Ashburnham (BBA 3) 6/16

Saturday 6/16, I retraced my birding trip from 6/3 to upgrade as many species as possible for the breeding bird atlas project. Old County Road is surprisingly busy, for a dirt road (below) that goes no place, its passable in 4 wheel drive vehicles with decent ground clearance. Two trucks approached at about 6AM, the truck stopped and rolled down the window...followed by a plume of cigar smoke.... "we're runnin dogs this morning". I was soon surrounded by a 1/2 dozen happy, howling Beagles each with a small "cow-bell" ("gotta have that cow bell") on its collar. I never realized that the "dog men" also get in on the act, while the beagles yelp along through the woods(cow bells a ringin) the "dog men" yell to the dogs in sort of a jibberish cajun, redneckian dialect, the dogs completely ignor. Old County Road (Ashburnham)
Cute little Beagle, but judging by this jesture, it didn't think too highly of me.

After moving away from the dogs, following an old rail bed, I followed a narrow path along some wetlands. An American Woodcock rose up from a few feet in front of me and fluttered away, squawking in a raspy distressed voice . A single , newly hatched chick, was on the ground just in front of me. I quickly snapped a photo (below) and made a carefull and quick retreat, to keep the disturbance to a minimum. Fortunately the pack of dogs was now well in the distance!

Newly hatched American Woodcock (NO flash used, I am not sure what the "dribble" on its back was? Perhaps from the hacthing process.)

Many of the same species were present as the last trip, on the 3rd, and in the same spots...these birds have been on territory for a while. Plenty of Veerys, Hermit Thrushes and a nice assortment of wood warblers (Nashville, BT Blue, BT Green, Canada's and a few Magnolias and Northern Waterthrushes).

Magnolia Warbler

Tree Swallows, Easten Bluebird and House Wren were present in an area of dead trees, in a beaver "impoundment", but the Virginia Rail and American bittern were not seen or heard this morning. Also, confirmed nesters in this area were Flicker, Yellow Warbler, Common Yellowthroat, Song and Swamp Sparrows along with C. Grackle and Red-winged Blackbird(below).

New fledgling Red-winged Blackbird

I stopped by the old Ashburnham Landfill and got permission to walk the edge of the grass cover site, hoping for any grassland species but detected non.

Mountain Laurel, will soon be in full bloom.

6/16 List:

Canada Goose ..2
Wood Duck..1
American Black Duck..1
Mallard..1
Ruffed Grouse..1
Wild Turkey..13
Common Loon..1
Great Blue Heron..2
Turkey Vulture..2
Broad-winged Hawk..2
Killdeer..3
American Woodcock..1
Mourning Dove..9
Belted Kingfisher..1
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker..1
Downy Woodpecker..4
Hairy Woodpecker..3
Northern Flicker..2
Pileated Woodpecker..1
Eastern Wood-Pewee..1
Alder Flycatcher..4
Great Crested Flycatcher..2
Eastern Kingbird..2
Blue-headed Vireo..3
Red-eyed Vireo..14
Blue Jay...13
American Crow..6
Common Raven..1
Tree Swallow..22
Northern Rough-winged Swallow..1
Bank Swallow..2
Barn Swallow..6
Black-capped Chickadee..34
Tufted Titmouse..5
Red-breasted Nuthatch..2
White-breasted Nuthatch..1
Brown Creeper..4
House Wren..2
Winter Wren..2
Eastern Bluebird..1
Veery..7
Hermit Thrush..14
Wood Thrush..1
American Robin..8
Gray Catbird..9
European Starling..5
Cedar Waxwing..18
Nashville Warbler..4
Yellow Warbler..5
Magnolia Warbler..3
Black-throated Blue Warbler..4
Yellow-rumped Warbler..3
Black-throated Green Warbler..3
Blackburnian Warbler..4
Pine Warbler..9
Prairie Warbler..1
Black-and-white Warbler..6
Ovenbird..19
Northern Waterthrush..2
Common Yellowthroat..22
Canada Warbler..6
Scarlet Tanager..5
Eastern Towhee..6
Chipping Sparrow..5
Field Sparrow..2
Song Sparrow..16
Swamp Sparrow..14
White-throated Sparrow..9
Northern Cardinal..1
Red-winged Blackbird..15
Common Grackle..60
Brown-headed Cowbird..2
Baltimore Oriole..1
Purple Finch..1
American Goldfinch..16
House Sparrow..2