Ashburnham 3 7/01/07

This morning I was able to complete the preliminary 20hrs of coverage of for the Ashburnham 5 block. I started at a power line cut off RTE 12 where a family group of Ravens was still near their nest site. They circled at close range squawking, croaking, and making gargling noises. The young birds are still a bit clumsy with their landing and hopping from place to place atop the power line towers and abandoned building

A Common Loon flew past close enough to see it had no leg bands. Many nesting loons in Massachusetts have been banded with color and metal bands in the past several years.

Typical power line cut types of birds were present Prairie Warbler, Field Sparrows, Indigo Buntings and Eastern Towhees. This also looked like good habitat for Brown Thrasher and Dark-eyed Junco but couldn't find either. It seems to me 10-15 years ago similar types of scrubby habitat with smallish conifers would a have few pairs of Juncos.

Early morning mist rising from a wetland

I tried a brief stop at the old Ashburnham landfill, which is now capped and a small grassland, and could not find any grassland sparrows or Bobolinks. I was greeted by Wild Turkey (below)with a few young, she presented a distraction display then circled around and looked as if she might "charge".

Hen Turkey with polts nearby


My last stop in this block was near a small horse farm and sandpit. There was a few Bank Swallow nests and a Kingfisher nest at the sandpit, the female kingfisher was perched atop a snag with a fish to be delivered to the young. My last 2 species added to this block were House Finch and Rock Pigeon at the horse farm, the only location in this block were I found "exotics" (which also included House Sparrow and Starlings).

"killer" Crayfish invade Ashburnham !

Actually, the above crayfish was pretty big, about 5 inches long, when I set my point and shoot camera on the ground, to use the macro setting, the crustacean was ready for battle!

The preliminary data collected in the first 20 hours will be a good foundation to add to over the next years of the project. Detail of data collected, over 20 hrs on 5 dates, and Breeding Codes are below:

Canada Goose...PO(X)
Wood Duck...PO(X)
American Black Duck...PO(X)
Mallard...PO(X)
Hooded Merganser...PO(X)
Ruffed Grouse...PR(S)
Wild Turkey...CO(PY)
Common Loon...OB(O)
American Bittern...PO(X)
Great Blue Heron...PO(X)
Great Egret...OB(O)
Green Heron...PO(X)
Turkey Vulture...PO(X)
Sharp-shinned Hawk...PO(X)
Northern Goshawk...PO(X)
Broad-winged Hawk...PO(X)
Virginia Rail...PO(X)
Killdeer...CO(PY)
American Woodcock...CO(PY)
Rock Pigeon...PO(X)
Mourning Dove...PR(S)
Barred Owl...PO(X)
Chimney Swift...PO(X)
Belted Kingfisher...CO(CF)
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker...PO(X)
Downy Woodpecker...PR(S)
Hairy Woodpecker...PR(S)
Northern Flicker...CO(FS)
Pileated Woodpecker...PR(S)
Eastern Wood-Pewee...PO(X)
Alder Flycatcher...PO(X)
Eastern Phoebe...CO(FL)
Great Crested Flycatcher...PO(X)
Eastern Kingbird...PR(P)
Blue-headed Vireo...PR(S)
Red-eyed Vireo...PR(S)
Blue Jay...PR(S)
American Crow...CO(FL)
Common Raven...CO(NY)
Tree Swallow...CO(FL)
Northern Rough-winged Swallow...CO(FY)
Bank Swallow...CO(CF)
Barn Swallow...PR(N)
Black-capped Chickadee...CO(CF)
Tufted Titmouse...PR(S)
Red-breasted Nuthatch...PR(S)
White-breasted Nuthatch...PR(S)
Brown Creeper...CO(CF)
House Wren...PR(S)
Winter Wren...PR(S)
Eastern Bluebird...PO(X)
Veery...PR(S)
Hermit Thrush...PR(S)
Wood Thrush...PR(S)
American Robin...PR(P)
Gray Catbird...CO(CF)
European Starling...CO(FL)
Cedar Waxwing...PR(P)
Nashville Warbler...PR(S)
Yellow Warbler...CO(DD)
Chestnut-sided Warbler...PR(S)
Magnolia Warbler...PO(X)
Black-throated Blue Warbler...PR(S)
Yellow-rumped Warbler...PR(S)
Black-throated Green Warbler...PR(S)
Blackburnian Warbler...PR(S)
Pine Warbler...PR(S)
Prairie Warbler...PR(S)
Black-and-white Warbler...CO(CF)
American Redstart...PO(X)
Ovenbird...PR(S)
Northern Waterthrush...PR(S)
Common Yellowthroat...CO(CF)
Canada Warbler...PR(P)
Scarlet Tanager...PR(S)
Eastern Towhee...PR(P)
Chipping Sparrow...CO(FL)
Field Sparrow...CO(FL)
Song Sparrow...CO(FL)
Swamp Sparrow...CO(CF)
White-throated Sparrow...CO(CF)
Northern Cardinal...PR(S)
Indigo Bunting...PR(S)
Red-winged Blackbird...CO(FL)
Common Grackle...CO(CF)
Brown-headed Cowbird...PO(X)
Baltimore Oriole...PR(S)
Purple Finch...PR(S)
House Finch...PO(X)
American Goldfinch....PR(P)
House Sparrow...CO(FL)