The Fog of Birding

Northern Flicker / © Bryan Pfeiffer

IN THE RAIN, WIND AND FOG on Monhegan Island today, we studied the finer points of common birds.

When the winds blow strong from the south, as they have the past two days, migrating songbirds do not come to Monhegan. No worries among the group of amiable birders I am now guiding here. We’re enjoying whatever flies across our path.

We studied head patterns on sparrows with a live Lark Sparrow as our subject. We discussed molt pattern in blackbirds while enjoying full-frontal views of an immature Bobolink. And we began the determined journey through the vibrant landscape of immature gull identification.

Meanwhile, as we pray to St. Roger (Tory Peterson) for north winds, which may not come until Monday night, here’s a status report – a list of what we’ve been seeing (111 species, 23 of which are warblers) since I arrived on the island on September 13. (See all my Monhegan Migration posts here.)

BIRDS

• Canada Goose
• American Black Duck
• Mallard
• Blue-winged Teal
• Wood Duck
• Common Eider
• Ring-necked Pheasant
• Common Loon
• Northern Gannet
• Double-crested Cormorant
• Great Cormorant
• Great Blue Heron
• Black-crowned Night-Heron
• Osprey
• Bald Eagle
• Northern Harrier
• Sharp-shinned Hawk
• Cooper’s Hawk
• American Kestrel
• Merlin
• Peregrine Falcon
• Semipalmated Plover
• Spotted Sandpiper
• Solitary Sandpiper
• Greater Yellowlegs
• Laughing Gull
• Herring Gull
• Lesser Black-backed Gull
• Great Black-backed Gull
• Black Guillemot
• Mourning Dove
• Common Nighthawk
• Ruby-throated Hummingbird
• Belted Kingfisher
• Red-headed Woodpecker
• Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
• Downy Woodpecker
• Northern Flicker
• Alder/Willow Flycatcher
• Least Flycatcher
• Eastern Phoebe
• Eastern Kingbird
• Eastern Wood-Pewee
• White-eyed Vireo
• Blue-headed Vireo
• Warbling Vireo
• Philadelphia Vireo
• Red-eyed Vireo
• Yellow-throated Vireo
• Blue Jay
• American Crow
• Common Raven
• Black-capped Chickadee
• Red-breasted Nuthatch
• Carolina Wren
• House Wren
• Winter Wren
• Golden-crowned Kinglet
• Ruby-crowned Kinglet
• Veery
• American Robin
• Gray Catbird
• Brown Thrasher
• European Starlings
• American Pipit
• Cedar Waxwing
• Blue-winged Warbler
• Tennessee Warbler
• Nashville Warbler
• Northern Parula
• Yellow Warbler
• Chestnut-sided Warbler
• Magnolia Warbler
• Cerulean Warbler (I didn’t see it)
• Cape May Warbler
• Black-throated Blue Warbler
• Yellow-rumped Warbler
• Black-throated Green Warbler
• Pine Warbler
• Prairie Warbler
• Palm Warbler
• Bay-breasted Warbler
• Blackpoll Warbler
• Black-and-white Warbler
• American Redstart
• Northern Waterthrush
• Ovenbird
• Common Yellowthroat
• Wilson’s Warbler
• Scarlet Tanager
• Eastern Towhee
• Chipping Sparrow
• Clay-colored Sparrow
• Lark Sparrow
• Savannah Sparrow
• Song Sparrow
• Lincoln’s Sparrow
• Swamp Sparrow
• White-throated Sparrow
• Northern Cardinal
• Rose-breasted Grosbeak
• Blue Grosbeak
• Dickcissel
• Bobolink
• Red-winged Blackbird
• Rusty Blackbird
• Common Grackle
• Baltimore Oriole
• Purple Finch
• American Goldfinch
• Pine Siskin

BUTTERFLIES

• Cabbage White
• Clouded Sulphur
• Orange Sulphur
• American Copper
• Bronze Copper
• Eastern Tailed Blue
• Northern/Pearl Crescent
• White Admiral
• Viceroy
• American Lady
• Painted Lady
• Red Admiral
• Monarch

DRAGONFLIES

• Common Green Darner
• Shadow Darner
• Black-tipped Darner
• Green-striped Darner (possible)
• Canada Darner
• Autumn Meadowhawk
• (Dark-legged) Meadowhawk species
• Wandering Glider
• Black Saddlebags