Birdathon 2009

Yesterday (well Friday night and yesterday) was Mass Audubon’s annual birdathon. I’ve never really done it before (a few hours in the rain a couple years ago was it) and since I had Mt. Auburn duty the following morning, I didn’t want to go all out.

We started Friday night by walking up to Lot 1. The hope was for a late peenting woodcock but no luck with that. The resident Blue-winged Warbler was singing when we arrived and we heard several other birds that we wouldn’t get on Saturday. Even better, just as it got dusk, we noticed a big lump on one of the bare trees. A Great Horned Owl had slipped in and was sitting out in the open. It ignored us completely as we walked right by it on the way out.

On Saturday, we didn’t get going until close to 8. We started at the Concord heron rookery. Parking here is even more restricted than it was the last time I visited, but we lucked out and someone started to leave while I was turning around. The woods were quiet, but the herons were all over. We also had a couple Red-bellied Woodpeckers and a singing Brown Creeper. A Black-throated Blue Warbler sang a couple times along the road, which was pretty much the only migrant of the day. Unfortunately, the Pileated didn’t show in the minute or two we waited.

The next stop was the Old Rifle Range. On the way, we picked up two Eastern Bluebirds on the wires. At the Rifle Range, we were a bit distracted by some flowers that turned out to be Starflower. The hawks that I hoped for were not showing but we did have a hummingbird moving among the trees.

After a quick check of Knox Trail, we wandered around the little open area on the other side of the shopping center in Acton. Our first Indigo Bunting of the day and another Blue-winged Warbler were the avian highlights but the bugs were more interesting. There were many dragonflies around, mostly baskettails but also my first Common Whitetail of the year and a couple darners. The baskettails ran the range from no black on the wings to very extensive (Mantled?).

Baskettail

There were also many butterflies around including my first Pearl Crescents and Common Sootywing of the year. Several tiger beetles were in the sandier patches including Big Sand (C. formosa):

Big Tiger

Big Tiger

and mating Festive (C. scutellaris):

Mating tigers

Mating Tigers

Mating Tigers

We moved on to Great Meadows, which was surprisingly quiet. There was a turtle walk going on, which made parking a mess. We ended up walking in from the water treatment plant. To make things worse, the trail to the left along the river was closed as it had started to erode at the grate. Most of the hoped for marsh birds were hiding and we didn’t find any sandpipers, but the moorhen was out in the open, with many other Birdathoners watching.

Moorhen

After a lunch break, we headed to Prospect Hill to see if the Hooded Warbler was still around. No luck with that and not much around. I missed a turkey but did get the only Herring Gull of the day. There were a few good insects around including my first Four-spotted Skimmers of the year and this Stream Cruiser:

Stream Cruiser

That was pretty much the end of the day. At 5:30, we walked down to the corner and added Cedar Waxwing. I realized we didn’t have a pigeon and ran over to Graverson to see if any were sitting on the wires there, but no luck. The day ended with 61 species, which wasn’t too bad since we weren’t exactly trying hard.

Hometown Birds

A bit behind on this, but I got two new birds for Waltham this week.

I headed to Met State (which I should really start referring to as Beaver Brook North now) Tuesday on my way to work. I planned to loop around the marsh but turkeys were displaying on Turner Field so I left them alone and headed up the hill. I found my first Wilson’s Warbler of the year up near the Gaebler building and then wandered down to the middle section.

Down below, I heard a song that I wasn’t placing. Chasing after it for a few minutes, I finally located the singer: a Tennessee Warbler, which is only my second in Waltham. The views weren’t the best but I was quite happy. I was even happier a minute later when it flew to squabble with another bird, which showed the orange throat of a Blackburnian Warbler, #175 in Waltham! Unfortunately, both disappeared quickly.

Thursday, I headed for Prospect Hill. I thought the radar had looked good, but there were very few birds around. Several Indigo Buntings were singing and I had a couple of the common warblers. I decided to try the Pine Ledges Trail, which I only recently noticed. I believe that it ends inside my BBA block, so I wanted to go down to the end and see about accessing it without a long hike down the side of the hill. I found the end and started back up without seeing or hearing much of anything. Almost back at the top, I realized that the song I had heard on the way down was a bit odder than I had originally thought and decided that I should bushwhack up the hill and find the source.

It took a bit of effort to track down, but was well worth it when I found a Hooded Warbler! I got a quick view as it moved through the trees before deciding to get out into the open and try to look back. That turned out to not work, so I bushwhacked back in and was able to watch it for a minute. Not only my first for Waltham, but the first one I’ve found on my own in Massachusetts. That made it an excellent day, regardless of the lack of everything else.

Since I don’t take my camera to work, the previous post holds.

Birdathon report coming (which will mostly be insect photos) but since I have to be at Mt. Auburn at 6AM tomorrow (likely in the rain), so that will take some time.

Always bring a Camera

I led a Menotomy trip to Beaver Brook North yesterday. It was rather windy and I decided that I didn’t feel like dragging the camera long. That turned out to be a big mistake.

As we walked through the woods, I could hear several Rose-breasted Grosbeaks singing, but they were very hidden in the treetops so I ignored them, figuring we’d have a better chance later. We sure did. Once the trail opened up, we stopped to look at a Black-throated Green Warbler. While everyone got on that, 4 Baltimore Orioles came in and landed at eye level. A minute later, they were joined by 3 grosbeaks! Things kept going with a Scarlet Tanager up high, but right out in the open with the sun directly on it. Incredible colors on everything.

The rest of the trip was pretty good with my first Swainson’s Thrush and Red-eyed Vireo of the year and a few more warblers (and more orioles and grosbeaks).

Since I blew the chance at a bunch of great photos, here’s a fair shot from a past trip:

Grosbeak

April Weekend

Some pictures from the weekend:

Frosted Elfin at Plum Island:

Frosted

Frosted

Hairy-necked Tiger Beetle, also at Plum:

Hairy

Six-spotted Tiger Beetle, Oxbow NWR:

Six-spot

Festive Tiger Beetle, Oxbow NWR:

scutellaris

Ringed Boghaunter, the object of the trip to Oxbow:

Boghaunter

And Yellow-throated Warbler, Arlington Res:

Yellow-throated

Yellow-throated

Almost May

A few highlights from today (wish I had equipment to record the Rusty Blackbird chorus). Getting closer and closer to May and the migrants are trickling in.

Gnatcatcher

First Gnatcatcher of the year.

And a Pine Warbler that almost cooperated:

Pine Warbler

Pine Warbler

Pine Warbler

He did come down towards the bottom of the tree but didn’t quite stay steady.

Still working on getting the places stuff going again.

Field Sparrow

Field Sparrow

Field Sparrow

A nice first of year Field Sparrow was singing in Dunstable on Saturday. It was a little hidden among the branches and it was a bit windy to keep him held steady, but I like the results.

Still working on some drafts for the next few in the 100 Places series, hopefully will put at least one up this week.

Snipe

Snipe

I saw my first Wilson’s Snipe of the year on Sunday. It was pouring out, so I was without camera. Here’s one from the same spot a couple years ago in seemingly similar conditions. It actually was quite nice out that day and the effect is just from shooting through some vegetation.

Short-ear Help

Quick link: the Mass Audubon BBA Blog has a request for birders visiting Salisbury to help gather further evidence on the Short-ears we saw over the weekend. I’ve been playing with Google Earth trying to find the tree. No luck yet, but the closest ones appear to be .7 miles away from the parking lot.