Yet another tip from John Hines today and yet another county bird.
Surf Scoters, Heard’s Pond, Wayland
And a nice flock of Rough-winged Swallows roosting along the edge:
11 here, of about 35 that I saw, although John had 71 early in the morning.
Category: birding
Another Townbird Day
I spent most of yesterday morning exploring the Beaver Brook North reservation (former Met State property). Things got off to a good start with several Ruby-crowned Kinglets at the car and several more with a few Palm Warblers not too far away.
Reaching the path to the new boardwalk, I spent a couple minutes making sure the calling Hairy Woodpecker was actually a Hairy. Moving down the path, a Yellowthroat popped up and several Swamp Sparrows were calling. Walking across the boardwalk, sparrows flushed constantly (about 6 Swamp for 2 Song for 1 Savannah) and a few Red-winged Blackbirds popped up and down. At the far end, a big flock of Yellow-rumps were bouncing around.
Retracing my steps, I started down the path around the Avalon apartments. Partway through the wooded section, something tiny dove into some brush and made a few chup-chup calls. I never got a good view, but it was my first Winter Wren of the fall (and my earliest fall record).
The trail (still actually being built) ends at the Metropolitan Parkway South. I started back up the hill to pick up the trails on the other side. A few feet up the road I heard an odd chip and got a quick look at a Magnolia Warbler. Not a great view (mostly tail) but at least enough to ID it.
Entering the reservation again, I worked my way down into the big field (actually circled the edge and then dropped in). It was fairly quiet, but a couple sparrows popped up in a sumac. I was quite surprised when they both turned out to be Lincoln’s. Photos were taken, but one had them slightly hidden and I blew the focus on the other, so they’re not getting published. Moving past them, a Hermit Thrush popped up in the same group of plants. The vegetation got too thick beyond them, so I started back.
Entering the woods, I accidentally took the longer loop. That worked out as I found a couple Palm Warblers and were able to confirm them as my first Western (whiter ones) of the fall. The Great Horned didn’t appear to be in the usual spot although it was rather leafy still.
Passing the marsh, a couple more Swamp Sparrows popped up. The woods beyond were fairly quiet most of the way around (other than a kingfisher rattling overhead), but just before the clearing near the cemetery I started seeing lots of birds. Mostly Yellow-rumps but a Red-bellied Woodpecker was moving around in the back and I heard a few juncos. While sifting through the Yellow-rumps hoping for something better, I didn’t find the warbler I wanted but a juvenile Yellow-bellied Sapsucker passed by. That was #179 for Waltham and was a bit overdue.
Passing the cemetery added a few more Yellow-rumps and the middle area added a couple more Swamp and Song Sparrows and another Palm Warbler. Continuing on past the marsh, I did a quick count and was approaching 40 species. I figured that there would be Chipping Sparrows up ahead but wasn’t sure what else I could get.
Reaching the cleared field on the hillside, several Chipping Sparrows popped up. I gave a scan to make sure that there were no Clay-coloreds among them and found none. But a loud croak came from up above and after scanning for a few seconds, a Raven soared by! And this spot is basically on the Lexington/Belmont line, so I was able to get a new bird for both towns (with a lot of checking maps online after). It continued on and presumably passed into Waltham as well.
After that excitement, I worked up the hill and followed the parkway back to the car. On the way, the raven called again and a Palm Warbler and couple sparrows were in the brush along the way. Approaching the car, a Red-tail took off, species #41.
Not only did I have the two big townbirds, but the Savannah, Lincoln’s, Kingfisher, and Turkey Vulture were new for the property, which puts me at 110 for BBN.
334/266
Finally caught up with a Lark Sparrow in state and county, this one being found yesterday by Karsten Hartel at Danehy Park in Cambridge.
With a Savannah
Row of sparrows: Chipping, Savannah, Lark, Chipping (probably want to click to enlarge this one).
Shoulders
A nice surprise today was a presumed family group of 3 Red-shouldered Hawks (2 juvs and an adult).
That’s juv #1, which was right in front of me.
Juv #2 was further away (and I didn’t know it was a second bird at first). A Sharp-shinned Hawk came in and eventually took a couple swipes at it, moments after this excellent shot:
You’ll probably want to click through to see it bigger. I also added notes to point out the birds (the Sharpie is especially hidden).
BPW
For no real reason, a winter flock of Dunlin from Plymouth Beach. And looking closer, there’s some Sanderling mixed in.
265
Heavily processed as it was totally backlit, but Middlesex county #265, Yellow-headed Blackbird.
BPW50
Here’s to fall starting:
Blackpoll Warbler, feeding on the ground for some reason, Lincoln, MA, September 2007. Hopefully many of these and others to come in the next couple months.
BPW Swamp
From the archives, some Swamp Sparrows. A fall one followed by a summer one.
July 09 Pelagic
So after June’s pelagic trip being canceled because not enough people signed up, Saturday was the first BBC trip of the year. I talked my parents into going down to the Cape as well this time, so we headed down Friday. It was hotter than we realized out and by mid-afternoon I was quite out of it, so no birding was done on Friday.
I was too wound up to go to sleep right away and ended up barely getting three hours in before I got up just after 2AM to get ready for the boat. Since the hotel (America’s Best Value Inn, more than adequate) is right up the street, I walked down just before 3. It was very foggy out and started to drizzle a bit while we waited. The crowd was a bit different from previous trips, I didn’t recognize a lot of people.
We boarded around 3:45 and I ended up grabbing a bunk down below. It was a bit more pleasant than I remember (not that I’d want to spend lots of time there) and I was able to doze off once we left the dock at 4:15. I was woken up by the first announcement at 6 and got up, grabbed my muffin and went up to the deck. Since it was quite rough out (and would be for most of the day) and there were still showers coming through, I decided to just hang out at the stern where it was stable and dry.
We started seeing shearwaters and Wilson’s Storm-Petrels very quickly and had our only gannets of the day. I missed the terns, eider, and single passerine that all passed by right as I got up. The shearwaters were mostly Cory’s at first and then Greater for a few minutes. They switched back and forth in abundance several times. Manx and Sooty were mixed in and we got out first Leach’s Storm-Petrels of the day.
I spotted a dark bird coming off the water to the side and shouted out Sooty (only a couple so far on the day) but was surprised when it turned out to be a very large, very dark Pomarine Jaeger:
We continued on towards Atlantis Canyon and found our first Audubon’s Shearwaters of the day. While the boat started to speed up for those, a shout went out and an obviously different bird was coming in. It had a much snappier flight and was much whiter below: a Black-capped Petrel! Unfortunately, it rocketed off before I got any pictures (or even a better than adequate view) but I believe most people did get good views and some got good pictures. This was one of the birds that we’ve been hoping to get on these trips and was a very nice state bird.
The next bit of excitement came with a pod of Offshore Bottle-nosed Dolphins. They came right by the boat. I got a bit of someone’s clothing in the one photo I managed to take but they’re still visible:
We continued on with more of the expected birds (Audubon’s may be pushing expected, but people stopped running for them pretty quickly). Some big flocks were nice to see, even if they’re all common birds, like this Cory’s Shearwater with many Wilson’s Storm-Petrels:
Around noon, I started to feel out of it. Many people had been sick all morning (although I’ve never seen anyone recover faster than when the Black-capped showed up) but I think I was just tired and hungry. I grabbed a slice of roast beef and dozed off for a short time at one of the tables and eventually felt better.
We cruised Atlantis Canyon for quite some time but weren’t able to add any other spectacular birds. I did get some shots of one of the later Audubon’s and something resembling a photo of a Leach’s Storm-Petrel.
We eventually began to start the long trip back. At around 5PM a shout of Whale! went up. The excitement when it was identified as a Northern Right Whale was short-lived as it was tangled in some fishing line. Really upsetting for a critically endangered animal. We took down the coordinates and snapped a bunch of photos. I’d later find out that it was an adult male named Radiator and that rescue efforts were not made as it was too late in the day and the whale likely was just moving through. Hopefully he’ll be refound and can be taken care of.
Around 6, I went to grab my sandwich and ended up lying down again and sleeping pretty much until we were back in Hyannis. Twelve hours birding was more than enough.
Also see my Greater Shearwater photos and the full report on the BBC website which also contains links to much better sets of photos.
I can’t wait for next year’s trips (and am almost tempted for the overnight one in August).
Greater Shearwaters
First round of photos from the pelagic, these are the ones that came out fairly sharp. All Greater Shearwaters, mostly when we slowed down to chum a bit.
The other photographed highlights tomorrow