Turbo Time Birding!

Sunday was day number two of the official start of fall migration birding and this time it would be fueled with Turbo!  You see, I've cut back considerably on my coffee intake the past few months and I'd be feeling it Saturday while birding because I couldn't keep up with the very active passerines.  In fact, I'd be discussing this with Alan and Donna at that hawk watch site and be reminded that in order to keep up with the warblers one has to have the same behavior of a warbler which means hyper active and Turbo's just the thing to do it!

So off Alan and I went to Barre with the first stop being the Barre Landfill for nothing in particular of course, not even the Black Vultures who wouldn't be there.  We decided to go to the local powerlines nearby as the sun would be out our which would mean insect's would be out which would mean warblers would be out and we'd hear them as soon as we got out of the car!  We'd make our way along the path and it wouldn't take long for my Turbo fueled ears to hear what was once again very reminiscent of a Philadelphia Vireo.  We'd make our way closer to where we heard it coming from and make quite a few stops along the way as bird activity was heavy.  After a while the vireo stopped singing and then another would take its place, but this one had a sweeter sounding voice and a scold call which would only mean Blue-headed Vireo of course!

Luckily this vireo is easily pishable and it would come out to allow both Alan and I a decent view as well as a record shot.

While we had a lot of different warblers including  Magnolia, Northern Parula, Blackpoll, Yellow-rumped, Black-and-white, Common Yellowthroat and Chestnut-sided, the Black-throated Green Warblers would be the most numerous and we'd be thrilled to see them actually dive bombing and hunting for insects which is something I'd never seen before so it was a treat to witness.

And what would fall warbler birding be without fall warblers of course!!  Anyone wanna guess what this one is?

Why it's an immature Chestnut-sided Warbler of course!! (I believe female).  Notice the yellowish wash on its crown as well as around the wings and that beautiful white eye ring you don't see much in a breeding Chestnut-sided but it pops out now!

Sure enough we'd hear what we thought was the Philadelphia Vireo so do more pishing which would make birds pop out from nowhere.  Alan and I would both see a bird come into view and we'd both be thrilled to finally get the Philadelphia Vireo would would be a life bird for me.  I'd never bother to get out my camera as I was transfixed seeing it through the binoculars and by the time I thought of taking its picture it would go back into hiding.  While the vireo was more drab than bright, you could still clearly make out the dark lores and yellowish wash including the throat which was a treat to see.  It would also re confirm what my ears told me in the first place which was nice considering this is a bird I'd never heard with my own two ears before but rather recordings.


Philadelphia Vireo above.  Notice it sounds like a Red-eyed Vireo on helium (at least to me), and that's what my ears would tell me this morning as well!

Red-eyed Vireo for comparison


So needless to say it was a very productive birding stop and just goes to prove my theory that I need to be turbo charged for both spring and fall migration in order to keep up with the birds so lesson learned!  ;-)

We'd make another quick stop back to the Barre Landfill and sure enough the vultures had yet to lift off so we got out of the car to search for a Black and sure enough it would be epic fail yet again!!!  The Turkey Vultures would soon all lift off at once and the sky would be littered with them.  The picture above doesn't give it justice but rather a general idea of what it was like.  Notice the white speck in the photo which is a flight feather coming from a molting adult and we'd see a lot of this too!

After that it was off to Prison Camp Road in Rutland in hopes for more warblers and other birds.

The wind would start to pick up some and bird sound would be non existent but we still held out hopes for pockets here and there so started to walk some of the paths.

The place is rather popular and we'd see families on bikes, runners, dog walkers and horses including Captain above who was a rescue and very spoiled as the other horses were eating grass on the ground but Captain had his own stash of hay for snacking as well as the fanciest pair of horse shoes I've ever seen and they almost reminded me of my Vibrams!!!

We'd make our way to a nice spot and look around and it wouldn't take long for both Alan and I to spot a raptor coming out of nowhere and close to the ground in hunting mode so I shouted to Alan that I think it was my long awaited Northern Harrier!  After a couple of seconds it was apparent it was no harrier so both of us were talking aloud ruling out others as well including Red-tailed Hawk, Red-shouldered and all the smaller raptors obviously as the bird was rather large.  The bird would land across the pond and Alan wouldn't have his scope so all we were getting were very distant looks of a far away bird with no coloring or field marks that stood out except it was a large raptor with a long, tubular like body and longish tail.  Alan would run back to the car and tell me to stay on the bird as he went for his scope which I did.  Despite the distance I decided to take my eyes off of the bird for a moment and get my camera out in hopes for a record shot despite the long distance between me and the bird.

And these are the lousy pictures I could manage considering the distance!

And another.

Of course the bird would take off as I heard Alan's truck coming toward me with the scope in tow!  We'd be in chaos mode at this point as I tried to relocate it and Alan set up his scope.  Country music would be coming from someone's car nearby and their two dogs would be headed my way again as I befriended them shortly before and they took a liking to me but I was in no mood for dogs but rather that bird!  Despite trying we wouldn't see it again so we'd walk a little further to get a different view of the landscape we last saw the raptor.  We'd get to a bridge and I'd see a hawk high in the sky and yell to Alan to get his bins on it.  We'd get it and the bird would be a Red-tailed Hawk but suddenly out of nowhere we'd get another buteo in the same field of view but higher in the sky and that bird would turn out to be a Broad-winged Hawk!!  Then out of nowhere another smaller raptor would appear and start dive bombing the Broad-winged so I yelled to Alan to make sure he was on it as well in hopes it would be his Merlin!!!  Of course at this point the little buggers got hidden by tree cover as we're trying to relocate it and after a while a Sharpie would pop out but closer this time so I'm guessing the dive bomber was the sharpie, but it would all happen so quick it was hard to make that judgement in the quick time we saw it with raptors popping out of everywhere.  It would be then we'd hear the call of a Red-shouldered Hawk coming from a tree which would get me all excited again as I need the bird for the year so we'd continue along our way and looking for the original raptor we saw as well as the Red-shouldered!

The Turbo had kicked in and I'd be all over the place trying to re locate the Red-shouldered either by ear or eye as both Alan and I looked around hoping to see the original raptor in question as well as my beloved Red-shouldered and it wouldn't take long to hear it calling again but this time high in the sky where I'd spot it in a glide.  The sky would be all blue but I would pick up that it was a buteo who was lankier than a Red-tailed and bigger than a Broad-winged and could see those hunched shoulders but could never get a good look at its field marks as it soon went into tree cover.  Oh well, not the best looks I've ever gotten of this beautiful bird but I'll take it!

I'd get home and look at my mystery raptor pictures hoping they'd shed more light on what the bird was and exchange emals with Alan while looking at my various field guides as there would be a couple of pictures that made this bird look like a juvenile Golden Eagle (white in the tail) and when it was flying low I'd notice some white around the birds wing tips and I'd remark on it to Alan while observing it and both are field marks of this eagle. We'd want another set of eyes on the pictures and turned to the raptor guru himself (aka Bart!).  Bart would dismiss the Golden Eagle and even be kind enough to give us the reasons.

Reasons:

1. The bird is too slim for an eagle

2. The body is too light colored for Golden Eagle

3. He doesn't think the branch the bird is sitting on would support and eagle.

4. Habitat is not ideal for Golden Eagle

5. Very early, but possible

For those of you who have birded with Bart you know it's always a treat as he not only knows his birds but enjoys sharing knowledge as well and both Alan and I did notice 1 and 2 and dismissed 3 or 4 considering its migration so birds show up at odd places but it would be number 3 that would leave me in awe in how Bart thinks as I would never have thought of that and he's absolutely right!  He'd then ask us if we considered Northern Goshawk and Alan did mention that during the chaos and after re discussing what we both saw via emails and looking at the pictures again we both believe it is indeed a juvenile Northern Goshawk and most likely the one that was seen by Mark and Sheila the day prior!

So there you have it folks!  Another productive day of birding, and especially raptors....I still need by Harrier though but I'm not complaining as Red-shouldered and Goshawks are not always a guarantee!

ETA:  I'd spend some time during my lunch hour at work on Monday doing more research on juvenile Northern Goshawks considering the only one's I've ever seen have been adults and they'd be flying overhead so would once again replay what it was I saw in the short time it was flying and since it was flying low, it allowed me a view of a hawk I don't see that often (except with Northern Harriers).  I'd see this picture which I thought was a nice representation of what I saw, especially the white at the wing tips which I noticed immediately as the bird is rather drab so the white stood out.

Which you will see in the photo above.  Source:  The Photo Naturalist.  Check out the blog entry and the success the blogger has with his plastic owl!  Makes me think I need to drag mine out sometime as it's on my nightstand in my bedroom for decoration but now think it has more potential outside!  ;-)

I'd also see something else that caught my eye on the Riff Raff Hawk Watch Facebook Page from Richard Crossley himself and the remark on the large size, small head and broad inner wings really caught my eye as it was something I'd noticed while in flight and the lousy record shots I got showed the birds small head which  looked out of proportion to the rest of its body.

So all in all a great experience and I learned something new which is always welcome!

Take care all.

My Official Kickoff to Fall Migration!

Today would be my official start of fall migration which means I try and get out to bird as often as possible and other things go on the back burner like cooking, household chores, etc as birding takes priority so my house is stocked with sandwich meat, bagels etc and I told my youngest not to expect a home cooked meal from me until the end of October if he's lucky. ;-).  Anyhow, Alan and I started off at Gate 35 of Wachusett Reservoir in hopes for the American Pipit's and sure enough they wouldn't disappoint as you can see in the photo above.

Tanking some time to preen!

The wind blown look which I can appreciate with my unruly hair, especially under windy conditions!

Nice shot as it shows off how slender this bird is as well as its long, shapely legs!

After that it was off to Bolton Flats to do what I still think is the most difficult form of birding for me which is fall warbler birding (at least that's what we hoped for).  We'd hear chip notes coming from all direction and stop to do some pishing but the birds were being their hyper warbler selves and wouldn't sit still for long and when they did they'd be back lit so it was hard to keep up with it all.  We did get fabulous looks of a Magnolia Warbler which is still a stunning bird even in faded plumage.  There'd also be scores of Swamp Sparrows, a couple of Song Sparrows and a bird that sounded an awful lot like a Philadelphia Vireo to me but wouldn't you know we'd never find if for confirmation which would drive me crazy the rest of our time there!

We'd continue along our way and it wouldn't take long to hear a Virginia Rail and see MANY American Pipits.  One thing we'd notice is that passerine activity had quieted down some and it wouldn't take long to see why.

As we'd first see this American Kestrel and shortly after that a Cooper's Hawk and both appeared to be in hunting mode.

Taking a break for a bit while a Northern Flicker harassed it.

It also appears as if they plowed all the corn as you can see in the photo above which is probably why the Pipit's are everywhere!

After that it was off to Bolton Orchards for  "pit stop" and to grab a bite to eat for lunch.  The whole store smelled like freshly baked donuts which is one of my biggest weaknesses but I resisted temptation considering I have many other temptations and have been over indulging a tad lately so trying to keep it under control whenever possible.   We'd make one other stop at a place Bart says he's had a close by Sora before (didn't get one), but we decided to venture a little further out and see the canoe launch to get you into Bolton Flats (think kayak next year people!!).

We'd then head out to Barre Falls to spend the rest of the day hawk watching with Donna, Bart, Dave and all of the others.

Bart in his usual place discussing recent bird finds with Alan (wouldn't you know he got both a Lincoln's Sparrow and Palm Warbler at Sterling Peat today, and both birds I need this year!).  Grrrrrrrrr.......  ;-)

The Barre Falls Hawk Watching Posse!

But soon enough things would start to pick up and get a fairly close American Kestrel, a lone Osprey and a few Broad-winged Hawks here and there with a couple of Sharpies thrown in for good measure.

After lunch Bill would find a kettle of Broad-winged Hawks and Bart would find another and it wouldn't take long for them to join forces much to our delight.  The only problem was the kettle was in an all blue sky!  I tried my hardest to get a picture of it and by the time I did, I'd lose the birds in the blue sky so after re finding it with the help of Don, this is all I could muster.

Yes those black specs you see in the photo are actual Broad-winged Hawks and I had to play with the color a little just so you could see them!  Despite the all blue sky it was still a treat to see and we'd have other kettles such as this through out the day.

So all in all a great way to spend the first day of my official fall migration kickoff.  It was great to see the Pipit's and do some hawk watching and see people I don't see much often.  I'm really hoping the cold temps we get tonight gets the birds moving as I'm still thinking of that Philadelphia Vireo of course!

Take care all.

Red-breasted Nuthatch Irruption Part Deux

After seeing all of the Red-breasted Nuthatches and Red Crossbills at Coldbrook Road this past weekend, I figured it was time to do more data crunching courtesy of eBird to see how our little feathered friends were doing numbers wise since the last time I checked.

So let's start by looking at an updated chart for Red-breasted Nuthatches for the entire state of Massachusetts by frequency (% of total checklists where Red-breasted Nuthatches are included).

And as you can see the number has increased dramatically with close to a third of all checklists in the state including the nuthatch for the week ending 9/8 (note the large drop for 9/8 as those numbers are not updated yet).

And now for total Red-breasted Nuthatches where we broke over 1,000 sightings during the first week of September.

The next chart shows Worcester County Frequency and while the chart is all over the place, you will see 2012 starting to climb above all years during the week ending 8/15 and continues to climb with a frequency of close to 37% of all checklists for the week ending 9/8/12.

And here are totals for Worcester County which you will see is not as noisy, but the numbers started to jump during the same time frame with close to 75 Red-breasted Nuthatches for the week ending 9/1/12.

Seeing these impressive numbers I decided to look at Worcester Counties highest count in one day.

Which would go to Tom in 1993 (Athol Christmas Bird Count?), with a total of 78 so it will be interesting to see what we are getting numbers wise for our CBC's this year and as we all know Red-breasted Nuthatches are welcome birds to get for this event!

The other bird that has a potential for irruption this year are the Red Crossbills and many of us in Worcester County have been fortunate enough to see this bird the past couple of weeks so I decided to look at that in more detail as well.

The date above is Worcester County frequency and as you can see there's not much to see!  ;-).  I'm guessing the charts will start to make more sense as the month of September progresses but it's still telling when you see that 2012 is the only year that shows any numbers of Red Crossbills for the last week of August and first week of September.

And now for totals which is probably very misleading considering many birders had their crossbills at Coldbrook Road and entered them into eBird so there's probably a lot of dupes in that number.

And the final look at Red Crossbills by average count which makes more sense and as you can see 2012 is all by itself for the last week of August and ending the first week of September.

With our highest count of this bird reported by Kevin just this past week.

And finally some maps for the past three years with the first one showing total Red-breasted Nuthatches for most of New England for the past three years with the red markers being reported the past month.  If this doesn't tell you we are experiencing an irruption nothing will!!

And now for the Red Crossbills and while they are not nearly as impressive, you will note that most of the markers are only red which means most of the sightings of these birds were reported in the past month!

So there you have it folks!  While I'm very excited to see these birds venturing further south than they usually do, I have to admit it has me worried because it's most likely due to crop failure further north which can have a severe impact on our feathered friends and hoping they find food wherever they venture to.  It will be interesting to see if other birds decide to join the Red-breasted Nuthatches and Red Crossbills and am looking forward to the Boreal Bird Forecast scheduled to come out this fall.

Take care all.

Operation Black Vulture-Epic Fail!!

After striking out again on the Black Vultures in Millbury Sunday morning, I felt defeated (despite picking up 3 FOY's including 2 lifers the 3 days prior), do decided to head home and chill in my fleece sweats as it was cool enough to do so and just curl up in bed with a book and spend the day doing nothing which I find hard to do sometimes.  So I cozied up with a cup of tea and decided to check out one of the issues of the Bird Observer Alan let me borrow to do some light, relaxing reading.  I'd see the first story was one by Mark where he gave an overview of how to bird the Worcester Airport which would bring back fond memories of the American Golden-Plover and Buff-breasted Sandpipers recently found and make me get up to check Rick's site to make sure there were no reportings of an Upland Sandpiper since last time I checked a half hour ago just to be on the safe side.

The next chapter immediately caught my attention as how could it not with a title "Invasion of the Berry Snatchers:  The Waxwing Irruption of 2007-2008.  This would be all about the year the Bohemian Waxwings were seen in vast numbers in many parts of Massachusetts and I'd be captivated reading it given my obsession (or rather interest) of boreal birds).  Suddenly relaxing in my sweats seemed unproductive and I'd toy with the idea of heading up to Barre for the Black Vultures but change my mind given my success thus far and it would be a long drive to strike out yet again and decided to take a nap instead

I'd wake up refreshed and realize reading about all of the "flock birding" made me yearn for my own flock birding for dozens of Turkey Vultures and a couple of Black Vultures thrown in for good measure so off I went!

I'd first head to the tree the Black Vultures are known to loaf around in and see the bird above who at quick glance made me think BV, but then realized I was most likely looking at a juve TV considering the bird was brown (not black) and didn't have the square tail the BV's are known for.

And since it's plumage was so new and lovely the bird decided to flash me so I could admire it some more!

It would still be quiet as I got there a little before 4:30 so decided to do some hawk watching and be very happy to see an accipiter cruising high in the sky.  After the quick look with the bins, I'd ID it as a Sharpie given they are migrating now and he was going fast so whipped out the camera in hopes for a record shot. I'd come home and this is what I'd see.  A rather long, lanky accipiter with a rounded tail, protruding head but with a definitive S curve to the wings.   Hmmmmmmmmm.......

So then I'd look at my next lousy shot where the tail looks more squared, the S curve less pronounced but the bulging head remains.  I'd stare at the photo more and knew the hawk looked tiny but it could be due to how high it was but based on what my camera tells me I'm leaning more with a Cooper's even though it never gave me that feeling when I saw it with the bins.   Or it could also be a male Cooper's and I'd kick myself for not giving it more time with the bins but what else is new.  So for the first time in 2 years I'll be putting it into eBird as Accipiter sp which drives me crazy as I hate it when I can't ID a hawk but it does keep me humble which is always a good thing!

And the next migrating bird I'd get would be an Osprey who was cruising right along but did do the honors of sticking around long enough for one of my infamous lousy hawk watch spec photos!

And what are hawk watch photos without the courtesy airplane photo like the one above that was in a cloud so I thought it was a bird at first (some things never change!)

But soon enough the vultures would start flying in so I stopped looking for hawks and started looking for vultures including the very handsome adult above.

Accompanied by this juvenile with that plumage again.  Fascinating to compare the two plumage wise with the molting adult and the crisp photos of the young Turkey Vulture.

Same juve to the left being flashed by an adult!

I would start getting overwhelmed at this point as I had a flock of 20 come in at the same time so was making sure I didn't have a BV and while I had my bins to the sky I could hear the heavy wing beats of vultures I missed closer by who would start landing on telephone poles and trees.

And here would be a juve again who I was convinced was following me as wherever I went it would appear (at least that's what I'd tell myself to keep me motivated considering It would be close to 6PM and no Black Vultures to speak of so had to think something to console myself!!)  Dare I say, so cute!!!!

And dare I say, so handsome!!

While I was very disappointed to not see any Black Vultures, the time that I had with the Turkey Vultures more than made up for it because I was there so long that after a while I could get right underneath them with my camera and they wouldn't fly off, but rather look at me curiously and with caution as I did the same.   Many people associate vultures with bad luck and death but after spending so much time with them I was reminded just how gentle and tame they are so it was quite the treat.

In the end I'd get roughly 36 Turkey Vultures which had me perplexed given numbers reported by others and the only thing I could think of was other kettles of vultures were taking their sweet old time getting back with the decent thermals and nice winds. I'd  throw in the towel at about 6:30 or so as the thought of leftover lasagna and a cold beer  were tempting considering I decided to wear my fleece sweat pants for my birding adventure and I was sweating something fierce and mighty thirsty!

So with that said it turned out to be an epic fail as far as getting my much wanted Black Vulture but I enjoyed myself none the less.  I've decided to stop hunting for this bird and will only stop at the landfill on days I'm headed toward Barre, for birding, hawk watching etc as I'm getting quite the complex and thinking I may have a better chance of getting one if I'm not actively searching.  Kind of like how the Bohemian Waxwings were described in the Bird Observer by Mark Lynch "The Bohemians are notoriously  itinerant and you almost have to have a Zen like approach to finding them.  In other words, not be looking for them and not be thinking about them".  Heck if it works for Bohemian Waxwings, maybe it will work for the Black Vultures too!  ;-)

Take care all.