Outdoors
The BDN outdoors section brings readers into the woods, waters and wild places of Maine. It features stories on hunting, fishing, wildlife, conservation and recreation, told by people who live these experiences. This section emphasizes hands-on knowledge, field reports, issues, trends and the traditions that define life outside in Maine. Read more Outdoors stories here.
Many birds sneak away in autumn. We never see them going. One day, they are here. The next day, they are not.
In spring, birds arrive hot to trot. They rush to claim a territory and woo a mate. They sing like crazy. You hear them the morning they arrive.
That doesn’t happen in autumn.
Whenever the weather cooperates, I write this column while sitting on my deck. It’s a pleasant space with a nice view. I can spend several hours noticing what the birds are doing around me, often finding insights and inspiration.
I watch foraging flocks of multiple species passing through. One such flock in my yard last week included black-and-white warblers, pine warblers, yellow-rumped warblers, red-eyed vireos and one blue-headed vireo. A ruby-throated hummingbird buzzed me, perhaps wondering if my red shirt was edible.
This week, only the yellow-rumped warblers remain. They’re not singing, of course, but they call a lot.
As a rule, insect-eaters disappear quietly. They depart from the treetops at night. Warblers and flycatchers simply vanish. Even birds with a more varied diet, such as Baltimore orioles, rose-breasted grosbeaks and scarlet tanagers, depart silently.
Seed-eaters, on the other hand, make a show of leaving. They form into larger flocks that may include multiple species. They mostly migrate at night, but when daylight comes, they forage on the ground. We’ve reached that season when birds on the ground should grab your attention.
Sparrows are notorious for swarming. They typically avoid deep forests and instead feed on or near the ground in open spaces. Backyards and roadsides are their favorite places in autumn. Furthermore, they’re noisy, calling little chip notes to keep the group together.
White-throated sparrows are sometimes accompanied by white-crowned sparrows. White-crowned sparrows nest in Labrador and Newfoundland. They pass through in waves around the same time Maine’s white-throated sparrows start heading south.
Some sparrows are more likely to flock than others. Chipping sparrows do. Song and swamp sparrows don’t. Fox sparrows sometimes flock, but I haven’t seen them form large flocks in Maine.
Farther west, it’s a different mix but the same phenomenon. Golden-crowned sparrows, clay-colored sparrows and lark sparrows join the fun.
Dark-eyed juncos are famous nationwide for forming big flocks. These members of the sparrow family not only group up, they also sound off. They have a whole series of chips, whistles and trills to keep themselves organized during migration.
Watch for these flocks passing through your neighborhood. Recognize them when they fly up from a roadside, spooked by a pedestrian or passing car. Notice whenever you hear unusual noises nearby.
It’s not just sparrows. Northern flickers are renowned for feeding along roadsides in autumn. Flickers are ground-feeding woodpeckers with an appetite for ants and beetles. Flickers and yellow-bellied sapsuckers are our only nesting woodpeckers that depart the state in winter.
You’ve surely seen flickers flashing up from the roadside. They’re yellowish birds, bigger than a robin, with a prominent white butt patch. Families tend to stay together into autumn, so it’s not surprising to have three or more pop into the air as you’re passing. They are quite noisy, and I routinely hear them calling into mid-October.
A few weeks ago, I called your attention to two other ground-feeding species — American pipits and snow buntings. When foraging in big flocks in harvested fields, they’re hard to miss. But they also gather in small groups, foraging on dirt roads. When driving the North Maine Woods, I usually encounter them at this time of year, always on the ground.
American pipits call while flying overhead. They migrate by day, and their “pipit” calls are distinctive. I usually hear them before I see them. Snow buntings sometimes fly in daylight, but they are mostly quiet, nocturnal migrants.
I wish I could direct you to horned larks. They show similar behaviors, but I see very few of them passing through Maine in the fall, even though they nest just north of the Canadian border.
Be alert for flocking finches on dirt roads. White-winged and red crossbills pick grit first thing in the morning. Purple finches, American goldfinches and pine siskins do it, too. Pine and evening grosbeaks require the same grit for digestion, and these larger birds are particularly noticeable as they flash off the road in front of oncoming traffic.
In short, most of our treetop birds are departing for the tropics. Our ground-feeders aren’t going that far, so they leave later. If you see birds flashing up from the ground, be curious.
