White-eyed Vireo (Gardner 5/5)

I was thrilled to find a White-eyed Vireo in a small thicket across from Mount Wachusett Community College, in Gardner this morning. It really "skulked" in the thicket, while I had nice view through the binoculars, it took about 60 shots to finnally get a few good photos of this bird. This is a first for me in Worcester County and particularly noteworthy being so far north and at an elevation of ~1100 feet above sea level.

The bird did not sing at all and scolded only once, when it and a Yellow Warbler crossed paths, it was located about 25 to 50 down the bike path (from the parking lot).

Here are a few of the best shots

The white eye showing nicely
It spent a lot of time in thick cover, but finally came to the edge of small apple tree

With small piece of flower in its bill

I can't exactly recall but this was my 212 or 213 th species I've seen or heard within the city of Gardner over the years.

East Quabbin 5/3

For the 3rd year, I had the pleasure of leading the Forbush Bird Club's East Quabbin "car trip" from Gate 45 to Gate 35. The club has been allowed this privilege, by the Massachusetts DCR, for the past 40 (or so) years. This is an excellent opportunity to be able to cover lots of ground and for folks with limited mobility to enjoy some of the "back woods" of Quabbin. This year we had decent weather with clam conditions, cool temps in the mid to high 40's (kept the black flies in check) and the rain held till late afternoon.

The caravan at Dana Center.
We had a nice turn out of 14 members, with birding experience ranging from a few months to several decades, in the DCR limit of 5 vehicles. The roads, some paved and most dirt, were in good condition and travel went smooth.

A Gray Catbird, with wings tucked, in flight.

Recent warm weather had brought in an excellent influx of migrants over the past week and we ended the day with 76 species compared to last year's 56.

A sprouting Fern.

We didn't run into any big waves of warblers, but there was plenty to look at most stops, 14 species of wood warblers, a scatting of Scarlet Tanagers, Baltimore Orioles and Rose-breasted Grosbeaks added color to an over cast day.

The gang heads back to the cars after having nice looks at Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Balt. oriole and Wood Thrush.

By the water's edge we saw several paired off Common Loons, Quabbin is a strong hold for breeding loons in Massachusetts. A pair of Bald Eagles, near their nest, were seen on a distant island and movement was detected of at least one chick in the nest through the scopes.

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker was the most common woodpecker of the day, this one I digi-binned in a Petersham cemetery, the day before.

Fran and Allen discuss hearing devices, "optics for the ears".

Cowbirds in Dana Center.

This Merlin (below) showed nicely, staying perched on a snag for about 30 minutes, while members gawked through scopes and took photos. I digi-scoped these through a member's Kowa 88mm spotting scope, currently one of, if not THE best units on the market.

No Head?

Fluffing up

Looking..looking..looking...we had no songbirds at this stop.

Posing nicely

This cooperative Eastern Kingbird at East Fever Brook.

We had some nice views of Blue-gray Gnatcatchers in 2 locations. The one photographed below, I had seen the day before in Quabbin Park. Apparently it traveled north by way of Atlantic City, Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun...maybe it placed "double of nothing" on Saturday's Derby!

A Gnatcatcher is a small bird, especially without it's tail, which must be close to being equal to its body length.

This bird was very vocal and responded well to my spishing noises.

Taking flight

Another flight shot

Our last stop of the day, toward the north end of the trip added, a Red-necked Grebe, a pair of Ring-necked Ducks and our only Veery (calling its "phew") of the day. Despite the amount of birds seen and heard or the weather conditions, there never seems to be enough time in the day to take it all in!

The trip list for the day:

Species ...Number reported

Canada Goose...9
Wood Duck ...8
Mallard ...5
Ring-necked Duck ...2
Hooded Merganser ...5
Common Merganser ...3
Ruffed Grouse ...1
Wild Turkey ...2
Common Loon ...11
Red-necked Grebe ...1
Great Blue Heron ...1
Turkey Vulture ...1
Bald Eagle ...3
Merlin ...1
Solitary Sandpiper ...1
Ring-billed Gull ...1
Mourning Dove ...2
Barred Owl ...1
Belted Kingfisher ...1
Red-bellied Woodpecker ...1
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker ...7
Downy Woodpecker ...1
Hairy Woodpecker ...2
Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted) ....1
Pileated Woodpecker ...4
Least Flycatcher ...3
Eastern Phoebe ...4
Great Crested Flycatcher ...1
Eastern Kingbird ...2
Yellow-throated Vireo ...1
Blue-headed Vireo ...10
Warbling Vireo ...1
Blue Jay ...2
American Crow ...7
Common Raven...2
Tree Swallow ...20
Northern Rough-winged Swallow ...3
Barn Swallow ...1
Black-capped Chickadee ...3
Red-breasted Nuthatch ...2
Brown Creeper...3
Winter Wren ...2
Ruby-crowned Kinglet ...1
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher ...4
Veery ...1
Wood Thrush ...7
American Robin... 12
Gray Catbird ...7
Nashville Warbler ...3
Northern Parula ...1
Yellow Warbler ...6
Chestnut-sided Warbler ...12
Black-throated Blue Warbler ...5
Yellow-rumped Warbler ...19
Black-throated Green Warbler ...10
Blackburnian Warbler ...6
Pine Warbler ...10
Black-and-white Warbler ...9
American Redstart ...2
Ovenbird ...18
Louisiana Waterthrush ...2
Common Yellowthroat ...2
Scarlet Tanager ...3
Eastern Towhee ...21
Chipping Sparrow ...16
Song Sparrow ...3
Swamp Sparrow ...2
White-throated Sparrow ...4
Rose-breasted Grosbeak... 6
Red-winged Blackbird ...10
Common Grackle ...15
Brown-headed Cowbird ...12
Baltimore Oriole ...6
Purple Finch ...3
Pine Siskin ...4
American Goldfinch ...10

Raptor Nests

A few weeks back while driving down my street, I noticed a medium sized hawk fly over the road and land in a White Pine tree. Naturally, I stopped to take a closer look, it was an adult Cooper's Hawk perched beside a nest, the bird was holding a dead leaf in its bill. On my way into work eariler this week, I stopped and noticed one of birds was near the nest, I took a few photos through my binocular.

Notice on the left side of the nest, it appears to be the tail of the other "coop" sticking up over the edge of the nest. The whitish tip of the rounded tail shows best.

The tree is in the front yard of a residence, though the house lots on the street a fairly good size.

This morning, 4/30 I had stopped along a powerline just off rte 2 in Lancaster, hoping to see or hear a Blue-winged Warbler. I missed the Blue-winged but noticed a large bird, which seemed to be carrying a stick, dissappear behind a pine grove. My first thought was it might be a Great Blue Heron, when the bird reappeared on the other side of the pine I could clearly see an Osprey with a nice piece of "lumber" in tow! My camera was in the car, but the bird was circling and slowly gaining altitude. I ran back to the car and managed the few shots below.....

Can you find the Osprey in this shot? Its an obstructed view. No need to seek copywright protection for this shot!

After this winter's ice storm, it shouldn't be too difficult for these birds to find a few branches.

Out of focus, but you can see its got nice piece of stock for the project.

Another obstructed view, almost like watching a hockey game (from the cheap seats) in the old Boston Garden, landing to the upper left of the tower.

This bird, I only saw one "OS' today, was nest building on the cell tower pictured above, which is not uncommon for Ospreys. There are a few bodies of water near by, Spectical Pond and Fort Pond to name the 2 closest and the Nashua River is not too far to the east.

While Ospreys continue to do well in the New England, there are very few nesting pairs in Central Massachusetts. In the first two years of the Massachusetts Breeding Bird Atlas project, only 4 of 179 Worcester County blocks have confirmed nesting Ospreys in them....make that at least 5....I think another new nest or two have been discovered in the southern part of the county this year.

Leominster Birds 4/19

I did some "altas Scouting" in the Fitchburg 12 block, on 4/19, which is entirely within Leominster. There is diverse habitat ranging from relatively remote and large wooded tracts of conservaton land in the hills to 1100 feet elevation, a good deal of heavily populated areas in the city limits, with lower elevations to 300' along the Nashua River. Leominster is my hometown, I grew up within the boundaries of this block, so I should be visiting some places I haven't been to in 30+ years.

The lowest location in the block is a marsh that border's Priest Street, Rte 2 and the Watertower Plaza. Watertower Plaza is the former sight of Foster Grant, the sun glass "people", once a prominant employer in town. According to reports the dumping of chemicals and fumes were linked to many cases of autism (childern of neighbors and former employees) in the area, a portion of this marsh was likely one of the dumping sites.

My first confirmed nester, of this block, was a Canada Goose, that I spotted just before I was to leaving the previously mention marsh.

An incubating goose keeping a low profile.

A few moments later I spied this goose, some type of a two headed "spawn" from the chemical dump? Or a tuning fork?

A little cropping and rotating of the photo below, but the neck postion looks very uncomfortable. I have seen a fair number to "low profile" geese near their nests before, but never one with the posture of this bird. It looked particularly odd because its body was hidden behind vegetation.

Ouch!
It then stretched out a its neck bit more and lowered its head to keep a lower profile.

Looking a bit serpant like.

At the top of a steep embankment I saw this chickadee excavating a nest hole.

Kiss my .....
... well you get the point.

Just missed a great shot!

When I was in high school, I HEARD, you could get a case of this stuff for just under 3 bucks!

Westminster Loons 04/18

I birded parts of Winchendon, during the morning of 4/18, to scout the Winchendon 12 Breeding Bird Atlas block, then stopping by the Barre Falls Hawkwatch site to enjoy passing raptors. On the way home from the hawkwatch, I stopped to look at a pair of Common Loons on Mare Meadow Reservoir, in Westminster, that were fairly close to the road.

Common Loon Pair on Mare Meadow Reservoir, in Westminster.

From 1999 to at least 2004 the Biodiversity Research Institute (Maine) captured and color banded many breeding and or territorial loons in Massachusetts. These close loons presented an opportunity to see if either of this pair were banded. One of the pair was cooperative, showing both legs, the left leg was: Blue/White and the right leg: Blue (stripe)/silver (the metal band with the info).

This bird "flashes" its left leg, revealing the Blue/White bands.

A number of years back I had email the folks at BRI for the color combinations on the Massachusetts loons they'd banded....so from that.... This bird is a male that was captured on Paradise Pond (Princeton, ma.) in 2003. Paradise Pond is only a "stone's throw" away, the pair had bred there, successfully for a few years, before "moving out" 2 years back. Perhaps they will find success on Mare Meadow, which has several small islands and no boat traffic.

When beautifull birds are mentioned, I've never heard Swamp Sparrow brought up. But, this "Swampy" looks pretty darn sharp!

There were plenty of Red-breasted Nuthatches in the Winchendon 12 block this morning, out numbering White-breasted 8 - 2.