Birds abound on canoe trip in Sunkhaze Meadows refuge

The last time I visited Sunkhaze Meadows National Wildlife Refuge, a foot of snow covered the ground and the wind chill punished us if we stopped for too long. The surface of the snow was hard and crusty, making the noise of our snowshoes deafening. We probably scared off all wildlife within three miles.

Not so this time. Our hopes of seeing many birds as we canoed along Sunkhaze Stream were realized.

We put in near the Ash Landing Trail early in the morning, and the refreshing breeze and absence of mosquitoes were a delight. The sun threw dappled shadows across the tea-colored water of the stream as we passed between its banks. This would have been enough, even if we hadn’t seen anything.

Just as we rounded a bend, I caught a glimpse of a mother wood duck guiding her family to privacy in among the marsh grasses.

Tree swallows, cedar waxwings, red-winged blackbirds, common yellow-throated warblers and swamp sparrows were abundant throughout our trip. At its beginning and end, a family of four belted kingfishers escorted us through their territory, chattering loudly. We got a particularly good view of the male, who is easy to distinguish from the female by the absence of a second, chestnut-colored band across his chest.

Flycatchers were everywhere. These birds are characterized by their hunting method – they repeatedly sally forth from a perch, snatch an insect out of the air, and land again. All of them have, to a greater or lesser extent, a crested head, and range in color from a light olive-brown to glistening black, such as the eastern kingbird.

The kingbird, which belongs to the tyrant flycatcher family, is easy to identify because of its highly contrasting black upper parts and bright white under parts. The white tip on its tail is the final visual diagnostic clue.

Another group of flycatchers belongs to the genus Empidonax. All five of these smaller birds are similar in appearance. During the breeding season, they can be told apart by their songs, habitats and nesting habits. Because of this, it was easy to identify a least flycatcher, whose sharp “che-BEK” call quickly drew our attention.

A special treat was hearing – then seeing – a common snipe. Similar in appearance to the woodcock, snipe can also be found in wet, marshy areas. They usually are seen only when performing their aerial courtship and territorial displays, which consist of the bird rising up to 360 feet into the air. A low, muted whinnying sound is produced when the air vibrates between the two outer tail feathers as the bird dives.

A final treat was a broad-winged hawk circling over the marsh. Identification was made easy by its unhawklike “pit-seeee” whistle.

Located in Milford, Sunkhaze Meadows is more than 10,000 acres in size, and comprises more than 17 miles of the stream and its tributaries. More than 200 birds have been identified on or near it; we were thrilled to experience even a small portion of that diversity during our trip.

Chris Corio, a volunteer at Fields Pond Nature Center, can be reached at fieldspond@juno.com.