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.
This is a special time of year. The frenzy of migration is over. Birds have settled down to raise a family. Males are still singing territorial songs, but with less enthusiasm than they did in May.
Now we’re all going about our daily business, myself included. I’ve been home for much of the month, ignoring all the chores I promised to do. Instead, I’m taking the time to watch what’s happening around my yard. It’s not exclusively my yard anymore. An eastern phoebe renested above my porch door. The eggs haven’t hatched yet. If they had, the parents would already be scolding me every time I drew near.
An American robin is nesting on the near side of the deck. Surprising, since I’ve never had two active nests on the house at the same time.
Make that three. I was astonished to find yet another robin nesting on the opposite side of the house. Now I can’t go anywhere in my yard without being eyed suspiciously.
If I mow my lawn, I know they will flush from the nests, leaving the eggs vulnerable. I’ve decided to mow in short bursts, giving them time to return and continue incubating before I make another pass later.
As it is, the second robin’s nest was probably a good idea. Three days ago, a red-shouldered hawk swooped into the yard and grabbed a recent fledgling off the lawn. I’m not sure who was more surprised, me or the robin. I had heard the raptor calling two days earlier, but figured it didn’t stick around. In 26 years of living here, I’ve seen only two red-shouldered hawks. Both were in migration, and neither one lingered.
I’m not feeding birds this summer, because I’ll end up feeding bears. I did put out oranges for orioles and tanagers, which both species completely ignored. Instead, downy woodpeckers have devoured each one, much to my surprise.
At one point, a hairy woodpecker landed on the feeder. The downy woodpecker took exception and complained. Until now, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a hairy and downy woodpecker quarrel.
Bald eagles have been flying past my house for weeks, bound for the river to feed on alewives returning to Pushaw Lake. That feast has now concluded, but the eagles have grown fond of my lakeside pines, perching there often. A pair of young ones — last year’s nestlings, for sure — have been chasing each other, trying to steal each other’s catch.
The common loons hate the increased level of eagle activity. They sound the alarm whenever one approaches. It’s been a very noisy June.
A tiny bird is one of the noisiest in my yard. Chipping sparrows are named for the little chip notes they make while foraging for food and tending the kids. They hatched their young early, and the parents have been combing the lawn for a week, chipping constantly. Their chicks haven’t left the nest yet, but I’ll see them next week. The fledglings will not look like their parents. They will have streaky breasts and lack the rusty cap.
Yellow-bellied sapsuckers taught me something this week. They drum with an unusual pattern — a rapid staccato drum that peters out at the end, like a windup toy. A sapsucker has taken a fondness to banging on my metal mailbox, something sapsuckers everywhere like to do. I suddenly realized he wasn’t drumming the typical cadence, though. He was just making noise. How could I have lived so long, and just discovered that now?
A black-billed cuckoo has been calling from behind my neighbor’s house for several weeks. Cuckoos are not rare, but they sure are secretive. I did not see this one, or so I thought. I happened to be out capturing video of the many red-eyed vireos that hang out in my yard. When I uploaded the footage to my computer, I was startled to see that one of the vireos was the cuckoo, directly over my driveway.
And so it goes. I’ve done a lot of birding this month, without ever leaving home. It’s very easy to take backyard birds for granted. I needed this gentle reminder that they can be quite entertaining.
I’m watching birds. They’re watching me. We’re neighbors, and in the case of the three nests, we’re housemates. We’ve developed relationships. They are still suspicious of me, but they’ve gotten used to me. They don’t flush off the nest every time I walk out the door. They just look at me and shrug.
