We had covered a lot of the birds found in the trees bordering the Bog, but how about the Pond? All that duck action that had been going on in late winter and early spring is now past. I returned to find the surface of the pond devoid of waterfowl. However, a few days ago, some Green Herons (some people refer to them as Green-Backed Herons) flew in from their winter vacation in Florida. They may have just been passing through for I haven’t seen them this week, but, generally, a few, will call this small pond home and woe to the frogs and fish that linger in the shallows. Patient, as all herons are, it will hold its pose, crouched in a posture that would send us running for the Aleve. Then, stab goes the bill, and gulp goes the frog- another successful meal for our Heron.
Ringing the pond, in the High Bush Blueberry and Buttonbush shrubs are several Gray Catbirds, loud as can be, singing their “Top-10 greatest hits”, one right after another. I have no idea how the female Catbird can keep straight who it is that is singing. Catbirds are mimics in the style of Mockingbirds, and also throw in all kinds of jabbery and screechy sort of sounds that I don’t recognize as any local bird. Who knows that they are listening to on their Ipods but, somehow, Ms Catbird finds a tune she can hum along to and the two will be gathering grape vine bark and grass for their love nest any day now.
I also watched some Chickadees that still seemed to be skirmishing with their neighbors over where the exact boundaries have been drawn between their two properties. Listen for excited “fee-bee” and “chickadee” sounds and trills coming, all at once, from a group of 4 chickadees and you will know that, soon, a lawyer will be called in to look at the lease. I also saw a Chickadee pair enter a hole that I thought was their nest. One, probably the male, had a grub in his beak and passed it to the other, the female. Rather than pop into the hole to feed the young I imagined might be in there, she downed it herself. Aha! No, not a selfish Mom, but most likely, a courting pair, just out house hunting and he was offering a little, light refreshment to keep her going. How very thoughtful.
In TN, the Chickadees were already running ragged bringing food to the nest. Again, I need to mentally rewind the tape and realize that here, on the Cape, many are still house hunting. But not for much longer I think. And perhaps many have laid eggs already. Have you noticed, where once you were besieged with Chickadees at your feeder, you have hardly any now? That would seem to suggest that they ARE on nests. And while they are gathering grubs for the young’uns, why not make that their meal too? Heaven knows, with our infestation of winter moth caterpillars, there is plenty to go around. No need for sunflower just yet. But they will be back later in the summer, most likely bringing their brood with them to show them where reliable food can be found in times of hardship. You can happily keep providing the reliable food, if you are Italian,at heart, as I am, and love to feed things.
And, lastly, at the Bog, is a bit of an ongoing mystery. I can only observe and guess what I am seeing. And I may be way off, so don’t take any of this as Gospel. When I left, a pair of Mallards, the only ones of the whole gang of Mallards that had spent a lot of disco nights on the pond, seemed ready to settle down. They had chosen a smaller containment pond and he seemed to be defending an area that she seemed to disappear too. I thought, to build her nest. Now, three weeks later, he is alone, and back at the little slough in the middle of the Bog. So, what has happened? In three weeks, she might have laid and hatched her eggs, it takes about three weeks, but why would he linger alone, I wonder?
And with him is a lone Canada goose. Now, I know they mate for life, (not so the Mallard) so, where was his lady? I kept scanning the bog for a nest, which I think I would have seen, geese aren’t that stealthy, but, nothing. Yet, there he stayed day after day. So, of course, I had to worry, did his mate die? Run off with another? And if so, why not go join up with some other single geese. EVERYONE can’t have found Mr. or Mrs. Right. Then, because I am pathetically dramatic, I thought, maybe something untoward happened to his mate here and he is holding vigil. For they are known to do that. Or maybe there never was a Mrs. to begin with. See how this stuff can eventually make you crazy? So I walk and I wonder, and I will keep you posted if any other clues develop. I would expect him to leave eventually. Move on with his life. And the Mallard too, other ladies to wow with his iridescent green head.
The bread machine has beeped and so you are spared any more birdy details. Ah, but there are still the emerging bog plants to discuss some day. You know I will be back. Until then, watch for your own mysteries to unfold outside your own door.
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