Red-necked Phalarope (Bolton Flats 5/28)

Chuck Caron, Paul Meleski and I were concluding our Worcester County big day effort, at Bolton Flats last evening and crossed paths with Bart Kamp, as he was heading back to his car. What I thought a bit odd was he was not carrying a scope. The Mystery was soon solved, he'd left his scope in the field to get his phone (in his car), to notify a few local birders of a Red-necked Phalarope in the muddy corn fields. We continued in, and soon had the handsome phalarope in sight.
A few digi-scope shots:
Working between the corn stubble.

It moved into the open a bit...

Looking away

This was a Worcester County life bird for me and my 3rd species of phalarope for the county. Including the Wilson's, in Sterling, last summer and the "storm driven" Reds from mid May 2006, which included a "wreck" (a relative term) of 11 on Wachusett Reservoir on 5/13/2006.

Mt Watatic, Bolton and Wachusett Reservoir...

Karin and I took a hike up Mt. Watatic Sunday, while the weather was dreary the rain held off and the short hike was very pleasant. Many of the spruce trees near the summit held a heavy load of new cones, so perhaps these might attract some crossbills, once they mature in the fall. abundant Red Spruce cones.

A close up...
Blueberry were flowering...time to pick in about 6 weeks!

Painted Trillium

A Willet was reported from Bolton Flats and while common on our coastal marshes, such as Plum Island they are exceedingly rare inland! Superbowl of Birding team mate, Rod Jenkins found it and to boot....he heard a King Rail at the same time!

I made a visit during the week, while I did not see the Willet nor hear the King Rail, there were other nice birds in the muddy fields. 14 Semipalmated Plovers, 5 Greater Yellowlegs, 3 Spotted Sandpipers, 22 Least Sandpipers and 2 Short-billed Dowitchers (originally found by Alan Marble) made a nice assortment of inland shorebirds.

One of 14 Semi Plovers ...

A very handsome Short-billed Dowitcher.

I hoped for a tern species at Wachusett Reservoir, Bart Kamp had two Black Terns recently, but none were to be seen. A large raft of tightly "packed" waterfowl in the distance turned out to be Brant! I estimated about 100, certainly one of the largest spring occurances of this species on record, for Worcester County! Bart Kamp had also seen them a little earlier and the birds took flight and set down again, while in flight he was able to get an accurate count of 133. Paul Meleski had seen the same group of birds and estimated 70-80, but they were so close together it was impossible to get an exact count.

A long range digi-scope photo of Brant on Wachusett Reservoir.

A few other "good" birds on Wachusett were a Horned Grebe (in breeding plumage) and 14 White-winged Scoters.

Female Rose-breasted Grosbeak digi-scoped from the deck at home.

Horned Grebe (Westminster) 5/10

While scanning Round Meadow Pond, in Westminster, for swallows late this afternoon, I notice a Horned Grebe in breeding plumage. It is not too often I have seen this species in breeding plumage at such close range. Some of the digi-scoped photos are below.

Also skimming the water were Barn (~10), Tree (~20), Northern Rough-winged (~5) and Bank Swallows (~40). Yesterday was the general arrival for Bank Swallows in my local patch, as I'd seen none (this year) before despite looking intently, but about 30 were feeding over the pond.

and a last shot of this little gem, compair with their none-breeding plumage from early November of 2009 at Quabbin Reservoir!

Also of note, one of the Bald Eagle pair (with a slight dark mask) was present this evening, a neighbor stopped by to let me know they were viewing the bird from their deck.

Lancaster/Bolton/Oxbow 5/7

I "hit" 3 key Worcester County birding habitats on Saturday morning: The "Lancaster Wild Life Management Area" (essentially an old sandpit) at the end of Pine Hill Road in Lancaster is a great spot for "scrub-shrub" like birds. An Eastern Whip-poor-will was calling at the gate when I arrived at 5AM and soon after walking into a more open area, along the dirt road, I could hear Field Sparrows calling, Eastern Towhees and way off in the distant an American Bittern. At first I thought the bittern was calling from an adjacent wetland to the west, but realized it must have been on Bolton Flats, 0.8 miles away (by measuring on a map).

Soon afterward, I would hear a Vesper Sparrow singing on territory and a few hundred yards was another. At the edge of a grassy area a Grasshopper Sparrow was singing and teed up on a sign post. There is great Grasshopper Sparrow habitat nearby, on the Devens military base (South Post), which is an active training area, fortunately at least a few Grasshopper Sparrows have defected to civilian territories. This bird had a metal band on its left leg, though no numbers could be read.

Arriving at Bolton Flats at 6AM, two American Bitterns could be heard calling and the spring shorebird show was nice with 9 species present including Killdeer (10+), Greater (18) and Lesser Yellowlegs (5), Solitary (15), Spotted (5), Least (2), Pectoral Sandpipers (3), Dunlin (4) and Wilson's Snipe (8).

A cryptic Wilson's Snipe
3 of 4 Dunlin and a Pectoral Sandpiper

One of many Solitary Sandpipers.

On the Marsh bird side of the equation, in addition to the bitterns was a Virgina Rail, in full view and two Marsh Wrens. I did not hear the previously reported Sora, but the two Green Herons flying overhead were my first of the year.

Virginia Rail.

Pectoral Sandpiper, from behind.

Another nice surprise was a Blackpoll Warbler, I usually don't expect them until about the 15th, so I was happy to "get one" a week earlier than normal. Blackpoll Warbler on Bolton Flats

Oxbow National Wildlife Refuge was fairly active with vireos with Yellow-throated (3), Red-eye Vireo (1), Blue-headed (1) and Warbling (7). A male Orchard Oriole was a nice addition to the 10+ Baltimores. While I walked the trail there were good numbers of Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Gray Catbird, Great-crested Flycatcher, and a dozen species of wood warblers including:

Nashville Warbler ...2
Yellow Warbler ...12
Northern Parula ...7
Chestnut-sided ...Warbler 1
Pine Warbler ...2
Blackburnian Warbler ...1
Yellow-rumped Warbler ...20+
Blackpoll Warbler ...1
Black and White Warbler ...7
American Redstart ...4
Ovenbird ...5
Common Yellowthroat ...15
Many digi-bin photo attempts turn out like the one above... a Green Heron

This gem stood out among the birds at Oxbow.

On the way home drove past the west side of Wachusett Mountain in Princeton

I see these turbines, on the flank of Wachusett Mountain, fairly often but never turning in unison at they were mid-day on Saturday.

Praire Warbler

Blackburian Warbler, every one oooh's and aaauh's about the males, but this female was looking pretty spiffy!

The Lancaster/Bolton Flats/Oxbow area produced 100 species and an aditional 10 were added on the drive back to Westminster, via Wachusett Reservoir and the west side of Princeton, ending in the early afternoon with a very welcomed nap.

Forbush Annual East Quabbin Trip 5/1

11 members of the Forbush Bird Club enjoyed perfect spring weather, this past Sunday, while "touring" East Quabbin, in the area that was once part of the townships of Greenwich and Dana.
Beaver ponds in the back woods of Quabbin are always a highlight, we had nice looks at Hooded Mergansers, a drake Common Merg., Wood Ducks, Eastern Kingbirds, Tree Swallows, Yellow Warblers, Least Flycatchers and diplaying Red-winged Blackbirds, but no Yellow-throated or Warbling Vireos this on this year's trip.
A secluded beaver pond, well inside of gate 45.
Red-winged Blackbird in full display.
14 species of wood warblers were seen and/or heard but the only vireo species was Blue-headed, we missed Baltimore Oriole for the first time in several years. a handsome Blue-headed Vireo (formerly known as Solitary Vireo).
A few Least Flycatchers were present, such as the bird above.
One of two Porcupines that were certainly crowd pleasers, a bit slower than warblers allowed protracted viewing!
While watching one of the Porcupines, two immature Bald Eagles passed over head one just above the other. They "locked" talons and began a spectacular descent spiraling downward toward the earth, after "pin-wheeling" about 6 revolutions they separated, and moved off in different directions.
Bald Eagles locked together.
... just after breaking apart.

This Chestnut-sided Warbler showed nicely.

A non avian highlight is lunch at Dana Common, we usually linger on the common for about 45 minutes for lunch, conversation and birding. A few American Redstarts were found here, we only had a few during the day. Our trip is a bit on the early side of May, so we miss or only encounter a few of species such as Red-eyed vireo and American Redstart. By late-May these two species will be among the most abunbant species in the east Quabbin, likely neither would ever be out of hearing range.

Club members enjoy luch on Dana Common.

Toward the end of the day we had a nice surprise of 4 breeding plumaged Horned Grebes, while this species is an uncommon but annual "pass-through" migrant in Central Massachusetts, seeing them in breeding plumage made it even more special! Another nice bonus was two female Red-breasted Mergansers just before leaving the water's edge near gate 35. These like the Horned Grebes are easily found on coastal Massachusetts during the winter, but they are also very uncoommon away from the coast.

A happy "clan", after great weather, birding and company!

The complete trip list:

Canada Goose ...16
Wood Duck ...5
American Black Duck ...2
Mallard ...4
Green-winged Teal (American) ...7
Hooded Merganser ...4
Red-breasted Merganser ...2
Common Merganser ...1
Ruffed Grouse ...3
Common Loon ...6
Horned Grebe ...4
Double-crested Cormorant ...1
Great Blue Heron ...3
Turkey Vulture ...12
Bald Eagle ...5
Northern Harrier ...1
Broad-winged Hawk ...2
Red-tailed Hawk ...1
Merlin ...1
Ring-billed Gull ...3
Mourning Dove ...4
Red-bellied Woodpecker ...1
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker ...13
Downy Woodpecker 2
Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted) ...3
Pileated Woodpecker ...6
Least Flycatcher ...5
Eastern Phoebe ...3
Eastern Kingbird ...2
Blue-headed Vireo ...6
Blue Jay ...12
American Crow ...14
Tree Swallow ...53
Black-capped Chickadee ...12
Tufted Titmouse ...4
Red-breasted Nuthatch ...3
White-breasted Nuthatch ...3
Brown Creeper ...3
House Wren ...1
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher ...4
Ruby-crowned Kinglet ...1
American Robin ...15
Gray Catbird ...3
Northern Parula ...1
Yellow Warbler ...6
Chestnut-sided Warbler ...10
Magnolia Warbler ...1
Black-throated Blue Warbler ...12
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) ...40
Black-throated Green Warbler ...10
Blackburnian Warbler ...3
Pine Warbler ...42
Palm Warbler (Yellow) ...3
Black-and-white Warbler ...10
American Redstart ...3
Ovenbird ...15
Common Yellowthroat ...6
Eastern Towhee ...39
Chipping Sparrow ...26
Song Sparrow ...6
Swamp Sparrow ...3
White-throated Sparrow ...10
Dark-eyed Junco (Slate-colored) ...6
Scarlet Tanager ...1
Northern Cardinal ...2
Rose-breasted Grosbeak ...3
Red-winged Blackbird ...12
Common Grackle ...10
Brown-headed Cowbird ...16
Purple Finch ...2
American Goldfinch ...4