Photo by Chris Bosak – A young red-shouldered hawk looks out from its nest in New England, June 2023.
A few weeks ago, I wrote about a short walk that I often take at work. It is on my employer’s property and, despite being a small piece of land that takes only five minutes to walk, it has a mix of habitat that includes a meadow, stream, pond and woods.
A few days after I had written that column, I took a walk there and discovered something new. I had noticed on previous walks a Y in a large tree and thought maybe there were some sticks or leaves in the crotch. It was too small for a squirrel’s nest, and it didn’t seem significant enough to be any other type of nest, so I kept on walking. I figured it was just the collection of a few sticks and leaves that had fallen throughout the year.
One day, however, I noticed movement in the area. Upon inspection, it turned out to be the nest of a red-shouldered hawk family. Two young birds were eating a squirrel, chipmunk or some other small mammal. No adults were present.
The next day, I took another walk, and an adult bird was tearing apart a meal. I didn’t notice the young birds right away, but when the adult sat upright after picking off a morsel, I saw the young ones to either side behind the adult.
Photo by Chris Bosak
A common loon swims at Grout Pond in Vermont, spring 2023.
The loons were the wildlife highlight of the trip, but the short camping trip had meaning beyond the birds and mammals that were seen.
It was the first trip my oldest son Andrew and I had taken in a few years. Andrew, now 20, is a reluctant birdwatcher as it is not a hobby of his, and he pushes back on my requests to take walks specifically to see birds, but he can identify several birds by sight and sound. (Wonder where that talent came from.) He does, however, like the outdoors and is always up for a camping trip. In fact, he initiated this outing and had been asking for several weeks to go camping.
We like to go camping when there are no crowds. That means either during the week or during the off season. In this case, it was both. We each took a Monday and Tuesday off work and left for Grout Pond in southern Vermont on a Sunday afternoon in early May.
We underestimated the time it would take to get to the site and it was already dark by the time we had arrived. We improvised by pumping up the air mattress and sleeping under the stars in the cab of the pickup. Thankfully, it was a dry night. It was, however, a cold night, it being early May in Vermont. The lows were in the mid-30s, but it was actually quite refreshing to sleep outdoors again.
Not surprisingly, I awoke before Andrew and took a walk down one of the trails near where we had parked the previous night. A broad-winged hawk immediately flew overhead and swooped in for a landing in a nearby dead tree. It was the start of a good wildlife watching day.
Andrew eventually woke up and, from the pond’s launch site, we eyed a spot along the pond to set up camp for a few days. I was to canoe to the spot with the majority of our equipment and Andrew was to haul the backpack to the site using the trail that runs along the pond. The plan worked well, and I was pleased that the canoe held up with me and our stuff in it. The 14-foot Radisson aluminum canoe had been hit by a fallen tree over the winter and sustained a good-sized dent at one of the ends. A little water seeped in, but overall, it was fine.
The few people who were there in the morning had packed up and left by the afternoon. Andrew and I now had the place to ourselves.
Photo by Chris Bosak – A blue-winged warbler sings from a perch in New England, spring 2023.
Another warbler season is in the books.
Sure, there are still the late-migrant stragglers that will be seen into mid-June and, of course, the ones that will nest and stay with us all summer, but the peak of the warbler season has, sadly, passed.
For me personally, I did not see a huge variety of warblers, but I did see plenty of the more common warbler species over the last few weeks.
The warbler sightings, for me, started in late April with a walk that yielded dozens of yellow-rumped warblers. Over the last few weeks, it has been largely blue-winged warblers, common yellowthroats and American redstarts. In the last week or so, yellow warblers have been showing up more and more on my walks and are becoming the dominant warbler species.
Those are also the main warblers that will nest in my area of New England. Each part of New England has its common nesting warblers and, thankfully, we will get to see them throughout the summer. If we are lucky, we’ll see their youngsters too.
It has been fun over the last couple of years getting to know the American redstart and blue-winged warbler better. I found a few places where redstarts nest, and I visit there frequently in late spring into early summer. Redstarts are, in my opinion anyway, one of the more interesting-looking birds and remind me of Halloween every time I see one. The black and orange coloring is unique in the warbler world. At least among the ones we see in New England.
Blue-winged warblers are largely yellow, like many warblers that nest or pass through New England, but their unique, black eye straight gives them a different type of look – almost like a little bandit. Blue-winged warblers are also unique and fairly easy to find from their insect-like call. It appears to be a rather subtle call, but it can be heard from far away, especially during an early morning walk when the world is still quiet and calm.
Yellow warblers and common yellowthroats will nest throughout New England. In both cases, the birds are usually heard before they are seen. That is if they are seen at all, as they like to hang out in brushy areas and remain hidden if possible. Yellowthroats often like to stay low to the ground in their skulking.
I’ve focused on warblers in this column, but I also had some good luck finding other colorful songbirds such as rose-breasted grosbeak, indigo bunting and scarlet tanager. I watched a female rose-breasted grosbeak collect nesting material a few weeks ago. It’s good to know they will be sticking around and raising young here.
With spring migration mostly behind us, what’s next for birders? Birds won’t be as noisy or active as they have been over the last several weeks, and the variety won’t be as great, but watching them raise young is always a highlight of late spring and early summer. Of course, many birds have had their first broods already, but the nesting and rearing will last for the next few months.
Every season has something to offer birdwatchers. There’s always something interesting to observe so be sure to get out there as much as possible.
Photo by Chris Bosak
A chipmunk looks up after grabbing sunflower seeds from a feeder in Danbury, Conn., during the summer of 2018.
So, what is up with the chipmunk population this spring?
It’s well past the time when they should be lurking and scampering around our backyards and woodlands. The last few years the little imps have been ubiquitous and, depending on your perspective, entertaining or annoying us nonstop.
This year? I’ve seen only a handful, and others have expressed similar observations. I’ll share what others have written based on my request in last week’s column. At the end, I’ll share what my favorite wildlife expert has to say on the topic.
First, the people like me who have noticed a lack of chipmunks this spring:
“I finally saw a chipmunk at our house yesterday,” wrote Susan of Nelson. “Just one so far. We have plenty of gray and red squirrels, and it has been weird not to see chipmunks.”
Photo by Chris Bosak A female Red-winged Blackbird perches on a tree in New England.
I often preach about enjoying what nature hands you regardless of the season, but I have to admit that my thoughts drifted toward spring a few times this week.
It wasn’t the general mildness of this winter that got me thinking about spring. In fact, I’m still holding out hope for more snow, although that may be an unpopular thought.
But three separate incidences steered my mind toward spring recently. First I noticed buds on the trees that line my street and the crocuses are in full bloom in the garden. Then I visited the neighborhood pond and heard the wonderful chorus of red-winged blackbirds. Finally, I dug deep into my video archive and came across “Spring and Summer Songbirds of the Backyard,” a short documentary narrated by George Harrison (no, not the former Beatle).
With so much mild weather, I wasn’t caught off guard by seeing the buds on the trees or the crocuses in bloom.
Photo by Chris Bosak
A red-winged blackbird sings from the top of a tree at Happy Landings in Brookfield, Conn., spring 2017.
Winter officially may still have about four weeks to go and, in New England, goodness knows how many weeks or months left unofficially, but it’s not too early to start discussing spring migration.
I’m not trying to jinx the mild weather we’ve had and cause a winter that lingers into May like some of our recent winters. Even if winter does roar back, there are still plenty of birdwatching opportunities to be had. It’s a hobby for all seasons.
Regardless of what happens in the weeks ahead, signs of spring from the world of birds are here already. One morning as I walked to fill the feeders I noticed the extremely pleasant and welcomed sounds of cardinals, Carolina wrens and song sparrows singing their hearts out.
Red-winged blackbirds, one of the earliest signs of spring, have returned already to many parts of New England. Pat from Sandwich wrote to say she had six red-winged blackbirds in her backyard last week. There have been other reports of red-winged blackbirds in New Hampshire, including one report by Brian of Keene, who included the sighting on the American Birding Association’s bird news website.
Attracting birds to a birdbath is one of the more underrated joys of the hobby.
Perhaps it is because I failed on my first several attempts to get birds to visit the birdbath I offered. I started to think it was a waste of time to even try, but about then, I glanced out at the birdbath and saw a magnolia warbler cleaning itself. Of course, birds such as magnolia warblers are not going to visit your birdbath too often, but to see even the most common of birds at a birdbath is a thrill.
Many people focus the majority of their attention on bird feeding, and rightfully so, as that has a high success rate of attracting birds. Bird houses are another aspect of the hobby that get a lot of attention, particularly bluebird boxes. That is also understandable as it is nice to know that you are helping to assure the next generation of birds.
I have found that far fewer people discuss the birds that show up at their birdbath. It is a bit trickier to attract birds to a birdbath than to a feeder, but when it does happen, it makes the extra effort well worth it.
Photo by Chris Bosak
A downy woodpecker with yellow coloration visits a suet feeder in Danbury, CT, May 2019.
Birds don’t always look like they do in field guides.
There are variations within a bird species due to obvious reasons such as age, time of year or sex. Immature birds take time to achieve adult plumage. That could be a few months or, in the case of the bald eagle, four or five years. Male wood ducks, one of the most splendid birds in New England during breeding season, is a dull brown duck after shedding its breeding feathers. Sexually dimorphic birds, such as cardinals, have obvious differences between males and females.
Sometimes, even the sun can make birds look different. Grackles may appear purple, green, blue or black, depending on how the light hits it. Male indigo buntings can look spectacular or rather ordinary depending on the sun.
There are also regional differences among bird species. Blue jays in New England, I have found, are much brighter and larger than the blue jays in Florida. I’m also surprised when I see how small the blue jays are when I visit my brother in southern Florida.
Some bird species have different morphs. Most of the red-tailed hawks in New England are lighter overall than their western counterparts. This is also commonly referred to as a phase. The best example of a morph I can think of is not a bird at all, but the gray squirrel. Gray squirrels also come in white and black. In fact, in some parts of the country, black gray squirrels are the norm and gray ones are the rarity.
Photo by Chris Bosak – Young Cooper’s hawk in New England, January 2023.
It is not uncommon for birders at designated hawk watch sites to see more than 1,000 hawks in a single day. The fall hawk migration is most certainly a sight to see, particularly if the conditions are right.
With the sheer number of hawks and other birds of prey that migrate south through New England in the fall, it is tough to imagine that any of them remain in our region once the migration is over. But, of course, we do see a fair amount of hawks throughout the winter months in New England.
Red-tailed hawks, red-shouldered hawks and our accipiters, sharp-shinned and Cooper’s hawks, are the most common hawks we see in New England during the winter. Other birds of prey that we continue to see in our coldest months are the peregrine falcon, vultures and, of course, bald eagles, which congregate in large numbers where water remains unfrozen.
Photo by Chris Bosak Redhead seen in a New England pond.
There may be a hot-looking red head at the lake or perhaps a bleach-blonde beauty.
Oh, and don’t forget about that Icelandic number that’s been hanging out at New England beaches.
Don’t worry, you have the right column. I’m still talking about birds.
The aforementioned attractions are just a few of the unusual birds that may be seen in the area during winter.
News of such sightings travel quickly along the grapevine, but Rare Bird Alerts are also available to everyone with access to the internet. Simply do an internet search for “rare birds” for the state or specific location you are interested in. Dedicated birders keep the alert lists updated and it is extremely helpful when you’re trying to track down something rare or unusual, or just interested in knowing what’s out there.
Birds of New England.com 