Superbowl of Birding IX 1/28/2012

Our team "The Burger Kinglets" (Including Dan Berard, Kevin Bourinot, Chuck Caron, Rodney Jenkins and myself) enjoyed another fun-filled day of birding Essex county during the Superbowl of Birding 2012. This was the first time without Captain Paul Meleski (another commitment) but were fortunate Kevin could join us. Due to recent massbird reports and some scouting from Nahant/Lynn and Swampscott, we expanded last year's route to including this southern section of the county, "banking" on offsetting the extra travel time with some high scoring birds.

We began Owling in Ipswich, were we picked up Eastern Screech Owl and later added Great Horned  in Essex, but could not find Barred nor Saw-whet Owl. The next stop was Flax Pond in Lynn where key species such as Hooded Merganser, Amercian Coot and Ruddy Duck were easiy found then moved onto Swampscott. Here a mixed flock of Lesser and Greater Scaup where just offshore and a few Bonepart's Gulls (which has always presented a problem for us during this event). Lynn Beach produced a Red-throated Loon, all 3 Scoter species and Purple Sandpiper.

Early morning owling in Essex.

Rodney maintains carrying good vehicular speed reduces the effect of pot holes!

Dawn in Swampscott.

 On Nahant we headed to Forty Steps Cove, were a female Northern Shoveler had been present for much of January, the cove was empty except for more common species. Off to Bailey Hill and the nearby golf course, we could not find the previously reported Snow Goose nor the Ameican Pipit, but at the base of the hill (east side) a Yellow-breatsed Chat put on a nice show, upon leaving Bailey Hill a group of Canada Geese flew onto the golf course, a Snow Goose was with them! Coming out of Nahant we couldn't find the previously reported American Kestrel from the causeway, nor could we find shorebirds on the beaches.  Now for the long drive out to Cape Ann :(

Perhaps my most gradifying bird of the day, only the 2nd Yellow-breasted Chat
sighting for me! My only other sighting was in my parent's yard in 1984 (in Leominster), when I'd
first begun to bird. Little did I know it would be 28 years until I'd see another!

On the way to Cape Ann we added Blue Jay and Red-tailed Hawk. Typically Blue Jay is not worth a mention, but later in the day we find out 4 teams missed Blue Jay. Jay numbers are "down" this winter and we'd only have a few all day! At Gloucester's Jodrey Pier we scored on Iceland and Glaucous Gull, Peregrine Falcon and Double-crested Cormorant. At Eastern Point we added, Gadwall,  Black Guillemot, a single Northern Gannett and Razorbill. In some nearby thickets Hermit Thrush and Northern Flicker (flying overhead) were good additions. Niles Pond had more Iceland Gulls, Ruddy Ducks and American Coot; new species added were Northern Pintail and Ring-necked Duck.
Most frustrating was a large Gull, that Dan spotted across Brace Cove that gave the impression of a Slaty-backed Gull. It was distant, sleeping, facing straight on and content to be and STAY were it was...on a normal birding day one would simply wait the bird out...but time-lines are essential during a 12 hour birding competition and "robbing from Peter to pay Paul" can be very costly with missed species (and points) later on...we HAD to press on! (Later a Slaty-backed Gull was reported from Gloucester Harbor, Ouch). Three soaring Turkey Vutures over rte 128 while leaving Cape Ann helped ease the "Slaty-backed pain"...a little.

Hermit Thrush in an Eastern Point Thicket, Gloucester.

A rather plump and content looking Harbor Seal at Brace Cove, Gloucester

 Along Atlantic Ave., in Gloucester, a King Eider was spotted way offshore, then we headed for Rockport where Harlequin Ducks were easily found from the Granite Pier. Near Loblolly Cove a Northern Shoveler, that was so easily found last week was a no-show, but a nearby feeding station had a Dicksessel that the majority of the team saw before a Cooper's Hawk scattered the feeder birds. We stopped were a rare Spotted Towhee had been discovered a few days before, while it had been seen earlier in the day it had slipped back into a thicket. We had the feeling waiting could be a "fatal time trap" so we moved on.
 Key species added along Comonno Point Rd. were Yellow-rumped Warbler and a croaking raven from the Point was a nice surprise. A key afternoon stop was for a Townsend's Warbler that Jim Berry had been hosting at his feeding station, in Ipswich. Lady luck was with us on arrival, as Cedar Waxwings were present nearby, unfortunately we discovered the Townsend's Warbler had just left....after waiting 10 minutes this pretty female returned, not only was this a 5 point bird for the team, but a lifebird for me. Thank You Jim! On Labor-in-vain Road, Ipswich, a Swamp Sparrow was present but a yellow-bellied Sapsucker that had been seen on Thursday would not and did not respond to our screech owl imitations or spishing.


Female Townsed's Warbler in Ipswich, Ma.
***Often times 1st year males and females are very similar, it was determined later in the
season, when this bird began is spring molt, that it was male (fide Jim Berry)***

We were heading toward the Newburyport area with a fine total of 81 species, in Rowley we added Northern Harrier at Stackyard Road. At the Chain Bridge in Amesbury we picked up Common Merganser, Bald Eagle and Great Blue Heron in "short order". Off to Salisbury for backbirds, it took a "bit" but we did score Brown-headed Cowbird and Red-winged Blackbird.
 Now onto out final leg, Plum Island, after a few stops a distant raptor was spotted and with a little scope work we'd added Northern Rough-legged Hawk. Within seconds Dan spotted a Snowy Owl in flight and it perched atop a post on the salt marsh for us all to view. We dashed to the end of Plum Island and scoped Stage Island Pool to add high scoring Redhead Ducks. Our last full stop was Hellcat Marsh, Rodney found a very distant Short-eared Owl, unfornately no one else got this bird before in dove into the marsh, a consellation was "flyby" Horned Larks, our final additonal species of the day.


Rod "the foot" Jenkins once again did a great job of "approximate" legal driving, hauling the team over the route.

We headed for the compilation with a fine total of 92 species, 4 better than our team's previous high of 88 back in 2007; and 197 points, 6 better than our 191 points also in 2007. We had crossed path's with Strickland Wheelock's team a few times during the day and with brief exchanges we knew they'd scored some key species and gotten bonus points on 3 species (3 points each). When the final result was annouced "Strick's" team had 202 points to our 197....as Maxwell Smart would say..."it was that close"! Our total of 92 species turned out to be the highest species total of the day, earning us the Director's Award.

Thanks to Kevin, Dan, Chuck and Rod for another great Superbowl. Massachustt's Audubon's Bill Gette, Dave Larson and staff (of Joppa Flats) once again put on a great event...many thanks!

Our total list (with points):
Red-throated Loon ...2
Common Loon...1
Horned Grebe ...1
Red-necked Grebe...2
Northern Gannet...2
Great Cormorant...1
Double-crested Cormorant...4
Great Blue Heron...3
Turkey Vulture...5
Snow Goose...4
Canada Goose...1
Brant Branta...3
Mute Swan...1
Gadwall ...2
American Black Duck...1
Mallard ...1
Northern Pintail...3
Redhead...5
Ring-necked Duck ...4
Greater Scaup...2
Lesser Scaup...3
King Eider...4
Common Eider...1
Harlequin Duck...2
Surf Scoter...1
White-winged Scoter .... 1
Black Scoter ...2
Oldsquaw...1
Bufflehead...1
Common Goldeneye...1
Hooded Merganser ...2
Red-breasted Merganser...1
Common Merganser...1
Ruddy Duck...4
Bald Eagle...2
Northern Harrier...1
Cooper's Hawk ...3
Red-tailed Hawk...1
Rough-legged Hawk... 3
Peregrine Falcon...3
Wild Turkey...3
American Coot...4
Purple Sandpiper...2
Bonaparte's Gull...3
Ring-billed Gull...1
Herring Gull ...1
Iceland Gull...2
Glaucous Gull...3
Great Black-backed Gull...1
Razorbill...3
Black Guillemot...2
Rock Dove...1
Mourning Dove...1
Eastern Screech-Owl ...2
Great Horned Owl ...3
Snowy Owl ...3
Belted Kingfisher...3
Red-bellied Woodpecker...3
Downy Woodpecker...1
Hairy Woodpecker...2
Northern Flicker...3
Blue Jay...1
American Crow...1
Common Raven...4
Horned Lark...2
Black-capped Chickadee...1
Tufted Titmouse... 1
White-breasted Nuthatch...1
Brown Creeper...3
Carolina Wren...2
Golden-crowned Kinglet ...2
Eastern Bluebird...3
Hermit Thrush ...3
American Robin...1
Northern Mockingbird....1
European Starling...1
Cedar Waxwing ...2
Yellow-rumped Warbler ...3
Yellow-breasted ... 5
American Tree Sparrow ...1
Song Sparrow...1
Swamp Sparrow...3
White-throated Sparrow...1
Dark-eyed Junco...1
Northern Cardinal...1
Dickcissel...5
Red-winged Blackbird...3
Brown-headed Cowbird... 3
House Finch ...1
American Goldfinch...1
House Sparrow....1
Townsend's Warbler.... 5

Lunenburg (Whalom Lake) 1/26

This winter's relatively mild weather has allowed portions of  Whalom Lake in Lunenburg, Ma. to relatively remain ice free. Singnificant numbers of waterfowl and gulls have been congragating, during late afternoon/early evening to roost. Numbers of puddle ducks, mainly Mallards have topped out at about 1500, these are difficult to count as Mallards usually arrive well after sunset. Generally there is a much smaller number of Black Ducks and earlier in the month at least 1 Green-winged Teal. Canada Goose numbers had been in the order of 600 +/-.

On the Gull side of the equation: Great Black-backed Gulls max. count was 160, Herring at ~600-700, but Ring-billed Gulls have numbered very few (usually less than 20 this winter). "Ringers" hang out near the lake during the day, looking for handouts, but appear to vacate the area when the "big boys" arrive. Less common gull species have also made an appearance, with an adult Lesser Black-backed Gull on 12/18/2011 (the Groton CBC) and a 1st winter bird on 1/18 (first spotted by Bart Kamp a few day before). A 1st winter Glaucous Gull showed on 1/3, but not since; and at least 3 different Iceland Gulls have made appeances during January; including an adult, 2nd winter and a darker 1st winter bird.

 This evening, 1/26, the lake was nearly frozen, except for a small patch nearshore, less than 100 Mallards arrived after sunset, 2 Canada Geese were present (1 sick and dying another appeared dead near a small inlet pipe), also was a Herring Gull that hadn't move since yesterday (but was still holding its head up). About 500 gulls arrived, but after about 15-20 minutes about 75% of the birds picked up and headed east, so perhaps this gull roost is about done for the winter, with lake frozen.

This sickly Canada Goose was moving a little when I arrived, but afterwards held this exact pose for a least an hour, literally on its "last leg". On the 18th Bart Kamp watched a Bald Eagle make a few passes on this goose, but the eagle moved on without finishing the goose off.

Above, an apparent 2nd winter Iceland Gull with Herring and Great Black-back Gulls.

The Great Black-backed Gull to the left had dirty markings on its head, they were not symetrical and the dirty markings apeared to be just that, "dirt". The other side of the birds head and chest were clean, perhaps a result of scavaging.

Athol CBC (Baldwinville/Birch Hill) 12/17

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.

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.


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.


A handsome male Red-breasted Nuthatch, 14 for the day.



Not even photo documentation got this guy on the list!



Every one knows where these came from....but they go on the list.

 

"I say...I say... boy you help get us outta here and we're as listable as those clowns above".

 

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

Essex County 12/3

 Karin and I drove up to West Newbury, Salisbury and Rowely on Saturday 12/3. The first stop was the Cherry Hill Reservoir area. The Cassin's Kingbird, that has been frequenting the reservoir area, was the first target. Upon arrival five birders were seen across the wet field, each busy looking through their optics in the same direction. A certain sign the target bird was currently in view, after a quick dash across the field I was afforded nice views of the bird.


Best of the Cassin's Kingbird, it was about 100 meters away, note the gray breast and white throat/chin area.

On the water was a drake Canvasback, which showed nicely along with several Ruddy Ducks, Common Mergansers, a few Buffleheads and Common Goldeneye.

A handsome Canvasback, it seems this species' numbers in Massachusetts, have declined in recent years.

On the way home we "swung" through Rowely and were fortunate the previously reported Sandhill Cranes were in view. The pair stayed in close proximety to each other, strutting through shallow water of a wetland right off rte 1A.

Sandhill Crane sightings have increased in recent years, with a pair recently breeding in western Massachusett and more than one pair breeding in Maine, seems I recall of breedig season reports from New Hampshire or Vermont (or both).

Tully Trail Epic 11/21

On Monday I decided hike, sight-see and bird (a little) along the Tully Trail in the North Quabbin Region, the complete loop would travel through portions of Royalston, Warwick and Orange. While there are no large hills or mountains, there would prove to be plenty of up and down to go with the milage. At the Tully Lake Trustees parking lot, there was some finch activity American Goldfinch, a few Purple Finches and Pine Sisikins passing overhead. After birding a few minutes, I headed off in a counter clockwise direction.


The path began on a cart road, flat and level.


Nice water scenes on the water way between Tully Lake and Long Pond

Looking north on Long Pond

Soon after reaching Long Pond the trail follows the north side of Spirt Falls and to the ridge line leading to
Jacob's Hill and a nice vista over Long Pond, viewing west toward Tully Mountain and Mt. Grace.

There was good water flow at Spirit Falls

Looking toward Tully Mountain over Long Pond .

The north end of Long Pond and Mount Grace in the distance, I scanned hard in hopes of seeing a moose at the water's edge, none was found.

 Once leaving Jacob's Hill, the trail lead down a power line cut where the first Evening Grosbeak of the day flew high overhead calling loudly. Also of note were 2 Northern Ravens and Red-tailed Hawks. One of the Northern Ravens harrassed a Red-tail, clearing showing the larger size of the raven over the "tail".  

Another nice view of the north end of Long Pond.

For the next several miles the tail had easy grades with stream crossings aided by some nice bridge work, there was a  brief walk along Warwick Road and the easy grades continued until reaching the Royalston Falls Reservation. Here began some modest climbing but there were plenty of pretty views into the ravine of Falls Brook and interesting rock formations.

This bridge work made the stream crossing easy, not far from this point I'd spish in a flock of 10 Pine Siskins.

I left the trail a few times to explore the ravine, before reaching the Royalston Falls.

An alternate view of the falls.

A "classic" view of Royalston Falls

This pool with a small waterfall inlet was a few hundred yards upstream from the main falls. Looked like a good summer swimming hole.

Soon above the pool the trail joins the Metacomet-Monadnock Trail (aka the M-M Trail) and there is a nice shelter, for hikers, overlooking the brook and trail bridge. It was well constructed and appeared fairly clean. Within a 1/2 mile of the shelter is Newton Cemetery, where I stopped for a lunch break and tea.

The shelter

Newton Cemetery.

After lunch I realized I'd done way too much sight-seeing, birding and goofing around and had many miles to go and a limited amount of daylight. The Massachusetts AMC guide claims the Tully Trail is 18.4 miles, while the Trustees of Reservations claims it is 22. Either way it was going to be a long afternoon and I would have to pickup the pace. In some places the trail was a bit difficult to follow as it appeared lightly traveled and had a new "coat" of freshly fallen leaves...so a close eye had to kept on the yellow flashes. Eventually the trail follows Bliss Hill Road then bears west on a nice cart road for a few miles. I heard a small flock of Evening Grosbeaks pass overhead along this road.

This cart road on the west side of Bliss Hill Road made for good traveling.

After a few miles on the road I noticed the yellow flashes dissappeared, but there was some yellow ribbon along the cart road. I was a bit uneasy about this, but yellow ribbon had been used for trail marking along the powerline cut several miles back. I kept pace along the road but soon realized, on the GPS map,  I was heading to the wrong side Sheomet Lake. I headed back and after about 3/4 mile (1.5 Miles RT) I found the clearly marked turn that I'd walked past. 

Once I got back on track I noticed this neat foundation.

Once back on track I eventually passed over Bliss Hill then onto Fish Brook Wildlife Management Area and Butterworth Ridge, afterwards the trail follows Butterworth and Tully-Warwick Roads for a good distance before turning back off road and onto the trail leading to the Tully Mountain Summit.

There were patches where the trail was tough to follow, but for the most part it was well marked if not well traveled.

While Tully Mountain is modest in height (~1165') it was still going to be a 550-600 foot climb which looked imposing after 20 miles. While the sun had set, following the trail markings was nearly "doable" without the head lamp. After a brief  rest at the ledges I looked over the map and decided on the shortest route down, ~1/2 mile to Mountain Road.

A 1 second time exposure from Tully Mountain, looking toward Athol.

Once reaching Mountian Road I took the last 3miles to the car by road instead trying to negotiate the dark and unknown trail. Other than sore feet that was uneventful.

The GPS read 24.2 miles when I reached the Parking lot.

I would suspect the 18.4 miles listed in the Mass. AMC guide to be short, perhaps some changes have been made to the trail since that publication. The Trustees milage of 22 miles makes sense as I had the 1.5 mile additional when I missed the a turn and had a few other short errors and some early goofing around. The road milage, I finished with, was very close to the distance staying on the trail would have covered.