Break out the Orange



Its October……break out the Orange!

Worked my way out to the East Meadows this morning in search of Sparrows and whatever else the meadows would give up. I made my way past the Red Barn and tried to avoid the mammoth puddles the recent rains had created, parked and starting out into the fields –“GUN SHOTS” I looked around a bit and suddenly found hunters emerging from the cornfields.. I was the only one not wearing “ORANGE” October 14th –the beginning of the Hunting Season…..needless to say I didn’t venture out to far after that. All was not lost….A few American Kestrels, (10) Rusty Blackbirds, American Pipits, Horned Larks , (3) Palm Warblers and lots of Savannah Sparrows.

After departing the hunting festival that was going on in the East Meadows, I headed to the West Meadows, hoping the color orange wasn’t going to be a fashion requirement. I encountered (5) (getting late) Bobolinks, Many Savannah, Swamp, and Song Sparrows, (4) White-crowned and (2) Vesper Sparrows. All in all- a nice morning. Complete list below





Orange...the color of the month.

Savannah Sparrow- one of dozens & dozens.

Boblink....West Meadows.

Swamp Sparrow....very common migrate in early to mid October.

Palm Warbler-

Vesper Sparrow-always unexpected

Vesper Sparrow-back view

Ruby-crowned Kinglet

Golden-crowned Kinglet..In our area -migration just kicking in.

Arcadia Wildlife Sanctuary and West Meadows--IBA, Hampshire, US-MA

Oct 14, 2011 10:00 AM - 12:30 PM
40 species

Wood Duck 2
Mallard 12
Double-crested Cormorant 3
Turkey Vulture 4
Bald Eagle 1
Sharp-shinned Hawk 1
Red-tailed Hawk 4
Killdeer 1
Ring-billed Gull 37
Herring Gull 7
Mourning Dove 6
Belted Kingfisher 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker 1
Downy Woodpecker 1
Northern Flicker 2
Blue Jay 6
American Crow 325
Black-capped Chickadee 4
Tufted Titmouse 2
Golden-crowned Kinglet 2
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 2
Eastern Bluebird 4
European Starling X
Cedar Waxwing 4
Nashville Warbler 1
Common Yellowthroat 1
Palm Warbler 7
Yellow-rumped Warbler 2
Vesper Sparrow 2
Savannah Sparrow 75
Song Sparrow 30
Swamp Sparrow 60
White-throated Sparrow 17
White-crowned Sparrow 4
Northern Cardinal 3
Bobolink 5
Red-winged Blackbird 80
House Finch 4
American Goldfinch 2
House Sparrow 33

This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (http://ebird.org)

BBC Pelagic Trip- June 25th

I haven’t had a lot of time this spring to update my blog, so I have a bit of catching up to do.


Last Saturday I joined the Brookline Bird club for their annual June Pelagic trip to the Nantucket Shoals, about 20-30 miles east of Chatham. The trip certainly didn’t start out on a high note…fairly heavy fog was present for the first couple hours of the trip. About two hours into the trip we had our first tease of the morning- a Skua appeared at the edge of the fog only to disappear right back into the soupy mess. A little while later the fog began to slowly lift and things began to really pick up.

The crew put out a chum slick once it started to clear and not long after the Storm-Petrels and Shearwaters started to appear in really good numbers.

The chum slick also brought in a very obliging Northern Fulmar. This bird made several passes around the boat and offered the photographers several opportunities to come away with a decent shot or two. We did encounter a few more Fulmars during the day including a dark morph, but the first one was the star of the Fulmar show.

The one memorable thing about this trip, at least to me was everyone on board was able to get really good looks at the majority of the birds that were encountered. The leaders worked very well together making sure everyone got on the birds.

Below is the official list compiled by Naeem Yusuff and the trip map provided by Steve Mirick

Scott


Common Loon 15
Northern Fulmar 2-3
Cory's Shearwater 12
Great Shearwater 376
Sooty Shearwater 1,303
Manx Shearwater 2
Wilson's Storm-Petrel 300
Leach's Storm-Petrel 8
Northern Gannet 1
Laughing Gull 2
Herring Gull 210
Great Black-backed Gull 225
Common Tern 4
skua sp. 1
Pomarine Jaeger 1

Parasitic Jaeger 1

Common Murre1

 Great Shearwater

Great Shearwater

Northern Fulmar-Light morph.

Northern Fulmar

Parasitic Jaeger

Pomarine Jaeger- both Jaegers put on a nice show.

Pomarine Jaeger

Sooty Shearwater

Wilson's Storm- Petrel

South Monomoy Island

Gray Seals on South Monomoy.

Spring Birding Class-New Salem to Turner's Falls

Spring Birding class-Trip #2.

Saturday March 12th- We left the Hitchcock Center in Amherst for areas to the North this morning. Our hope was to cash in on lingering Bohemian Waxwings, Evening Grosbeaks and Redpolls. Recent reports from New Salem had Bohemian Waxwings coming to a couple of Crabapple Trees near the Center of town. We arrived around 8:00am and looked around a bit, no luck. We met up with Bill Lafley, who had reported the movement of the Waxwings throughout the week. After about ten minutes the Waxwings came flew in to the top of a deciduous tree near the overstuffed Crabapple Trees. They gave everyone killer looks through the scope, we enjoyed them for about twenty minutes and they just went up and out of sight...pretty lucky. We turned around to face Bill's house and we had American Goldfinches, (4) Pine Siskins and a flock of about (30) Common Redpolls coming into his feeder, Very Nice!

We left New Salem and headed to Royalston...."one of the most reliable locations for Evening Grosbeaks in Western Mass", We arrived around 10am and almost instantly had a group of (18) at a feeding station just down from the Library. These are very cool birds, and the group thought so as well. Also in the area, more Pine siskins, Common Redpolls and Redwinged Blackbirds. My hope was to maybe get one of these target birds, but not all four. (Bohemian Waxwing, Evening Grosbeak, Pine Siskin and Common Redpoll) Not only did we get all four, but more important...everyone got great looks!

So it's now 11:00am, time running out and was hoping to still get to Barton's Cove in Turners Falls. The class is scheduled to end at 12:00, but the group was willing to go a little longer. My last target bird was a Redhead Duck that was found earlier in the week at The Turner's Falls Canal, with other sightings at Barton's Cove and the Rod & Gun Club-both in Turner's Falls. We quickly pulled into Barton's Cove on the Gill side, and found (47) Hooded Mergansers, a handful of Common Mergansers, (3) Common Goldeneye, (2) Bald Eagles and a Glaucous Gull-1st winter, but no Redhead. The last stop of the day would be to the Rod & Gun Club on the other side of the River. We pull into the Rod & Gun Club and they had some sort of a function going on...so we quickly parked and scan the water. There was virtually no ducks except a group of (37) Ring-necked Ducks and one lone drake Redhead....very nice. One can easily go without seeing a Redhead Duck in the valley for several seasons.A great way to end the day.

Scott

These two photos of Bohemian Waxwings were taken a couple of weeks earlier in Windsor, Mass...you get the idea.

Evening Grosbeak- Royalston Center

Evening Grosbeak-female

Bald Eagle-Imm. This bird kept both ducks and gulls on alert.

Ring-necked Ducks and male Redhead Duck- Rod & Gun Club in Turner's Falls.

Long Winter.....

This has been a tough winter here in the Northeast, three feet of snow, almost thirty days of the mercury never rising above thirty-two degrees and Ice dams galore. But, there is a small light at the end of the tunnel....Northern Cardinals, Carolina Wrens and Titmice have started singing, spring is on the way.

Over the past month I've had a couple of days to get out and do a little birding and photography here in the Valley. Below are some recent photos......

Cedar Waxwing - Recently there has been a flock of 135 descending upon the downtown area of Amherst. This photo was taken on So.Pleasant Street, near Amherst College.

Field Sparrow- Always a good bird in winter. The past several winters we get one at our feeding station..on-off.

Carolina Wren- You know it's a tough winter when they start visiting our feeder. This bird is holding up just fine. Carolina Wrens seem to be dealing with New England winters far better than they use too.

Old Barn in the Deerfield Meadows. Just a cold day!

Horned Lark- flocks of 50 to 260 have been reported in the valley this winter.  This bird and others put on a great show off of Stillwater Road in deerfield.

Lesser Blacked-backed Gull- This adult continues to put on a late afternoon show at Barton's cove in Turners Falls.

Bohemian Waxwing- I was lucky to come across two birds in Deerfield a few weeks ago. for the most part, the large numbers of Bohemians have been staying north of us. Hopefully that will change in the coming weeks.

Lapland Longspurs- A few of these birds, along with the Horned Larks put on a great show off of Stillwater Rd in Deerfield. Other Longspurs have also been report several times in the Hadley area.

Horned Lark & Lapland Longspur- Deerfield

Lapland Longspur

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Red-breasted Nuthatch-Amherst.
 
SDS

Quabbin C.B.C.

Christmas Count Season ends with the Quabbin Count.

On January 1st, 2011 the Quabbin Christmas bird count was held under the best possible conditions one could hope for, for a January day in New England. I started out by meeting James smith in the center of Hardwick, at 3:30am. (My little section of the count) During the next two and a half hours we tallied (9) Great Horned Owls, (4) Northern Saw-whet Owls and a Porcupine. One of the Saw-whet Owls put on a great show, strong, consistent vocalizations and even made a couple of appearances.

By 6:45am we made our way to the local Cumbies (The only store open) and met Mike Locher and David Peake-Jones. Both gentlemen were out owling since midnight! There numbers might not have been as strong has ours, but the variety was notably better. Along with Great Horned and Saw-whet Owls, they nabbed a Barred and Eastern Screech-Owl. (Well done)

While in the parking lot of the Cumbies, a sizable flock of Common Redpolls made there way overhead….perhaps a good sign. After getting some supplies we headed back to the Hardwick area. As I mentioned earlier, the day itself was one of the highlights….by early afternoon the mercury would top off at 50 Degrees! The warm temperatures would bring out the best in the local woodpeckers; they must have thought spring had sprung. Woodpeckers were drumming, calling all over the place, especially the Pleated Woodpecker. In our area alone we had (9) and the area to our north would record (24). By the end of the day a new High count for Pleated Woodpecker would not only surpass the pervious high, but just crushed it. The new mark is now (61) the old record was (31) and that was several years ago. Red-bellied Woodpeckers and Northern flickers would also establish new highs.

Around 10am we were joined by my wife Valerie and her mom, Priscilla Moor. We immediately headed for Gate 43 of the Quabbin, an area known as the Horse shoe Dam. This area provides us with are only real opportunity for waterfowl, Eagles and maybe a Raven or two. Once we arrived at the fishing area my fears were confirmed, very little open water. December had been just a little too cold for this area of the Quabbin, and froze up just about everything except right around the dam. However, much to my surprise….a Belted Kingfisher came screaming in to lay his claim to this little oasis. He did have a little competition….Valerie had found two River Otters just playing and feeding on the other side of the causeway. I was able to get some decent photos of the two before they just disappeared under the ice. While we were taking in the Otters, James had a Snow bunting fly over, that bird ended up being the only one for the count. Other notables were a couple of Bald Eagles, Common Ravens and a lone Coyote out on the ice.

Temperature wise, the day just got warmer and warmer, and we ended up birding in sweatshirts for the rest of the afternoon. Our best bird of the day came near the end…James spied a Merlin on top of a tree, a good ways out. This would only be the second one ever recorded on the count. After dropping James off at his car, Valerie, Priscilla and I got four large pizzas to go from Lazy Mary’s Pizzeria just off the Hardwick Common and headed back to the tally at the Quabbin Headquarters in Belchertown. Below are the numbers from the day, total species were about average and we ended with 10 species of mammals. All in all, a Nice Day!

Scott

Purple Finch-male. One of three found on the count.

White-breasted Nuthatch.

Red-bellied Woodpecker- Their numbers continue to grow. A new high count of 35.

Carolina Wrens- Also a new high count...11

Merlin- only the second one recorded on the count. However, in recent years-  Merlins have become a little more common in winter than they once were.

River Otter- These two put on a nice little show for our group.

Perhaps making some statement about our intrusion or my photography!

Below are the final count totals.

Canada Goose -1
American Black Duck -56
Mallard -94
Common Goldeneye-1
Hooded Merganaser-42
Common Merganser-474
Ruffed Grouse-10
Wild Turkey-183
Common Loon-3
Horned Grebe-2
Bald Eagle- 19 (13Ad) (6 Imm)
Sharp-shinned Hawk-4
Cooper’s Hawk -6
Northern Goshawk-2
Red-tailed Hawk-19
Rough-legged Hawk-1. (Dark Morph)
Merlin-1
Ring-billed Gull-107
Rock Pigeon-70
Mourning Dove-134
Eastern Screech-Owl-2
Great Horned Owl -42HC
Barred Owl-15
Northern Saw-whet Owl-13
Belted Kingfisher-6 ties HC
Red-bellied Woodpecker 35HC
Downy Woodpecker-112
Hairy Woodpecker-42
Northern flicker-10HC
Pileated Woodpecker-61HC
Northern Shrike-2
Blue Jay-424
American Crow-180
Common Raven-25
Black-capped Chickadee-868
Tufted Titmouse-193
Red-breasted Nuthatch-71
White-breasted Nuthatch-209
Brown Creeper-43
Carolina Wren-11HC
Winter Wren-2
Golden-crowned Kinglet-100
Eastern Bluebird-26
Hermit Thrush-1
American Robin-1861
Northern Mockingbird-8
European Starling-309
Cedar Waxwing-71
American Tree Sparrow-150
Song Sparrow-19
White-throated Sparrow-25
Dark-eyed Junco-406
Snow Bunting-1
Northern Cardinal-73
Red-winged Blackbird-1
Purple Finch-3
House Finch-25
Red Crossbill-2
Common Redpoll-82
Pine Siskin-20
American Goldfinch-149
Evening Grosbeak-1
House Sparrow-405
Total 63 species
Snow Goose -1 cw
Mammals

River Otter-5
Coyote- 2 (day time sightings) (3 packs heard during owling)
Red Squirrel-41
Gray Squirrel -40 (Black Squirrel-2)
Beaver-1
Porcupine-2
Rabbit-1
Moose-1
White-tailed Deer-20
White-footed Mouse-4

Christmas Bird Counts

Christmas count Season:

Tis this season to be Merry and count birds. The first Christmas Bird Counts were started in 1900, when twenty five were conducted. Last year, 2,160 counts were done on a national level. Here in New England the counts break down as follows….Massachusetts 33, Maine 29, Vermont 18, Rhode Island 4, New Hampshire 17, and 16 in Connecticut.

Locally, I participate on the Northampton and Quabbin counts, and added the Sturbridge count to my list of firsts. As mentioned, I did the Sturbridge count for the first time this year with my wife Valerie. Now, Valerie is a veteran of the Sturbridge count and has never missed one. This particular count is held on a week day, often making it difficult for me to break away from work. Our section of the count is called Elf Hill. This area is in the Brookfield’s. Our highlight of the day happened to be the second bird that we observed…..American Woodcock!! This was the first Woodcock I’ve ever come across on a Christmas Count. However, this was not a first for the Sturbridge count, there was a prior record! The day was cold with a noticeable breeze…making it real cold. It wasn’t a record count, but my recollection was around 73 species, making it a respectable count.

Northampton Count:

The Northampton count was held under ideal conditions on Sunday the 19th. I was joined again this year by James Smith of Gill. James and I started at 3AM in Amherst. I have a relatively small owling area, but it can be quite good. The Owling conditions were simply unbelievable…no wind, clear, but a little chilly. In two and a half hours of Owling, we had five species! Great Horned – 2, Eastern Screech Owl -3, Northern Saw-whet Owl -1, Barred Owl-1 and the gem of the morning was a calling Long-eared Owl. Our Barred Owl was brought in by a calling Screech Owl near Umass. That little owl made a vocalization just before the Barred Owl appeared, a sound that James or I had never heard before. Of course, if something were chasing and trying to eat us, I’m sure James and I would make a whole bunch of noises that that many of our friends have never heard us make before. We felt the little owl had a pretty good head start and that it probably eluded his uninvited guest.

The daylight portion of our count also proved to be quite productive. My area is along the river in Hadley, and I’ve covered this area since the early 80’s. We ended the day with 49 species, highlights…..Merlin, Peregrine Falcon, American Kestrel, American Pipit-2, and 4 White-cr. Sparrows. Overall, the count did very well….an unofficial 87 species, just four shy of the record.

Next up….The Quabbin Count.

Merlin-  Above) This bird found by James Smith. This is the darkest appearing Merlin I've seen here in the Northeast.

White-crowned Sparrow (Imm) Two or four birds we had this day. Certainly the most I've ever had on the Northampton count.

White-crowned Sparrow- Imm. Hadley

Savannah Sparrow- This individual was on the pale side of the Savannah Sparrows we encountered.

American Woodcock- Sturbridge C.B.C. 12-14-10

Muskrat- Brookfield Area 12-14-10