Bird lore - Project Puffin

The Audubon Societies 333
off shore, preseating a puzzling exterior. Although of scaup-like build, it had a
peculiarly bright rusty appearance on the sides and back, which, streaked with
white, at once caught the eye of the observer. Was it a female Greater Scaup
I cannot think so—or, perhaps, a female Wood Duck? The question must be
settled, I suspect, in a museum where its duplicate may be found, although,
if I wait the chance, I may sometimes see its like again with more assurance
of its identity. It is rather tantalizing, and yet it adds to the interest of the
harbor, to have an unidentified species appear there. Once an immature Little
Blue Heron strayed in from the far South. What an eventful time it was!
An immature Bald Eagle flew over the harbor too, when the timely presence
of an expert ornithologist left no doubt as to its identity. Often an Osprey
visits the inner harbor, sometimes with a mate. It is not far from the locality
of the harbor, as a Crow flies, to the secluded breeding-refuge of the Osprey on
Gardiner's Island. It is quite possible that a pair may breed nearby, as was
true years ago, before the State Fish Hatchery protected its young fry by
trapping or shooting the Kingfishers, Green Herons, and occasional Ospreys
which visited the artificial lagoons where the fish are reared.
Sometimes I feel that wonders never cease. Even at this moment, a Turkey
Buzzard flew by, the first of its kind perhaps ever recorded at this particular
point. One must be vigilant to keep up with the feathered visitors to the
harbor. It is not a large harbor, but it seems very spacious when the tide goes
out and twenty or more Herons steal in, each to a favored location, and Gulls,
Swallows, Crows, and Terns keep coming and going.
One longs for eyes on all sides, to watch exactly what is happening, for
no single pair can follow the movements of all these birds at once. It must
be a glance here and a glance there, with a frequent steady survey of the
entire harbor through stereo-binoculars. Every summer I wish I might devote
my entire time to the harbor at low tide, and at high tide too, for that matter.
Perhaps then it would be possible to really know all that goes on. As the tide
comes in, the Herons fly to adjoining woodland, to roost on favored trees, not
all at a time, usually singly, though sometimes in straggling groups.
The Green Herons seem to time their period of feeding somewhat differently
from the other Herons, while the Crows, who are easily alarmed, doubtless
find a part of their daily ration elsewhere. There is so very much that I have
not seen yet, even after twelve summers, that I look upon the inner harbor
still, as an almost unexplored territory.
In thinking about your areas of observation, and each of you has some such
place, even in the largest city, if you will search and find it, it seems to me you
would do well to choose a few birds to study closely this year. You can hardly
hope to learn all there is to know about them, but you can at least make a more
intimate acquaintance with them than you could if you tried to study many
different species of birds. I would suggest that you first select an area where
you can make daily observations without going to a great distance, and, having
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