I decided to to a little birding this morning with my first stop being Price Chopper in hopes for the Fish Crow Alan had spotted early last week. I wasn't holding out much hope as I had struck out on it earlier in the week but figured I had some time to wait for it which is what I did. There would be American Crows everywhere including the American Crow above who was in hot pursuit of a Cooper's Hawk getting ready to dive bomb it and of course, they would both fly out of view before I could get a decent shot. Funny because just last month I was talking about never seeing a crow go after an accipiter before so this was a first for me and so cool to see in the parking lot of a grocery store!
I'd get my bins on all crows hoping for the Fish Crow but I would strike out at first so watched the American Crows which never bores me. The one above was fascinated with the Honey Dew Donuts Cup above and I was curious as to why.
And this is what it would do!! It appears to be attempting to peck at the bottom in hopes of getting a taste of some of the leftover iced coffee that was hopefully left behind, now that's my kind of bird. HA. It's reasons like the picture above on why I love crows so much. So entertaining to observe.
There would be one crow in particular that caught my eye as it was by itself, smaller than the other crows and didn't fly away when I got my car close to it which was very characteristic of the Fish Crow I saw last year at the same location. Soon enough another would join but take off to join the gulls but I would continue to stalk this one in hopes for a call. After about 10 minutes it finally made the call which confirmed to me my suspicions of it being the Fish Crow I wanted, but was bummed it wasn't as cooperative as the one last year.
In the 20 minutes of so I was there, I'd see tons of gulls including this handsome guy above.
I'd also get my first ever green Quabbin Ring-billed Gull but the tag was so worn you couldn't even make out a number much to my frustration. There would also be an adult tagged Wachusett Ring-billed which was number 409 so I will be reporting that this week to find out the story behind it. Also my first ever Herring Gull at Price Chopper which I thought was pretty cool.
Some of you may be aware of Price Choppers new grand opening in conjunction with their major renovations, but how many of you noticed this?? HA, there are two of them on the roof and I do have to say, they are some of the most deformed owls I have ever seen! Speaking of owls, I'm happy to report I finally got my FOY Great Horned Owl Wednesday night with Steve. It would be on the dead snag in his yard calling away but it was light enough out to watch which was so cool to see as I'd never seen it before so it was a very special treat.
After that it would be a quick stop to Broad Meadow Brook in Worcester in hopes for the Fox Sparrow I am longing to see. I'd hit the powerline trail first as that's where I'd seen it before, but all would be bare except for the largest Dark-eyed Junco flock I have ever seen with my guesstimate ranging in the low 40's! All would be on the ground and feeding on something but I could never figure out what it was.
I did get my FOS American Tree Sparrow though which was nice but wish I could have gotten a better picture.
Take care all
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