Alan and I decided to head to Barre Falls today but this time, not for hawk watching per say, but more for snow shoeing with hopes we would see the resident Northern Goshawk as this bird is on the top tier of my winter target list (what else is new ;-)).
Anyhow, the sky was clear blue and despite the fact that the forecast called for cold, it didn't feel that way after a few minutes of snow shoeing. The Barre Falls I know and love with memories of warblers in spring and raptors in fall has taken a different life its own and thrilled me again, but this time with ice crystals and fresh snow that was fun to walk through in search of the elusive Northern Goshawk.
The Ware River where Osprey's would hunt for fish this past September lies frozen in time with promises of spring here and there as you can see above.
And flowers from seasons past take on a life of their own with the ice crystals that continue to build upon their skeletal remains creating a different kind of beauty that was breath taking to see as you made your way upon unbroken paths while drinking in the invigorating winter air.
Next it was onto Winimusett for a little more snow shoeing and perhaps a few raptors and were far from disappointed as we saw both the Rough-legged Hawk as well as the two local Red-tailed Hawks who were all circling around the same area doing lazy circles while ascending higher up into the air. What made the whole episode even more interesting was the fact that all three were together per say, with the Rough-legged being higher than the two Red-tailed's but all seemed indifferent at each others presence, almost as if this happens often and have learned to live in peace amongst each other for the time being. Highlight of the day for sure.

Pictures can not do this scene justice as they were too far away and the blue skies made focusing the camera challenging to say the least, but take my word for it that it was indeed mesmerizing. Sigh, I have come to the conclusion that my new favorite winter site of all is watching a Rough-legged Hawk soaring or hover-hunting from above. Wish there were more of them around though.
We also saw this rather gentle looking (at least to me), Cooper's Hawk, yes that's right Cooper's Hawk. Sheesh, what did you think it was...... ;-). He sat there the entire time watching the spectacular raptor show above and Alan and I were in hawk heaven at that point having three different species of hawk all within immediate view.
A shot of the open land which is frozen water. Seriously folks now my new favorite birding spot for the winter for Central Massachusetts. Would have no problem spending the entire day here so long as I had snow shoes, snacks and a lounge chair for relaxing here and there. We never did get the Northern Shrike though which was disappointing but not complaining much as I saw it last time.
Shadow play above but couldn't help it just because.
A beaver's den above which was huge. If you look behind it you will see a smaller one, which I am assuming the guest headquarters. ;-)
And last but not least the authentic "Pond that Never Freezes". Went there and saw my first of the year Ring-necked Duck and Wood Ducks which was awesome until some one in a snow mobile decided to whiz on by us and scare them all off. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr........And that's all I am going to say about the matter.

Take care all.

Birding Salisbury and Plum Island Janaury

I decided to join my buddy Alan on his trip to Salisbury Beach and Plum Island yesterday with our first stop being Salisbury Beach in hopes of getting the reported Sage Thrasher that had been reported there all week. The weather was already warm in comparison to what we've had recently and the sun was just starting to peek from the horizon which was a wonderful way to start the day.
We spent a considerable amount of time looking for the thrasher but never did find it, but did find the Iceland Gull above mixed in with a Great Black-backed Gull and a couple of Herring Gulls.
I had seen this bird before but never this close up so it was great. Had to get a digiscope of its face as its as sweet looking as a Ring-billed. Great looking gull.
We also spent some time scanning the waters and saw the usual Common Eiders and White-winged Scoters.
Next it was onto Plum Island which was rather quiet in comparison to what I am accustomed to there. One of the things we did see were three Norther Harriers including the one above. Picture is lousy but love the fact that is shows those dark hands it has which is a good fieldmark to look for on this bird when hawk watching.
And what would a trip to Plum be without me getting a lousy picture of the Snowy Owl. Grrrrrr.....Seriously, one of the most difficult birds for me to photograph due to how white it is as well as the fact that it is never close enough for a decent shot, even a digiscoped shot.
The highlight of the trip was when a birder told us they had seen a Rough-legged Hawk a few minutes ago. My interest in the snowy quickly diminished as I started scanning the skies for this magnificent hawk. It didn't take us long to find it as it was hover-hunting and then suddenly dropped to the ground with such a force that its body jerked a little upon landing. We decided to drive up to a closer location to see if I could get better pictures but the hawk was gone by then.
We were able to spot it again as it made its way to the tip top of a tree which was very interesting to observe with my own two eyes as a friend of mine told me to look out for this behavior in Rough-legged Hawks and sure enough he was right! ;-)
The dark morph Rough-legged decided to take off which allowed me my first real good look at it from above and I was far from disappointed in what I saw! Sigh, such a magnificent bird and my new favorite bird for the month of January! I could watch it all day if allowed.
Another picture of it going away to my dismay!
But that's not all folks! We were with a bunch of other birders looking out at the sea looking for sea ducks when my head decided to scan the skies near the tree line hoping I could get one more look at the Rough-legged and low and behold it flew on past and landed in a tree. The thing was that yes this was a RL hawk, but not the dark morph we had seen earlier but a light morph which was very cool to see as it really showed you the differences between the two. Highlight of my day for certain!

Take care all. I realize my blogging has been cut down some but it is winter and all and I have been distracted with life and other things. Hoping to get out tomorrow though as I have the day off. Take care all!

Birding on a Chilly Sunday

I did some birding Sunday morning with Alan in an attempt to increase my January numbers up some as I've been slacking this month thus far due to work, cold weather, etc, so it was nice to get out there despite the frigid air. We had some target birds in mind including the Common Goldeneye that was seen at the Irish Dam in Shrewsbury (no picture though). Next it was onto the Worcester Airport in search for Snow Buntings and Horned Larks. A very impressive flock of buntings were seen and were nice enough to stick around briefly for me for a record shot before venturing off somewhere out of view.
Not that many Horned Larks to speak of, but did manage to spot these two by themselves. No idea where the others ventured off to as the last time I was there I saw about a half dozen or so.
Next it was onto Winnaumusett to search for both the Northern Shrike and Rough-legged Hawk. Within a few minutes of being there, we did manage to get the Northern Shrike as it flew into a tree. A few minutes later we saw it go by again and this time with what appeared to be a mouse in its bill. Couldn't find it after that due to the fact most likely that it was eating its breakfast under heavy cover.
Sadly no Rough-legged Hawk which was a bummer as it was my primary target bird for the day but there's always next time! I did manage to get a shot of what appears to be bird tracks and a bird impression on the snow which I thought was pretty cool though!

Take care all!

40 Species so far for January

Just a quick post showing the species I have gotten this month thus far as I am participating in the January bird count along with other bloggers. Hoping to get the numbers up some this weekend but will only have Sunday to do so as Saturday I have non birding plans so it will be interesting to see how I do!

Will post again on Sunday as I am taking a mini-blogging break of sorts which I like doing occasionally when I get distracted by other things. :-) Take care all!

Canada Goose
Mute Swan
American Black Duck
Mallard
Hooded Merganser
Common Merganser
Great Blue Heron
Sharp-shinned Hawk
Cooper's Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
Peregrine Falcon
Ring-billed Gull
Great Black-backed Gull
Rock Pigeon
White-winged Dove
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Blue Jay
American Crow
Black-capped Chickadee
Tufted Titmouse
Red-breasted Nuthatch
White-breasted Nuthatch
Brown Creeper
Carolina Wren
Golden-crowned Kinglet
Eastern Bluebird
American Robin
Northern Mockingbird
European Starling
Cedar Waxwing
American Tree Sparrow
Song Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
Northern Cardinal
Red-winged Blackbird
House Finch
American Goldfinch
House Sparrow

Uxbridge CBC-January 2nd

I did the last of the CBC's yesterday, this time with Fran and Alan and this time the Uxbridge count. We started off early on slippery roads as the snow started falling before dawn which meant many layers and cold feet which is something I have gotten used to lately with all of the CBCs. We saw many of the regulars like the White-breasted Nuthatches shown above. The great thing about doing multiple CBC's is that it gives you the opportunity to observe trends between them all and one interesting thing with the nuthatches this time around is that they were not always necessarily in pairs of two like they were in most of the other counts. Funny how you could have 13 Black-capped Chickadees, 3 Tufted Titmice, 1 Downy Wookpecker, but always 2 White-breasted Nuthatches whenever you called out the birds with the chickadee tape.
We also got some birds we were hoping for like the Carolina Wren which was a site to behold and motivated you some to continue which was tough at times with the weather and what it was doing to your optics and wil. Loved getting the Carolina Wrens in the CBCs as it gave me the opportunity to hear many of their various calls (and boy are there a lot of them), that I am just learning.
And of course hundreds of Black-capped Chickadees like the one above. The chickadee is always the leader of the pack and wherever they go, the others follow and its always so cheerful that one can't help but smile when you see one land on a branch with the others not far behind.
A big highlight of our day was seeing this Brown Creeper above which was very well camouflaged by the tree trunk. I could hear the call of some Golden-crowned Kinglets high up in the tree branches which were covered by snow, but I could also hear something that sounded like one, mid tree, and low and behold crept the creeper! We also had two Red-breasted Nuthatches here which was the highlight of the count. Their call is one of my favorites and I honestly didn't think I would hear it until spring. Awesome!
Another highlight was seeing a large flock of about 75 Red-winged Blackbirds that I spotted while using my binoculars to attempt to follow a Cooper's Hawk who flew below the tree line. I could see various blackbirds in a pine tree and couldn't tell what they were exactly but they looked too black to be European Starlings so Alan got his scope out and was able to confirm Red-winged Blackbirds. How cool is that!
And speaking of low visibility, an example above of the conditions. The picture is of a Red-tailed hawk perched in a tree.
We would see 4 of these hawks in total yesterday and based upon all of the numbers I have seen in all of the counts its obvious these numbers are not declining any and many are year round residents and not migrating. Of course these could be visitors from further up north, but I can't see the nesting Red-tailed Hawks tolerating that for long which leads me to believe they are year round but could be wrong. Kind of disappointed in the accipiter numbers and will be comparing their numbers to past CBC's once the numbers are loaded into the CBC site. Should be interesting to analyze.
We also had other large flocks like this large flock of Cedar Waxwings as well as large flocks of American Robins.
And I end the CBC series with some shots of winter, frozen in time like this Northern Cardinal who popped with color against the white landscape.
Bittersweet that will help many birds survive the winter.
Snow clinging to flowers from seasons past providing a different kind of foliage.
And rose hips covered in snow.

All in all, I really enjoyed all of the CBC's I did. I learned a lot about our winter birds and got to bird with some really cool people. It can't get much better than that and look forward to next year. Take care all!

New Years Day Birding-The Start of a New Decade

I did some birding today with my birding pal Alan and we both had a list of target birds we wanted to get with mine being the local Red-tailed Hawks that live around the Cross Street area of my town. I never did manage to make it over there, but it's just as well as I saw one at the local cemetery in one of its favorite perching places which is the flag pole shown above.
It flew off and we saw another one while headed to the Millbury Bike Path and am not sure if its the same one or not as both look a little different to me, but not sure if its the lighting or not, but I do notice the hawk above has a lot of white around its face and less reddish undertones on the belly which may be due to how it is positioned as well as lighting, but I did take it as a good sign to get one of my first target birds in an hour of venturing out!
We went to the Millbury Bike Path where we saw a Belted Kingfisher, a Great Black-backed Gull and the usual Black Ducks (above), Mallards and Hooded Mergansers. We never did see the Northern Pintail which was a disappointment and am hoping its still in the area.
Next it was onto the Bird Store and More in Sturbridge for the White-winged Dove and the usuals were there as well including this very handsome Northern Cardinal above.
And quite a few sparrows including the usual White-throated Sparrows.
As well as an American Tree Sparrow who was having out with the many White-throats as well as some Dark-eyed Juncos.
And this very handsome Red-bellied Woodpecker as you can see. Such a gorgeous bird.
And the whole reason for the journey to Sturbridge of course which was the White-winged Dove. Could only get a record shot as there was a well known local photographer there who was in the zone getting pictures of it and we didn't want to be the ones to make it fly away of course!
After that we met up with the Forbush Bird Club where Joan led a trip within the greater Worcester area including Worcester Airport to look for Horned Larks and Snow Buntings and neither species was found, but this Red-tailed was there striking a pose for me as I took its picture from the car window.
After that is was onto Notre Dame Cemetery hoping for more waterbirds and there wasn't much there as a lot of the water is frozen but there were dozens of Canada Geese flying by and landing on whatever water was unfrozen.
We also had our first Eastern Bluebirds there which was a real treat.

And what would any new year be without a sighting of the Peregrine Falcons which are my favorite birds of all. Lousy shot of the two of them on the towers next to their nesting box. Can't wait to get back to work just to see them again. So happy they are safe and sound as I haven't seen them in over a week so was getting a little worried but as usual they managed just fine without me. :-p
Another treat were the large group of American Robins taking advantage of a crab apple tree. I also saw my first Northern Mockingbird there for the year.

And so begins the start to a new year and even more exciting a new decade. Now I have never been good with New Years Resolutions so I don't make them as I usually fail so don't set myself up for failure, but I am making a promise to myself to get out there a little more and see the world. This past decade was a decade of transition for me with too much to talk about in a blog post but let's just say I have done a lot of growing up over the past 10 years or so and know myself more now than I ever did. This decade will be spent doing things I have often thought of doing but never did as I tend to stay in my comfort zone. This will be the decade in which I break out of that somewhat with my goals of getting to Cape May this year and perhaps the Texas Birding Festival if I can manage my vacation time a little. Nothing better than a start of a new decade for new possibilities!

Take care all!