Chasing the Gray Ghost..Gyrfalcon

Well, Western Mass doesn't usually see large concentrations of birder's, but every once in a while a bird changes that. On Dec 13th a couple found and photographed a GYRFALCON! in the Honey Pot, Hadley, Mass. However the Gyr was not seen again until late afternoon on New Years Day, and that sighting set in motion a wave of scope carrying birder's that came from as far away as Virginia. 

The next day the Arctic Falcon put on a show in the Honey Pot for most of the day. Birder's were not only able to view the bird but got some amazing shots. However....I found myself unable to escape from work and was left to provide updates on Western Mass Birder's-facebook Page & Massbird.

The Falcon wasn't the only story going on in Hadley....with the recent snowstorm, a lot of birds found themselves looking for food! Most of the time birder's have to walk through the many weedy fields of the Honey Pot looking for Larks, Longspurs,Buntings and Sparrows. This time many of the birds were right by the road eating grass seeds that the local snowplows had unearthed. 50+ Savannah Sparrows, 2 Clay-colored Sparrows, 1 Vesper Sparrow, many Horned Larks, Snow Buntings and even a few Lapland Longspurs made an appearance. Besides the sparrows, good numbers of Common Redpolls remained along with 1-2 Hoary Redpolls, and then the raptor show got even better.....

During this week...a Long-eared and Short-eared Owls were seen and photographed, Northern Harriers, Peregrine Falcons, Merlin, American Kestrel, Cooper's Hawk, Red-tailed & Rough-legged Hawk and a Bald Eagle or two. An AMAZING WEEK is clearly an understatement. I was able to get some photos of the birds reported out there this past week, but missed the Gyrfalcon & Long-eared Owl/Short-eared Owl.

American Pipit- one of three birds I found on New Years day on South Maple Street/Hadley.

Horned Lark- hundreds in the Hadley area. 

Horned Lark- Aqua Vitae Rd

Lapland Longspur- So.Maple Street/Hadley.

Rough-legged Hawk (Light Morph) So.Maple Street.

Rough-legged Hawk- So.Maple Street

Snow Buntings- So.Maple Street/Aqua Vitae Rd & the Honey Pot. Some reported a flock of 200

Snow Buntings

Vesper Sparrow-honey Pot. A good find in winter.

Savannah Sparrow- as many as 60 reported.

Common Redpoll- Honey Pot. 

Cooper's Hawk- My feeding station.

Clay-colored Sparrow. one of two in Hadley.

Quabbin C.B.C. Twenty-fives years and counting

The twenty-fifth Quabbin Christmas Bird Count took place on December 29, 2012. When Jim Lafley and I set this count into motion twenty-five years ago,  we knew that this count would become one of Massachusetts most remote/rural of the Christmas bird counts in the state. While some of the areas at Quabbin seem to be a bird-less,  frozen wilderness. Participants get to travel into areas behind the locked gates and encounter areas that once played host to thriving communities, before they were removed in favor of a water supply for Boston and other Eastern Mass communities. However, the count has a few claims to fame for the first twenty-five years- We hold the North American record for the most Northern Saw-whet Owls..(61) and we usually have State high counts for things like Bald Eagles,  Pileated Woodpeckers, Common Ravens, and some years for Red-breasted Nuthatch- our all time high is (1886). 

We've also experienced some interesting weather over the years. Everything from sunny near 50 degrees (not many of those days) to light rain/fog...light snow to an all out BLIZZARD that cut the count short that year, but we got the count into the books. Another cool thing about the Quabbin count is the mammals, it seems each area gets an interesting mammal sighting during the day. We tallied up an impressive list over the years.

This years count was fairly uneventful, but we did get a new high count for Hairy Woodpecker. The weather probably kept birds down a bit...Overcast with a late afternoon snowstorm approaching. Everyone made it home safe, but it kept the tally at Headquarters rather subdued with just a handful of observers. 

Complete list below. 

Area 43/Horseshoe Dam. Most water frozen, limited road access because of recent snowstorm.

Certainly of one the days highlights was this 25th Anniversary cake presents to Myself and Jim Lafley by David Spector......Thanks David! 

A few of the survivors 

Saying good-bye to David Peake-Jones at the visitor's center- Storm gaining steam at this point.

                                                                  Quabbin C.B.C. (Dec 29, 2012)

Happy New Year,

Despite the impending Nor'easter, we managed to get the Quabbin  Christmas Count into the books.  Generally overall numbers were down, but we ended the day with 67 species, along with two new highs.  Road access inside of the reservoir wasn't too bad considering a snowstorm a few days earlier. Temperature ranged from 16-30 degrees with overcast skies. The snow didn't really get going until 3pm, by that time most areas had started to call it a day. Complete list below…

Canada Goose 18

Wood Duck 1-3^rd record.

American Black Duck 131

Mallard 66

Ring-necked Duck 5

Common Goldeneye 57

Hooded Merganser 85

Common Merganser 26

Ruffed Grouse 5

Wild Turkey 154

Common Loon 15

Horned Grebe 10

Red-necked Grebe 1

Great Blue Heron 1

Bald Eagle 11 (3 Imm/8 Ad)

Sharp-shinned Hawk 3

Cooper’s Hawk 3

Red-tailed Hawk 22

Ring-billed Gull 49

Herring Gull 13

Rock Pigeon 87

Mourning Dove 188

Eastern Screech-Owl 1

Great Horned Owl 12

Barred Owl 9

Northern Saw-whet Owl 6

Belted Kingfisher 3

Red-bellied Woodpecker 27

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 1-3^rd record.

Downy Woodpecker 156

Hairy Woodpecker 62-new high

Northern Flicker 3

Pileated Woodpecker 23

Northern Shrike 1

Blue Jay 141

American Crow 146

Common Raven 27

Black-capped Chickadee 1026

Tufted Titmouse 292

Red-breasted Nuthatch 376- 2^nd highest count/ Most inside of Quabbin.

White-breasted Nuthatch 210

Brown Creeper 39

Carolina Wren 3

Winter Wren 3

Golden-crowned Kinglet 97

Eastern Bluebird 45- New High.

Hermit Thrush 1

American Robin 160

Northern Mockingbird 6

E.Starling 221

American Tree Sparrow 173

Song Sparrow 22

White-throated Sparrow 52

Dark-eyed Junco 714

Snow Bunting 49

Northern Cardinal 100

Red-winged Blackbird 3

Brown-headed Cowbird 2

Pine Grosbeak 19-( 8) still feeding on crabapples at Quabbin HQ.

Purple Finch 1

House Finch 58

Red Crossbill 6-( Gate 40)

White-winged Crossbill 9-(Gate 40)

Common Redpoll 302

American Goldfinch 124

Evening Grosbeak 27 (Hardwick/Petersham/North Dana)

House Sparrow 250

67 species

Mammals

River Otter 3

Red Squirrel 21

Gray Squirrel 35

Flying Squirrel 1

Beaver 1

White-tailed Deer 9

Eastern Chipmunk 1