Happenings on an Island

9/9/13    Last night was cold with northwest winds. And it's apparent today - many of our sparrows (Savannah Sparrows are the study species I'm working with) are not around and there is a huge number of migrant song birds on the island. It's amazing to watch how active they are. Not a second is wasted where they are not flitting about looking for insects. They move through the trees in waves. All sticking in their small groups, but all foraging in their own way and part of the tree. 

      It's incredible pulling these little birds out of the mist nets. Feeling how small they are in hand just increases my amazement at their long-distance feats. 

9/16/13    I got to go on a whale watch to help Russell, the island caretaker, with the passengers and whale and bird finding. Several small (tiny really), things made me smile on the trip. While out in the middle of the Bay of Fundy, between Grand Manan and Nova Scotia, I saw a single warbler fly by the boat, look at it as though it might land, and then carry on its journey. I also watched two hummingbirds flying past, zooming around each other. The moment I really enjoyed was when, 6 miles from the nearest land, the boat was stopped and a young humpback whale was showing off beside the boat. As this was happening, I noticed a small, dark moth fluttering by from the open ocean. Here was one of the largest animals on the planet, amazing in its sheer size. And here in the same place, was a tiny insect flying miles above open water.

9/18/13    I just returned from walking to the dock. The sun had long been down, but the light on the west horizon has only just faded. And the light coming up in the east from the full moon is stupendous. Walking outside feels like it's daytime. I stood for a while in the lawn to just wonder at the lighting and the place I'm in. Moon light reflecting across the ocean in a wide swath to the east. The last of the sunlight disappearing making the sky magical colors against the dark ocean to the east. A crisp dark line of sky and water passing behind the moon-lit, open southern tip of the island. A dark tree line to the north. 

This place is magical. And the droves of migrants passing through this time of year make it exciting too. A small list of some recent sightings, and some captures in the mist nets: 10+ warbler species, Chimney Swift, Whimbrel, Northern Harrier, Yellowlegs, many Peregrines and Merlins, Bobolinks, Kinglets, Vireos, Hummingbirds galore, Flycatchers, Baltimore Oriole, Sora, Yellow-Headed Blackbird, Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher, endless Flickers, Plovers and Sandpipers, Black-backed Woodpecker, Rose-Breasted Grosbeak... Every day holds a new bird, watching a new behavior, finding something cool in the nets.

Fall on an island - what an amazing place and time.