Words On Birds 04-03-26

 

     The on and off warm weather that we have been experiencing for the past couple of weeks has produced enough southerly winds to finally bring in some early spring migrants.

 

     We finally caught up with our first phoebe of the year at Willowdale Mill, an Essex County Greenbelt property in Ipswich. We first heard its raspy “fee-bee” call from the woods along the Ipswich River. It eventually came closer and perched high atop a tree – a silhouette against the cloudy sky. 

 

     Two days later “our” phoebe appeared on our deck railing. It nests somewhere along the stream behind our house, though we have nest shelf available on our shed if it so chooses. It comes down to the deck for the dried mealworms that we put out for the bluebirds. As a member of the flycatcher family, it prefers flying insect which it catches on the wing. Until more insects are fluttering around, it swoops down and picks up dried mealworms off our deck on the wing.

 

     Many more phoebes have arrived this week. We counted at least five along the road as far as Hellcat on Plum Island, and phoebes are being reported from numerous other locations.

 

     Speaking of bluebirds, we are down to one pair of bluebirds, which means they are setting up territories and getting ready to nest. Looks like these two will be nesting in a neighbor’s yard again, but our bluebird house is cleaned out and ready for their second brood later in spring.  I have only seen a nuthatch investigating the box this year, and chickadees nested in it last year, which was fine. We have another box ready to put up in another area of the yard as well.

 

     Song sparrows have been lining the road on the Refuge and 20-30 can be counted on any given day. Migrating fox sparrows can be heard singing along the road as well. Chipping sparrows are announcing their arrival with their trill song.

 

     Flickers are also arriving. We saw five together near the Maintenance Area on the refuge yesterday and our first palm warbler of the year was in the scrubby area next to the marsh. We also saw half a dozen yellow-rumped warblers near Hellcat, but they were still in their duller winter plumage and were likely ones that braved the winter here. More warblers will arrive later this month.

 

     The beach on the Refuge closed on April 1 and piping plovers have arrived in good numbers to nest. Greater and lesser yellowlegs are arriving, and two very early least sandpipers have been spotted in the main pannes. Woodcock have been spotted close to the Hellcat boardwalk and one is nesting very close to the path, sitting on four eggs already!

 

     Great egrets are everywhere now and the roost in Newbury has swelled to at least forty-one birds. Snowy egrets also appeared this past week. We saw our first snowy egret along Rt 133 in Essex and a group of nine snowy egrets together on Plum Island. The first glossy ibis showed up on Plum Island this past week as three were seen together in the marsh.

 

     Bald Eagles are on their nests along the Merrimack River. Ospreys are returning to their nest platforms from Essex to Salisbury. Greenbelt’s Dave Rimmer reported 92 pairs of Osprey nested in our area in 2025, a great success story! I hope that you will join me in supporting Greenbelt’s Osprey Program again this year.

 

     Kestrels are on the move already. Many have been seen migrating on the island and at Plum Island Airport. Others are seen hunting the fields of Argilla and Northgate Roads in Ipswich. Meadowlarks are also being seen in those fields and in others fields around the area.

 

     Tom Wetmore heard an early Virginia rail calling from the North Pool at the Overlook on the Refuge. We saw a pied-billed grebe in the North Pool this past week as well. These, and other fresh marsh birds, may have another season to nest and raise their young before the pools are destroyed by the current refuge management regime.