Birding Grafton and Millbury

American Tree Sparrow picture taken last winter at Fisherville Pond in Grafton

I did some local birding in Grafton and Millbury Sunday afternoon and one of my first stops was Fisherville Pond in Grafton hoping to see some interesting waterfowl and sparrows. I had spent numerous hours here last winter as the place was always filled with various sparrows including Song, White-throated and my favorite which was the American-tree Sparrow which had a very large flock here.

Imagine my disappointment when I got there yesterday afternoon to see that all of the scrubby brush these birds would hide and feed on, where cleared away and replaced with pavement and what looks to be a baseball field. I sat there for a few minutes with the feeling of disgust I get whenever I see birdy land destroyed by humans but then decided to venture over to the power lines to get myself out of my funk.

While there were no American-tree Sparrows yet, there were plenty of others including a flock of White-throated Sparrows feasting on something that resembles Elderberry to me. This sparrow's diet consists of fruit in both winter and summer, but I had never seen them so engrossed in berry eating before as it's usually seeds so it was really interesting to watch.
And yet another OUT OF FOCUS shot of one eating the berries. Seriously, this is going to be my photo nemesis bird for the winter, I can just feel it.
As always, plenty of Dark-eyed Juncos. One interesting thing about these birds is they have to come to my yard. Last year at this time, they were all over the place eating my weed seeds and nyjer.
Further into the powerlines came a flock of Golden-crowned Kinglets and a couple of Ruby-crowned Kinglets and it was nice to see them both in the same area at the same time.
I decided to head to Dorothy Pond in Millbury to see if there were any Ring-necked Ducks or Buffleheads there because I had seen quite a few of them during spring migration at this location but the only thing there were 7 YES 7 Mute Swan's! The first set of 5 were a family that consisted of 2 adults and 3 first year swans, and then over on the other side of the pond were 2 adult Mute Swans all on their own.
First time I have seen them here and I am guessing (and praying) they are migrating because 7 is just too many.

Take care all.