Quabbin & Plum Island

Piping Plover (Plum Is)

It's been a couple of weeks since my last update- To say Migration is in full swing , would be an understatement. Recent trips with the Hitchcock Center Birding Class to the Quabbin Reservoir and last weekend to Plum Island/Newburyport have been quite successful.

The Quabbin trip produced some nice highlights...Nesting Common Ravens at the spillway, Bald Eagle, several Yellow-throated Vireos and 15+ Black-throated Blue Warblers.

Last weeks trip to the Newburyport/Plum Island region produced 103 species. While it wasn't the best day for migrates, an adult White-faced Ibis in Newbury continued to put on a show. Other highlights included - a large raft of Long-tailed Ducks off parking lot #1 on Plum Island, Blue-winged Teal, Tricolored Heron, 65 Glossy Ibis (Newbury),
Great Horned Owl nest, (1 young) and Orchard Oriole.

Gadwall (Plum Is)

Eastern Towhee (Plum Is. Mass)

Common Raven (Quabbin Reservoir-Spillway)

Mt. Auburn Cemetery -May 3rd

American Robin- Nest near Restrooms.




The Hitchcock Center Birding Class headed east today to visit historic Mt. Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge. The cemetery is clearly one of the most beautiful places to bird in Massachusetts or for that matter, New England. The lush vegetation is a magnet for spring migrates that filter out of the predawn skies looking to rest and refuel for the continuing journey north to there breeding grounds. The cemetery is literally an Island oasis in a sea of concrete and steel.

We arrived at the cemetery around 7:30am, gathered up our group and worked our way to Indian Ridge. The weather conditions were considerably less than ideal, overcast, on-off light rain, light easterly wind (raw) with temps holding around 44 degrees.

I knew this was not going to be one of those legendary Mt. Auburn days, but the group and I managed 43 species (7 species of Warblers) and had some nice looks at some common, but at times, hard to view species.

Species Seen:

Canada Goose
Mallard
Ring-billed Gull
Herring Gull
Mourning Dove
Red-bellied Woodpecker (1)
Downy Woodpecker (3)
No.Flicker (1)
Eastern Phoebe (1)
Blue-headed Vireo (1)
Warbling Vireo (1)
Blue Jay
Am.Crow
Fish Crow (1)
Black-capped Chickadee
Tufted Titmouse
Red-breasted Nuthatch (1)
White-breasted Nuthatch (1)
Carolina Wren (1)
House Wren (1)
Ruby-crowned Kinglet (15)
Hermit Thrush (2)
American Robin
E.Starling
Northern Parula (1)
Yellow Warbler (1)
Black-thr.blue Warbler (1m)
Yellow-rumped Warbler (14)
Pine Warbler (2)
Black/White Warbler (3)
Ovenbird (1)
Chipping Sparrow
Song Sparrow (1)
White-thr.Sparrow (22)
Northern Cardinal
Red-winged Blackbird
Common Grackle
Brown-headed Cowbird
Orchard Oriole (1-m)
Baltimore Oriole (3)
House Finch
Am.Goldfinch
House Sparrow
















View of Boston. (Click on Images for larger photo)
















The Group-

































The Cemetery..
















Baltimore Oriole- one of three. Overcast conditions made for a difficult day with the camera.
















Orchard Oriole

March 29th - The Hitchcock Center birding group was treated to a fantastic show of Bohemian Waxwings. The flock numbered between 250-300. This group was one of many that showed up throughout Western Mass in the coming days. A Year to Remember!

Hoary Redpoll/Sunderland, Mass. 3/8/08

Gloucester, Mass Feb. 24th

Gloucester/Rockport, Massachusetts

The Quest for the Slaty-backed Gull continues….

I spent the good part of the day birding and scouting out areas around Gloucester and Rockport for my up coming trip with the Hitchcock Center March 1st. While I had hoped the Gull Gods would have looked down favorably on me this day, the Slaty-backed Gull never made an appearance-at least while I was Niles Pond. However, little wind, temperatures near forty degrees and a recent snowstorm made for a very pleasant winter day in New England.

First stop Gloucester Harbor- Greater Scaup, Common Eider, White-winged Scoters and Red-breasted Mergansers were present in modest numbers. A first cycle Glaucous Gull provided great looks and photo opportunities.



Red-breasted Merganser





Common Eider

Glaucous Gull

After Gloucester Harbor I made a brief stop to Niles Beach and then to Rockport Country Club in search of the Townsend’s Solitaire. After about twenty minutes the Solitaire flew in and began feeding at eye level. The Townsend’s Solitaire is a rare find in New England; this one has been present at the Rockport Country Club since December 07. Interesting, this is my second one in the state- both in Rockport! Other birds around the Country Club included – Carolina Wren, many American robins and a Yellow-rumped Warbler.






Townsend's Solitaire

Niles Pond
Northern Shrike

I headed back to Gloucester and spent the rest of my allotted time at Niles Pond. While the Gull show continued to be very impressive – the highlight was mammal! A Fisher kept working the far edges of the frozen pond. Several of us watched this beautiful and elusive animal through our scopes for almost two minutes. Back to the Gulls…
Six species were observed before my departure, most notable- a first cycle Thayer’s, (11) Iceland and (4) Glaucous Gulls. A Northern Shrike patrolled the tree tops around the pond and provided great looks to the many observers looking for the Slaty-backed Gull.

Good Birding,

SDS

The Hitchcock Center for the Environment’s first birding field trip of the 2008 season began today. (Saturday/Feb.16th) I started the birding course a little earlier this year, with the hope of finding, and showing the group some of the winter finches that have moved into New England this winter. First stop was to Turners Falls in search of Pine Grosbeaks. This small town has many downtown streets lined with Crabapple Trees that over the years has been very good for Cedar Waxwings, and occasionally large flocks of Bohemian Waxwings. This winter so far has been especially good for Pine Grosbeaks, probably the most consistent location in Western Mass in recent weeks for these large winter finches.




After about fifteen minutes we finally found (6) Pine Grosbeaks, a life bird for many in the group. After enjoying these birds we headed towards the center of town and came across a larger flock-also feeding on Crabapples. Believe it or not, this group afforded us even better views than the pervious group, and the highlight was two stunning males.
From there we checked the Canal and Barton’s Cove, both areas were pretty quite- Mute Swans, Canada Geese, Mallards, Ring-billed, Herring and Great Black-backed Gulls were present in small numbers.

Continuing on are quest for winter finches, we headed east for the town Royalston. This small, but beautiful little town in Worcester County has played host to Pine Grosbeaks, Redpolls and Evening Grosbeaks throughout the fall and winter. We arrived late morning and had immediate success with Pine Grosbeaks-about (12). We birded around the center of town and later had six Evening Grosbeaks, along with Blue Jays, Black-capped Chickadee, White-breasted Nuthatch, Northern Cardinal, American Tree Sparrows, and Dark-eyed Junco’s. All in all a nice way to start off 2008 spring birding class.

Trip List:

Mute Swan (9)
Canada Goose (25)
Mallard
Wild Turkey (25)
Cooper’s Hawk (1 Imm)
Red-tailed Hawk (3)
Ring-billed Gull
Herring Gull
Great Black-backed Gull
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Downy Woodpecker
Blue jay
American Crow
Black-capped Chickadee
Tufted Titmouse
White-breasted Nuthatch
Carolina Wren (2) Amherst
American Robin
E.Starling
Cedar Waxwing (8) Amherst
American Tree Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
Northern Cardinal
Pine Grosbeak (57) Turners Falls/Royalston
House Finch (5)
American Goldfinch (4)
Evening Grosbeak (6) Royalston
House Sparrow

Good Birding,

SDS

Winter Fest-Amherst & Turners Falls

Cherry Hill Golf Course- View of First Fairway.

The first Winter Fest was held today at the Cherry Hill Golf Course in Amherst, Massachusetts. Many activities were held throughout the day including two bird walks that were led by members of the Hampshire Bird Club. Mary Alice Wilson and myself led the first walk of the day, and while there was only four of us on the first walk-we had a good time. Species seen...Highlights

Red-Tailed Hawk (1)

American Crow (24)

Eastern Bluebird (10)

American Robin (36)

Northern Mockingbird (1)

American Tree Sparrow (4)

White-thr.Sparrow (1)

White-crowned Sparrow (1 )

Dark-eyed Junco (20)

American Robin- Cherry Hill Golf Course.

After the bird walk, Mary Alice and I headed up to Turners Falls to see what mgiht be on Barton's Cove. As we headed north, the snow that started in Amherst became heavier as we headed north. Despite the steady snow, we could scan most of the area around the dam - Ring-billed, Great Black-backed and Herring Gulls were present in small numbers, along with Mute Swans, a Common Goldeneye & Common Merganser. The highlight was (42) Pine Grosbeaks in downtown Turners Falls, that contained at least 10 males.

Pine Grosbeak- Male


Good birding,

SDS