This & That-April

I have been doing some birding here and there with a lot of it being "birding by ear" during my morning trail runs. I get out there just before dawn and the trails are alive with bird song and some of the songs are ones I didn't hear last year while running because I picked up running the trails late last June well after spring migration so this is a whole new experience for me and one I welcome because it is still so dark outside it forces you to totally concentrate on the bird song around you vs. getting looks at them which in my opinion is one of the best ways to become a better birder because you have more range with your ears than your eyes so the better you know the songs and calls of certain birds, the better your chances are of identifying more.

Anyhow, I got out bright and early and wanted to try a new place because I really want to get some owls while out there so am going to places where there is some potential. I would hit a trail I discovered this past winter and one of the first bird songs I would hear would be that of a Hermit Thrush. Common sense would be put on the back burner as I made my way through the woods in the dark with just my head lamp using my ears as my guide to the bird. I would get close enough for video but it was far too dark outside so I went on my way and just as the sun started to shine above the hill, I would hear a peenting American Woodcock mixed in with Eastern Towhees, American Robins and Field Sparrows. A wonderful experience and one I am looking forward to developing more as migration starts to take fold. And seriously talk about multi tasking. Getting your exercise and birding at the same time, you can't beat that!

Anyhow, I emailed Alan to let him know the location of the thrush and wouldn't you know not only does he hear it, but the darn bird was on the ground posing nicely for him so he could get a good look. I would read this while stuck at work so wouldn't be able to get out there again until this evening when I would go back there hoping for an Eastern Screech-owl which I would never get, but I did get to finally see the Hermit Thrush above. First of the year bird for me and a welcome sound as one of the most magical sounds in the woods in summer is the sound of the thrushes I think.
I have been getting further use of my binoculars at work lately as I have gotten some pretty cool things last fall during migration so figured it can't hurt to sneak peeks here and there. I would be sneaking a peek at the right time today as one of the Peregrine Falcons decided to fly by my window for a little late afternoon snack (probably to share w/ the nesting misses no doubt! ;-)).
The Rock Pigeons were in a state of panic as the Peregrine played a little game of chase with a few of them.
Love this shot as it really shows the fanned tail and how it makes the Peregrine look small and the fact that the wings are projecting downward which is something you don't see that often. It doesn't take away from the overall pointed wings though.

Now here is the classic Peregrine profile with the long tail and pointed wings. This is just to show you some of the mental anguish I endure when the Peregrine is hunting outside of my office window, this is what it looks like from my office view. There he is going past, as I hold my breath hoping he is using those super sharp eyes of his so he doesn't crash into the many windows on our building.

I did some birding w/ Alan last evening as we are both on the hunt for our elusive Screech Owl (all though we just started trying this week). Anyhow, we made a stop at Gate 40 and I would hear bird song from above and see the birds above that I thought were Common Ravens at first due to how they sounded. Come to find out they are indeed American Crows but they were doing their rattle or comb call while in the air which messed me up as I hadn't heard that one since last year!
And check out this crazy shot of one and how the sun is reflecting on the wing.
We would be scanning that waters and were lucky enough to get our first Red-necked Grebe of the year in Worcester County that Alan spotted. There were two of them and you could see one just coming into breeding plumage with some red just starting to appear on its neck. What was cool about this was being able to distinguish it from the Horned Grebe due to bill size. Something I am still learning as birding the waters for long range birds via the scope is still really new to me, but I could definitely see the difference in bill size in this instance which is pretty darn cool! We wold also see the very handsome Common Loon already in his breeding plumage as you can see above.
We would make our way to another gate hoping for a screech owl. The sun would just start to set as a Towhee called and American Robins bickered amongst themselves as they were just settling in for a good nights sleep. We would hear one lone American Woodcock peenting and then take to the air. He wasn't going to display in this area so his flight wasn't as high as he literally went past us just a little above eye level which gave me the best look yet of this bird.
We would never get a screech owl here either, but it is still a perfect way to spend an evening as I am totally loving birding in the dark now. :-p This Eastern Towhee would roost for the night nearby which allowed me a chance to get a photo despite lack of light.

Take care all

Monk Parakeets-East Boston & Misc

I decided to join Alan today in his quest for the Monk Parakeets in East Boston today as it would be a life bird for the both of us and plus also thought it would be nice to "twitch" for a bird outside of Worcester County which is something I hadn't done since the Scissor-tailed Flycatcher in Orange last year. When we arrived the skies would be gray as a cold rain somewhat dampened our spirits but not for long as we would soon find the nest and it wasn't exactly hard to miss.
As you can see in the picture above. The parakeet would be inside of the nest tidying up so we assumed at first it was done with the nest building process but we would soon find out we were mistaken.
As it would loudly announce its departure with a very loud "chape yee" call that would echo through the park as this fairly good sized and colorful bird would make its way to the willow tree for more material.
Where I stood waiting as we had picked up on its behavioral pattern and I wanted a picture of it during its nest building process.
And a close up of this magnificent bird.
It would grab a few twigs and then fly back to the nest to add to its already enormous size. The funny thing was that there would be a few folks walking in the park and except for one guy, no once noticed or paid much attention to the bird. Now I know most people are not into birding and we are a special bunch, but a bird as obvious as a parakeet and not being noticed totally blows me away seriously. Heck, even a non birder should notice a bird as big and colorful as this one, wouldn't you think?? :-p
There would be a few other birds around including two Northern Mockingbirds who would be directly across the street. I couldn't help but wonder if they live nearby the parakeets and whether or not one of them will add the call of the Monk Parakeet to their song vocabulary. If so, I would love to hear it as the call of the parakeet is unique to say the least!
After that we decided to try our luck at the SuAsCo Reservoir in Westborough for the reported Caspian Tern, knowing very well it would not be there, but it would be the perfect excuse to go back to what has become one of my favorite places to bird lately. There are some really thick and birdy shrubs at the beginning on one of the trails that I wanted to show Alan as he had never been here before and low and behold we could hear some noise coming from deep within the shrubs so we did some pishing and who would come out and immediately belt into song, but the Brown Thrasher I met for the 1st time last week.
The sun would peek out briefly which would allow me my first halfway decent photo of the thrasher this year.
I would also show Alan the area where there are normally quite a few warblers and a place where I got my best look at a Yellow-throated Vireo last year, but the only thing we would see would be the regular backyard birds including this very busy Black-capped Chickadee who appears to be in the ending stages of some serious nest building. Does anyone see a pattern here!
As we were leaving I could hear a call above that sounded somewhat familiar to me as I had heard it for the 1st time recently and it would be that of an Osprey so we watched it for a while. It would never get real close and was at a distance I am used to seeing them at while hawkwatching, but they would do something that I had never really noticed before until now, which is change their body in flight and what that would do was totally reshape the body and how the bird would look in your binoculars. What was so cool about it is I could clearly see in through my optics and was taken aback at how different a raptor can look by doing something as simple as adjusting a wing or bringing them forward as if to glide. Geeky I know, but hey, I'm a geek! ;-)
I would end the day with a nice long walk in the woods near my home after I went home for lunch. Wouldn't you know the sky appears to be opening up some and it would chose to do so on a Sunday evening after my weekend would be over with!

Take care all

Birding at Bolton Flats & Other Places

Another gloomy day, you know, the kind of day where one tends to sleep in late to wake up and enjoy a leisurely breakfast and a hot cup of coffee while reading the morning paper. That is unless you're a birder during the month of April when new things appear just about daily lately, and the only way you can keep up is to get out there rain or shine so that's exactly what Alan and I did this morning. Since it was rather gloomy outside, we didn't hold out much hope for passerines but instead chose to go to Bolton Flats to look for ducks with the Northern Shoveler being at the top of the preferred list.

We made our way carefully and quietly to the north side, to only have a huge flock of ducks (mostly Green-winged Teal), take the the air in panic as we had been discovered yet again! We would take out our scopes and scan the waters which was challenging in itself with the fog and drizzle which is unforgiving to the optics as many of you are aware. Finally, Alan would spot a bird of interest and try and zoom in on it, only to have a set of two fly on over to the south side of the flats. We packed up our scopes and were making our way to the south side, when Alan hears a Blue-gray Gnatcather high up in a tree so we are both looking above trying to locate it. As we are looking up I am convinced I hear the call of a Virginia Rail but then it doesn't call again so we assume it must have been a Red-winged Blackbird or something as we walk back to the car as the gnatcatcher appeared to have taken off as well.

We go onto the South side to see nothing (the Snow Goose is still there though), so decide to hit the north side at a different angle and again nothing, so off we go toward the general store for some coffee and what do we see on the South side away from the parking lot, but the darn Northern Shovelers and in really good view from the car in the middle of the very busy road!! We back up into a parking place and make our way past the guard rail on foot and in the mud, as route 117 can be rather dangerous and as we make our way closer, off they go again onto the north side! So what do we do? Why we get back in the car and follow them again of course!

The only thing is, they are not there..... We scan the waters for a couple of minutes and start making our way back when suddenly we both hear the call of the Virginia Rail this time. We can tell by the call that it's fairly close so Alan takes out his IPod and plays the call for a few seconds and it doesn't take long for the bird to respond.
And as you can see by its facial expressions it is not at all happy with a new guy coming onto his turf and is going to make everyone at Bolton Flats very aware of it!
We stop the IPod after a few seconds to not tick him off anymore and he decides to stick around for a while which gave us a really good look at him. We would also see another one in some thick vegetation that peeked its head out long enough for us to count it. We would also finally see the Blue-gray Gnatcatcher and Ruby-crowned Kinglet in this same location so it's just as well that the shovelers led us on this wild goose chase!
Our hands would be raw at this point so we went off to the general store for one of their nifty coffees and while we were drinking them, we would see a flock of 5 Cedar Waxwings directly above us in a crab apple tree eating last years leftovers. Soon enough some House Sparrows decided to join in too and then another visitor.
Which would be the Northern Mockingbird above. So there you have it all, and this is how a birder spends their time on a rainy Saturday-stalking a pair of ducks as if an episode of Dragnet and staring at birds in a tree outside of a general store while drinking a cup of Joe. We birders are a unique group of people that's for sure, but I wouldn't have it any other way ;-).
After that it was time to head home but the skies appeared to have lifted some so I decided to venture off on my own after lunch and went to the Assebet Conservation area for some light birding and just some hiking in the woods as I sometimes find it very relaxing to walk in the woods in the rain. As soon as I got out of my car, I would hear the familiar one note call of the White-throated Sparrows and would be treated to a gorgeous male who would be at eye level to me and was kind enough to remain that way while I got a couple of photos like the one above.
There would also be a few warblers like theYell0w-rumped above who decided to engage me in a game of peek-a-boo for a few minutes as it went along the tree path and I followed, only to have it tease me on occasion with a peek here and there.
The Palm Warbler on the other hand continues to be a regular ham for the camera.
And would even be so bold to allow me a couple of photos while it preened and tried to shake off some of the rain.
The warblers would be part of a flock of woodland birds that were all following each other and in this flock would be a couple of Downy Woodpeckers just like always.
I would finally leave the flock to head off on my own where I would see a Blue Jay who was as quiet as a mouse on a tree adding material to a nest. I take out my camera to get a photo and get spotted and off it flies into some bushes. I back up for a moment to give it its space and hoping it will come back so I can get a photo of it, but it was onto my game and wanted no part of it.

On another note, I decided to do my morning run in Grafton this morning right before sunrise in an area where Great Horned Owls are known to be so I was hoping I would hear them. No sooner would I get to a slow jog, would I hear one on one side of the road doing it's "Who's awake, me too......Immediately after that would be another Great Horned across the street responding with a two hoot call. I stopped running at this point and just kept walking toward the sound of the owl as daylight was just starting to appear so I was hoping I could get a look at it. I make my way on top of a hill as one flies above my head and over to the other side of the street to be with its mate. This is most likely the pair that just experienced a recent nest failure so find it rather interesting that they are doing their territorial hooting and not sure if this is normal after a nest failure or not.

Take care all.

Stop & Shop or Rather Stop & Bird

Well I finally put off the inevitable and did my weekly dreaded chore of grocery shopping and decided to motivate myself a little more by switching grocery stores. I am usually an avid Price Chopper shopper, not really for their prices or vast selection, but more so because they are directly across from the water treatment plant which is a favorite hang out of the Ring-billed Gulls so it's always a treat to look at them from the Price Chopper parking lot, hoping for some tagged gulls and aging the others while perched on top of the light posts. :-p. Anyhow, there will be no more of that for the time being and have decided to head to Stop & Shop in Grafton from here on out because I have to drive by St Philips which is the perfect reward after the stressful decisions at the grocery store like whether or not I should buy Macintosh or Granny Smith apples this week.

I would do the same as I do every time I enter there, which is to roll down all windows and listen to bird songs to see if I can pick up anything interesting while driving in, before getting out of my car so not to scare them. I would hear only a couple of American Robins this evening which I thought was strange given it was two hours or so before sun set and usually the place is alive with song. While driving to my usual parking place I would see a Cooper's Hawk nearby, having a little din-din. I slowly got out of my car and took some pictures and watched it for a while. The hawk actually appeared to be done with its meal and was just relaxing some to aide in digestion I assume! After about 10 minutes or so, the hawk finally left which gave me the opportunity to go see what it had gotten.
Not 100% certain what it is, but willing to wage some bets on a Northern Flicker.
It appears as if the love triangle between the three flickers of last week has come to an abrupt end as nature has determined its fate. I would not hear the familiar flicKa, flicKa, flicKa call I have grown so accustomed to as I did a quick scan of the wetlands before returning home to put away groceries.
But the opposite of death is life and with life comes new beginnings which was evidenced in quite a few places at the cemetery. I would see the Great-blue Heron at the nest site from two years ago sitting on her nest.
The male would be down below crouched down low and in its usual somber mood. It will be interesting to see if they nest here this year as last year I watched their courtship display of building the nest, to only see them abandon it afterwards. Whatever the outcome, I hope they build upon it to make it nice and sturdy for any other birds who may find it appealing as it has seen better days as many of us know.
The Great-blues are not the only ones attending to nests as you can see in photo above. The Mute Swans appear to be attempting to nest here this year too which is a first. Late in the summer last year we had two Mute Swans arrive but never nest so I am not sure if its the same or not. What I can tell you is it was very apparent that the female was on eggs as the male spent his entire time bullying one lone Canada Goose who was just as stubborn as the swan. The swan would give chase to the goose only to have the goose fly forward just a tad and then continue with its business. I would see no Wood Ducks or other waterfowl here this evening which is unusual and am not sure if it has anything to do with the new watch dog of the wetlands of St Philips.

Take care all.

Evening Birding-Sutton & Grafton

I decided to delay grocery shopping another day and instead head out to do some birding. I figured I would try Purgatory Chasm again and hiked about 3 miles of it which was wonderful because there were not half as many people there as this past weekend so it was nice and peaceful. One of the 1st birds I would hear were the many Blue-headed Vireo's that were scattered throughout Charlie's Trail in which I counted 4 in total. I would attempt to take pictures of the 1st one but then gave up after a while because while the bird would be kind enough to hop down briefly for a look at it w/ my binoculars, it was in no mood for pictures and given it was going to be evening soon, I figured it would be best to move on to get the most of the little daylight hours that would remain. I would also hear the familiar call of a Red-breasted Nuthatch which was nice because I hadn't heard one of those since the Uxbridge Christmas Bird Count.

The Pine Warblers would be everywhere and one of the nicest things about birding Purgatory is that some of the trails are almost the same elevation as the higher tree branches which means you can actually see these warblers which is saying a lot because the Pine Warbler is not one who likes to venture down low. While the picture above isn't great, I was happy with the fact that I would actually get a photo of it's body this time as opposed to its butt which has been the norm this year with this particular warbler. Another plus would be seeing my 1st female Pine Warbler and actually being able to identify it! She was not making a peep but I would see movement in a pine tree and low and behold there she was. It just goes to show that studying those field guides definitely pays off (allthough I do have to admit it wasn't that hard as there are not that many warblers to chose from this time of the year).
After that I decided to head to St Philips and I would be welcomed by both a Brown Thrasher and Northern Mockingbird in the midst of what appeared to be a singing competition. Both were belting out their songs and not getting a breath in edge wise and were so loud they would drown out all of the American Robins, Red-winged Blackbirds and other birds combined. So funny to see and hear!
As you can see in the photo above he is really belting out those tunes!!
Another highlight would be seeing my 1st Barn Swallow of the year. It would be by itself in the midst of over 20 Tree Swallows who were all away from the wetlands and actually hawking for insects I was very impressed in being able to get a fairly clear shot of the bird with my first shot as these birds can be quicker than the Tree Swallow and that's saying a lot!
All in all, a much better way to spend an evening vs the grocery store. Besides who needs kitchen staples when you can have take out pizza! ;-)

Take care all.

Brierly Pond-Another FOY Bird

I did a little bit of birding after work today with my first stop being St Philips because I really like to check this place a few times a week because you can get some really good birds here during migration. The Palm Warblers are still around and one was actually nice enough to finally sit still for a moment so I could get my 1st halfway decent picture of one.
There would also be one on the ground who would give me the "hairy eyeball". I am guessing it took one look at me and thought "oh no, not you again".
And a back shot too to show the length and shape of the tail as well as the lovely plumage on the back end.
I wouldn't stay at St Philips long as nothing new showed up, but did think it was interesting to see this Red-winged Blackbird on the ground and eating something within this pine cone.
I have a few birds on my target list this week with one of them being the Ruby-crowned Kinglet and figured Brierly would be my best shot of getting one, so off I went. I decided to go to the area that is very birdy for warblers and low and behold there were some Black-capped Chickadees nearby which I always take as a good sign because kinglets are one of the groups of birds who like to hang out with chickadees so I did some pishing and could see a bird pop into view long enough for me to put my binoculars on it for ID. I would do some soft pishing again and the Ruby-crowned Kinglet would appear yet again for one lousy shot before going back into hiding. On another note, I would be walking on another path and would hear one call, but it was fairly close by so not sure if it was the same one. I had never heard their call before (or at least noticed it before) and it was very interesting. Almost scolding and wren like.

Take care all