Coverage of the Baldwinville/ Winchendon section of the Athol Christmas Bird Count began at 5am on Saturday with a clear sky and "dead calm". The weather was cold enough so the dirt roads of Otter River State Forest and Birch Hill Wildlife Managment Area were firm enough for 2-wheele drive travel. The first 3 stops got no responses for Saw-whet Owl, but one answered my calls from a stand of young White Pine a few stops later, another returned a call. Nothing else responded before dawn, but this was a fine start.
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| The back roads of Birch hill WMA |
Gail and Jay joined me for the morning portion of the count and we walked the edge of the "back bay" marsh and several village streets in our section. We did well on Canada Geese and a few Mallards along the river, unfortunately the number of sparrows were "off" along the marsh's edge this year. Slowly, we began to gather a decent list of the regulars, and also added new species for this portion of the count (an over due one that), Red-bellied Woodpecker. Purple Finches (5) were also a nice addition. Most years there is a Northern Mockingbird in the neighborhood and some years I have to nearly go "door to door" to find it, about 9am one perched atop a large spruce tree, later another was found. "Mockers" are not common up this way, so it was good to get these tallied early in the day.
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| The "mocker" dropping from its perch. |
Of course a some of the so called "undesirables" were added to the list, a 150+ European Starlings, a small flock of Rock Pigeons, House Finches and House Sparrows..call them the "filthy four", actually this year it was the "filthy five" as 4 Ring-necked Pheasants were tallied late in the day.
While scouting a few days before I had found a Chipping Sparrow in the area, we tried 2 times in the morning, after Gail and Jay departed I tried twice more...nothing.... ditto for a few Carolina Wren spots. Finally at 3:30, on the 5th visit, the "little chippy" popped out of the thicket. Of course these 4 re-visits to score the "chippy", cost addition stops at additonal survey areas....always a delema whether to try for an uncommon scouted species or just run the route.
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| A handsome male Red-breasted Nuthatch, 14 for the day. |
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| Not even photo documentation got this guy on the list! |
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| Every one knows where these came from....but they go on the list. |
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| "I say...I say... boy you help get us outta here and we're as listable as those clowns above". |
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| One of two Common Mergansers found on the back side of birch hill dam. |
When it was all said and done the total species count was 33 (yes...including the Ring-necked Pheasants) which was above the average of 30 species for this area as was the 876 individuals over an average of 724. The number of introduced individuals was 260 vs. an avg of 212, but was the highest since 1998. When I began covering this section of the count in 1993 there was a higher number of Rock Pigeons and European Starlings, perhaps the dismantling of the Temple-Stuart manufacturing complex provides less roosting "habitat" for these two species.
| Canada Goose | 209 |
| Mallard | 2 |
| Common Merganser | 2 |
| Ring-necked Pheasant | 4 |
| Sharp-shinned Hawk | 1 |
| Rock Pigeon | 14 |
| Mourning Dove | 9 |
| Northern Saw-whet Owl | 2 |
| Red-bellied Woodpecker | 3 |
| Downy Woodpecker | 10 |
| Hairy Woodpecker | 6 |
| Blue Jay | 63 |
| American Crow | 6 |
| Black-capped Chickadee | 64 |
| Tufted Titmouse | 11 |
| Red-breasted Nuthatch | 14 |
| White-breasted Nuthatch | 16 |
| Brown Creeper | 2 |
| American Robin | 44 |
| Northern Mockingbird | 2 |
| European Starling | 160 |
| Cedar Waxwing | 11 |
| American Tree Sparrow | 13 |
| Chipping Sparrow | 1 |
| Song Sparrow | 3 |
| White-throated Sparrow | 13 |
| Dark-eyed Junco | 53 |
| Northern Cardinal | 12 |
| Purple Finch | 5 |
| House Finch | 13 |
| American Goldfinch | 28 |
| House Sparrow | 73 |
Golden-crowned Kinglet 7
