirds, Hummingbirds, Other Birds, and Some Whales and Butterflies 
Armas Hill has presented the "Birdline", originally from Philadelphia, on the phone and internet for over 3 decades, and on the radio in Delaware for about 10 years.


Links:

A List & Photo Gallery of North American Birds, in 6 Parts

A List & Photo Gallery of North American Mammals


The Birdline for October 5, 2011:

During a pelagic trip, offshore from Barnegat Light, New Jersey, on October 2, seabirds included:
1 SOUTH POLAR SKUA, 25 GREAT SHEARWATERS, 2 MANX SHEARWATERS, 12 AUDUBON'S SHEARWATERS, 2 CORY'S SHEARWATERS, and 10 WILSON'S STORM PETRELS.
Also: MINKE WHALES, and many COMMON DOLPHINS.
The captain said "you should have been here last week; there were so many birds".
Maybe they went north. Because, in that direction, during a pelagic trip a few days earlier, offshore from Chatham, Cape Cod, Massachusetts, there were:
2,000 GREAT SHEARWATERS, 100 SOOTY SHEARWATERS, almost 40 MANX SHEARWATERS, almost 40 PARASITIC JAEGERS, 3 CORY'S SHEARWATERS, and 3 NORTHERN FULMARS.


Some RUBY-THROATED HUMMINGBIRDS are still lingering in the northeast US, seen this week at places such as northern Delaware near Newark, and in a small yard in the Bridesburg section in the city of Philadelphia - at a butterfly bush.
Near Philadelphia, at the arboretum on the Temple University campus in Ambler, feeding on Salvia leucantha, Mexican Bush Sage.

But now is the time to start being alert in the eastern US for HUMMINGBIRDS from elsewhere in North America:
A RUFOUS HUMMINGBIRD, an immature female, appeared near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania on October 2.

Of course, hummingbird feeders can attract the little visitors. But, maybe more often it's the plants, such as: PINEAPPLE SAGE, and in addition to the MEXICAN BUSH SAGE, mentioned a moment ago, these:
RED TEXAS SALVIA, ANISE SALVIA, BLACK & BLUE SALVIA, WENDY'S WISH SALVIA, MULBERRY JAM SALVIA, INDIGO SPIRES SALVIA, MARASCHINO CHERRY SALVIA, LITTLE RED MORNING GLORY, and as mentioned earlier, the BUTTERFLY BUSH, and also LANTANA, and PALE TOUCH-ME-NOT.   
Of course it's too late now to plant for this year, but in case one might think ahead.
Most of the above list of plants, was on PA Birds, by Carl, "hoping for a western stray hummingbird to visit sometime soon".

The most famous of the western stray hummingbirds to visit Pennsylvania last fall, and well into the winter, was a female ANNA's, that stayed even when the weather was cold (visiting feeders, but probably not in January plants just noted, such as the Wendy's Wish or whatever).
Having said that, though, it's hard to believe that a hummingbird, apparently miles out of range, would exist only because of a feeder or two. Such hummingbirds could eat some insects that would also be about.
Looking again at the capitalized list of plants above, I can't help but think how nice they would appear on an attractive menu in an "upscale hummingbird restaurant"!  Other than, of course, the TOUCH-ME-NOT.


The FORK-TAILED FLYCATCHER is normally a bird of Central & South America. Those that nest during the summer in southern South America are quite migratory, normally going, outside their breeding season, to northern South America. Central American birds are not strongly migratory.
Sometimes FORK-TAILED FLYCATCHERS travel beyond northern South America, to the Caribbean islands and to North America.
Such a FORK-TAILED FLYCATCHER was seen on October 1 at the Kiptopecke State Park, on the lower Delmarva Peninsula in Virginia.

BLACK-THROATED GRAY WARBLERS are normally in western North America. But this past week, the species was in the East, seen on both sides of the Delaware Bay: at Cape Henlopen in Delaware on September 30, and at Cape May in New Jersey on October 3.

PURPLE MARTINS are not normally found in Pennsylvania in October. But one was seen near Lake City, in Erie County PA, on October 1.
And that was an interesting sighting because the bird was seen to be a vagrant from the West, as it was a female with a distinct white ring around the neck, as had by females of the subspecies Progne subis arboricola.

PURPLE GALLINULES are not normally found by Lake Ontario. An immature, that was injured, found there this past week at Sodus Point, New York, has since died.

By Lake Erie, in northwest Pennsylvania, birds are counted, lakeside, as they pass by. This past week, there were some high waterfowl numbers counted at Erie:
On September 30, there was a flight of 560 BLUE-WINGED TEAL.
On October 1, there was a flight of 745 NORTHERN PINTAIL.
Other waterbirds counted there that day were: GADWALL, AMERICAN WIGEON, AMERICAN BLACK DUCK, MALLARD, BLUE-WINGED TEAL, NORTHERN SHOVELER, GREEN-WINGED TEAL, GREATER SCAUP, LESSER SCAUP, SURF SCOTER, WHITE-WINGED SCOTER, CANADA GOOSE, COMMON LOON, and DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANT. But all of these combined did not add up to the total of NORTHERN PINTAILS.

Also on October 3, at Erie at the lake, it appeared that a cold front passed by, unfortunately, during the biggest movement of MONARCH BUTTERFLIES there this season, during their long migration south to the coniferous-clad mountains of central Mexico. 
That day at Erie, there was a high butterfly mortality, with hundreds, perhaps thousands, washed ashore all along the beaches of the Presque Isle State Park. Many were still alive, but their wings were battered severely.


Back to birds, a WHITE-WINGED CROSSBILL was seen on September 26 in Florida - Florida, New York.

Elsewhere in New York lately, a MISSISSIPPI KITE was over Strawberry Fields, in Central Park, Manhattan, New York City, on September 25.
A male YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRD was on eastern Long Island, at the Smith Point Park, in Shirley on September 26.

SWAINSON'S HAWKS are in North America mostly in the West. However, this past week, they were in the East, with single birds at the hawkwatch at Cape Henlopen, Delaware on September 30 and at Cape May, New Jersey on October 4.

A LARK SPARROW, another bird mostly in the West, was at Cape Henlopen, Delaware on September 30.

A CLAY-COLORED SPARROW was seen in Washington DC on October 4, at the lower Senate Park near the U.S. Capitol Building. It was with 8 HOUSE SPARROWS and 2 FIELD SPARROWS.     

In the last Birdline, RED-HEADED WOODPECKERS were told of in the Northeast. Sightings continued there this past week:
With 11 at Turkey Point, Maryland on September 30, and still there on October 4 were an adult and a juvenile, and then, seen by another person, 3 juveniles.
And elsewhere in Maryland at the Eastern Neck National Wildlife Refuge, and as many as 4 at the Jug Bay Wetlands Center on October 1.
In New Jersey, an adult RED-HEADED WOODPECKER was seen at Assunpink on October 2, a first there for a person who often birds there.

The SMITH'S LONGSPUR in Maine, told of here two Birdlines ago, was last seen there on September 25.   



Armas Hill has presented the Birdline, originally from Philadelphia, on the phone and internet for decades (3), and on the radio in Delaware for years (10).

The Birdline (and the Natureline) are affiliates of Focus On Nature Tours. 

A number of people correctly answered the two quiz questions in the FONT E-Newsletter this week. The answers were:
Number 1 - Marbled Murrelet
Number 2 - Acorn Woodpecker.

It's interesting to also note that a fine book has been written about the Marbled Murrelet, by the daughter of a national CBS network newscaster, Roger Mudd, who was on that network at the time of Walter Cronkite.
The book is entitled "Rare Bird - Pursuing the Mystery of the Marbled Murrelet", by Maria Mudd Ruth.
A nice, good read.

Information about upcoming Focus On Nature Tours can be found in the website: www.focusonnature.com
along with numerous listings & photos of birds & other nature. Now, over 1300 photos of different birds, mammals, butterflies, dragonflies, amphibians, reptiles, plants, and more.  

To Top of Page