Bourinot's Birding Blog

Townsend's Warbler - Ipswich

2012-02-18T07:46:00.000-08:00

Jim Berry got a surprising Christmas present last year when a Townsend's Warbler showed up at his feeders in Ipswich, MA. Jim has been very generous allowing hundreds of birders to stand in his backyard to see this vagrant. Today is Feb 18 and the bird is STILL showing up at his feeders, constantly feeding on the mealworms Jim puts out daily. I was able to see this bird twice; once on 1/16 and then again (very briefly) during the Superbowl of Birding on January 28.

And here is the normal range of the Townsend's Warbler. How did this bird end up in Mass? Will it return to its normal range?

-K

Strange Squirrel Death

2012-02-05T15:54:00.000-08:00

I saw this while driving and I needed to take a photo because it boggled my mind.Not quite sure what happened here. My first guess was that it fell from above, but looking at it more it almosts seems like it got its right leg wedged between two twigs. What do you think?

12/17 - PINK-FOOTED GOOSE in Rutland

2011-12-21T12:10:00.000-08:00

At about 11:30AM on 17Dec11, I was scanning through some Canada Geese in Rutland when I came across this PINK-FOOTED GOOSE. This is the first record for Worcester County and I think it's only the sixth or seventh record in the state (if accepted). At first I thought it might be the same bird as the one reported in Lynn a week earlier, but the bill colors are very different. The bill of the bird in Lynn had black bill with a pink tip, while the bird I saw had a mostly pink bill.

The Pink-footed Goose breeds in Greenland and Iceland and winters in Scotland and England. Their numbers are increasing. Interestingly, while watching this bird a GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE flew in with another group of Canadas.

And here's the bad news: Unfortunately, this bird is located on private property and, although the landowner gave me permission to walk on the grounds, they were adamant about not having a crowd of people. It's not a birder-friendly area and definitely cannot support many cars. For this reason I am not posting the exact location. I'm posting this report soley to document the record and to make people aware that this bird is in the area. So, check all flocks of Canada Geese!

Kevin

Recent Fall Photos

2011-12-20T17:51:00.000-08:00

I'd be glad to answer any location/ID questions you have for this post. Otherwise, you're going to have to ID these by yourself. I'm being lazy on this one:

10/29: Brant in Clinton

2011-11-06T13:31:00.000-08:00

I always check the Clinton High School baseball field for interesting birds. On October 29th there was a BRANT mixed in with a bunch of Canada Geese:

Check out the migration route of this bird. Pretty impressive.

Bolton Flats: Late September / Early October

2011-10-29T14:07:00.000-07:00

Here are a few photos from earlier in the fall at Bolton Flats:

AMERICAN REDSTART

ROSE-BREASTED GROSBEAK

RUBY-THROATED HUMMINGBIRD

BLACK-AND-WHITE WARBLER

SMOOTH ASTER

LEOPARD FROG

RED-TAILED HAWK

COMMON BUCKEYE

BROWN THRASHER

NODDING LADY TRESSES

Breeding Bird Atlas II - A quick glance at some interesting data

2011-10-14T10:58:00.000-07:00

The Massachusetts Breeding Bird Atlas II has been going on since 2007 and is wrapping up this year. It will compare the status of breeding birds from the first project in 1974 to the status of our breeding birds today. Although the first atlas was kind of half-assed, it is still evident from the data that some of our native bird populations are on the decline in certain parts of the state. For some species it seems like a bird wasteland once you cross east of route 495. It has given me a whole new perspective on how sensitive our native birds are in regards to habitat alteration and fragmentation. MANIFEST DESTINY!

Look at the results for AMERICAN ROBIN:

Now, look the results for BLACK-THROATED BLUE WARBLER:

During atlasing this year I found a new area supporting GRASSHOPPER SPARROWs (THREATENED):

GRASSHOPPER SPARROW:

Here's its map:

Good Birding!

8/14: Parker River NWR

2011-09-27T09:27:00.000-07:00

I took a short trip to Plum Island on 8/14. There was a nice selection of terns at Sandy Point as well as good numbers of shorebirds. Annoying people were out as well.

BONAPARTE'S GULL

SHORT-BILLED DOWITCHER

GREAT BLACK-BACKED GULL

This bird was banded on the Appledore Islands by Dr. Julie Ellis.

http://gullsofappledore.wordpress.com/

LAUGHING GULL

LEAST TERN

BLACK-BELLIED PLOVERS, SEMI-PALMATED PLOVERS, SEMI-PLAMATED SANDPIPERS

Lots of shorebirds means food for raptors.

This PEREGRINE FALCON ended up grabbing a semi-palm plover.

Thousands of migrating TREE SWALLOWS

COMMON TERNS, ROSEATE TERNS

8/28: Hurricane Irene Birds at Fitchburg Airport

2011-09-02T06:49:00.000-07:00

I checked Wachusett Reservoir before and during the hurricane hoping for some rarities blown inland. The only thing blown in at Wachusett was my formerly good hair day and my go-getter attitude. Then, while sorting through a bunch of swallows at Thomas Basin, I got a call from Tom Pirro. He had also struck out at the reservoir earlier, but on his way home he stopped at Fitchburg airport. While he was telling me about all the amazing shorebirds that had put down at the airport, an f'n JAEGER flew overhead! He managed to snap some photos (http://tpirro.blogspot.com/). I jumped in the jeep and flew to Fitchburg.

The Path of Hurricane Irene

Fitchburg Airport location

This was the scene when I arrived. Total amazement as new birds began to appear as we scanned through the grass and the runway. Constant rain covered my camera and scope lenses. Luckily, four other central Mass birders were able to arrive to witness this event.

Hudsonian Godwits, Black-bellied Plovers, American Golden Plovers, Red Knots

This shows all 8 Red Knots together

Ruddy Turnstones began to come out of the tall grass and onto the runway. We counted 12.

We counted over 60 Black-bellied Plovers. A few Red Knots still showing breeding plumage.

This is a scene that doesn't happen very often in Worcester County.

Hudsonian Godwits in flight

Flight shot. You can easily pick out American Golden Plovers here.

Another great bird was this Lesser Black-backed Gull

The airport guy let us actually walk onto the runway to get closer looks. We didn't want to flush or put more stress on the birds, so we still kept our distance.

It was a great, record-breaking evening. Nice find, Tom!

Here's the complete list of birds seen:

Canada Goose (16)

Mallard (2)

Double-crested Cormorant (5)

Great Blue Heron (1)

Red-tailed Hawk (1)

American Kestrel (1)

Black-bellied Plover (64)

American Golden-Plover (7)

Semipalmated Plover (2 )

Killdeer (2)

Lesser Yellowlegs (3)

Hudsonian Godwit (3)

Ruddy Turnstone (12)

Red Knot (8)

Sanderling (10)

Semipalmated Sandpiper (20)

Least Sandpiper (3)

peep sp. (25)

Short-billed Dowitcher (2)

Ring-billed Gull (2)

Herring Gull (3)

Lesser Black-backed Gull (1)

Great Black-backed Gull (1)

Mourning Dove (15)

American Crow (6)

Horned Lark (2)

Barn Swallow (12)

8/27: Wachusett Reservoir - Red-necked Phalarope

2011-08-30T10:55:00.000-07:00

I checked gate 8 before the rain started on Saturday. I've actually never hiked into this gate. You can see the sandy peninsula from gate 40, and it's always been tempting to make the hike. It seemed like a great spot to get views of the open water and birds are always landing on it. I was originally at gate 40 in Clinton, but had nothing. I could see a large number of Ring-billed Gulls floating on the water further south of wood island so I decided to make the hike out to the point. I was rewarded with possibly the best viewing spot of the entire reservoir. Scanning through the gulls I soon spotted a phalarope on the water. I walked along the shore to get a closer look and an ID. It was a juvenile Red-necked Phalarope. This makes my third Worcester County phalarope of the summer; a Red Phalarope showed up on July 30th, when the water level was still very low, and a Red-necked showed up at Bolton Flats on May 28th. I was there for about an hour and the bird never took off. I didn't bring my lens, but I attempted to PHONE-SCOPE some photos. They didn't come out very good.

05/22 Bolton Flats Willet... and other recent stop-overs

2011-05-27T07:10:00.000-07:00

I went to Bolton Flats last Sunday evening to see if I could hear the American Bitterns pumping. There ended up being pumping the entire time I was there! I was scanning through the muddy cornfield when I came across a large shorebird. It had gray legs and a long, thick bill. It confused me for a minute because although they're common along the coast, I've never seen a WILLET in Worcester county! I took some photos through my scope with my iPhone. Not the best quality, but the bird is identifiable. My phone ended up dying so I couldn't get the word out, but luckily a few other birders saw it ealier that day. There has been mention of the possibility of this being a Western Willet, inornatus subspecies. May not be identifiable by this photo, but any comments would be appreciated.

Bolton Flats has been great for shorebird stop-overs these last few weeks: DUNLIN, PECTORAL SANDPIPERS, BLACK-BELLIED PLOVERS, LEAST SANDPIPERS, SEMIPALMATED PLOVERS. Also, down the road at Wachusett Reservoir there has been a great variety of coastal migrants stopping by. Huge numbers of BRANT have sought refuge on the water (and at third base on Clinton HS baseball field). RED-BREASTED MERGANSERS also. Last night was great at gate 40 with a COMMON TERN and a BLACK TERN. Who needs the coast???

Kevin

February, March, and April...

2011-05-27T06:15:00.000-07:00

I've been a busy little beaver this winter with classes, free and accepted Masonry, constant sickness, and my little bundle of joy, Landon. I'm happy to say that this past winter is over. February is typically my slowest birding month of the year, but this year was extra slow with only 2 incidental reports from my yard and one from work. What an awful month to have to live through in Massachusetts.

Looking at the number of times I've birded in the month of February over the last three years shows a steady decline in my birding effort since 2009. The year 2008 was fairly low also; mostly local birding with one trip to the coast. You can see that I was way more excited about February birding in 2009; five trips to the coast that year. The number of checklists includes casual/incidental sightings. So, I included the number of species reported. February sucks.

Year	February Checklists	# Species Reported
2011	2	3
2010	7	18
2009	15	74
2008	7	47

Let's just put February behind us. March was much better. I got out more during lunch and on the weekends. However, March also shows somewhat of a 3-year decline in my winter birding effort. I do need to mention that weather plays a major role in the number of species seen during spring migration. Bolton flats was perfect in '09 and '10, but this year was terrible for waterfowl stop-overs.

Year	March Checklists	# Species Reported
2011	16	46
2010	21	55
2009	29	91
2008	7	65

One of my favorite trips in March was to High Ridge Wildlife Management area in Princeton. The first signs of spring were in the air.

I had a flock of 11 FOX SPARROWS

And this PILEATED WOODPECKER

March was kind of upsetting for waterfowl with everything freezing late. Most stuff passed through. Although, I did get a pair of Blue-winged Teal at Bolton Flats. And then.......the neotropical migrants started showing up in mid April!

COMMON YELLOWTHROAT

BLUE-GRAY GNATCATCHER (on territory at Oxbow NWR)

YELLOW WARBLER

SOLITARY SANDPIPER

RED-WINGED BLACKBIRD

LESSER YELLOWLEGS

WHITE SUCKER (deceased)

SAVANNAH SPARROW on someone's lawn

CHIPPING SPARROW

PALM WARBLER

EASTERN PHOEBE

RING-NECKED DUCKS (good numbers at Sterling Peat)

COMMON GOLDENEYE

GREEN-WINGED TEAL

AMERICAN ROBIN

GRAY CATBIRD

CANADA GOOSE

EASTERN PAINTED TURTLES

BLANDING'S TURTLE (Oxbow NWR)

WHITE-CROWNED SPARROW (new yard bird)

Lark Sparrow in Devens... again? 12/15 - 01/26

2011-01-26T16:33:00.000-08:00

On December 15th, over a month ago, I stepped outside of the building where I work in Devens, to a bunch of weird chip notes I didn't recognize. I spotted the bird making the racket; a large sparrow with a black dot in the center of its unstreaked breast. I immediately thought American Tree Sparrow, but it seemed off. Then the bird flew to a nearby tree and I got a flash of white on the edges of its tail. Lark Sparrow! I walked up to the tree for a closer look at the face only to watch the bird take off North West. Completely Gone. My coworker, Ray, was with me at the time and agreed it was a Lark Sparrow, but I decided not to do anything with the sighting. There just wasn't enough evidence to confirm the sighting and I never got a look at the facial pattern since I was looking up at it. Although I had the very cooperative Lark Sparrow at the Berard's feeder in 2008, it was still a big disappointment. They call me the big dipper.

Today (01/26) while checking feeders around Devens, I spotted a definite Lark Sparrow feeding on the ground with juncos! This is about 1.4 miles away from the original sighting (this is a Worcester County Bird). Could it be the same bird? Luckily, I had my camera this time:

I first took some quick photos just in case it decided to take off.

I walked closer for some great looks.

Hopefully I'll get to speak to the landowner soon and they'll allow their address to be available to other birders.

Common Redpoll in Devens (1/25)

2011-01-26T15:31:00.000-08:00

That's right. ONE Common Redpoll. Finally! I've been watching these birch trees at my work for a while... waiting for a redpoll to show up. (Not the best photos, but whatever):

Royalston, Wachusett Res, Worcester Airport, and Sterling (1/09 - 1/22)

2011-01-26T14:54:00.000-08:00

I changed the name of the blog. It was way too close to a certain commentator's new book. I'll pass on that. It's now called "Bourinot's Birding Blog" because well, that's what it is.

Two weekends ago I tried to catch up with the pair of Barrow's Goldeneye at the reservoir. Mark Lynch and Sheila Carroll first spotted this species in South Bay on the Worcester Christmas bird count (see my earlier post). The ice was rapidly expanding around the reservoir and I knew they wouldn't be around much longer. Although I didn't get them, I did get looks at a few Bald Eagles on the ice. The group of Scaup were also present, but acting very skittish. Now, waterfowl are few and far between.

Last weekend I decided to check out the winter finches that have been reported around the town of Royalston. It was very slow birding and the recent snowfall made the roads extremely difficult to pull off. I spent about three hours driving around looking at feeders. I eventually caught up with a large flock of common redpolls on Fitzwilliam Road. I estimated over 40 redpolls in that group. Only a few stuck around in the treetops for distant looks. Then, I had the only Evening Grosbeaks of the day; 2 fly-overs. In that same area 4 Common Ravens flew by, which was a nice addition. While looking at a feeder, suddenly there was a commotion among the feeder birds. Everything was in alarm and flushing. A Northern Shrike arrived in a tree by the feeders. Unfortunately, it took off when it noticed me. On my way home I was driving down route 68 and noticed a small bird in the middle of the road. As I got closer I realized the bird was a female-type White-winged Crossbill which was picking up seeds off the road. I've been hoping to run into one of these as there's been a bit of an irruption in recent weeks. Overall, I had a great variety of Northern species, but it was very tough hunting them down.

On Sunday, I made another trip to Worcester Airport to check out the buntings and larks. I was not disappointed. The numbers have picked up to well over 100. I know I already posted on these birds, but they're worth a re-post.

Lately, I've been searching for a Red-headed Woodpecker that Dan Berard spotted in Sterling last week. No luck yet. Landon and I will be searching for it this week before daycare. While searching we did get these sexy Eastern Bluebirds.

Bye,

Kevin

Worcester Airport, Westport, Wachusett Reservoir - 01/03/2010

2011-01-03T18:29:00.000-08:00

I wanted to check out the Snow Buntings and Horned Larks that have been recently reported at Worcester Airport (terminal side). When I arrived they were on the runway, but after about 15 minutes they started to fly around the general area and eventually a large portion of the flock landed in the parking lot close to the car. There were tons of Snow Buntings!

And a good number of Horned Larks

After that extravaganza of grassland birds I made one of my signature last minute, rash, pinheaded decisions to drive down to one of my favorite birding locations, Gooseberry Neck in Westport. I guess it wasn't that crazy since at least I checked the weather channel app before leaving the airport. It was going to be cold and windy on the coast. Whatever. The land birds would probably be scarce. Whatever. Gooseberry Neck can be amazing for migrating land birds since many birds end up over the ocean during migration. Many times Gooseberry Neck is the first land they'll see, which means good birding. Anything can show up here. However, I wasn't expecting much since it's not exactly migration, but still.

Gooseberry Neck from GoogleMaps

When I arrived 1.5 hours later it was cold and very windy.

Oh and I forgot to bring a heavy jacket. Or gloves.

It was not looking good for my day off.

I wasn't going to let a little cold and wind stop me from walking to the end of the point. Oh hells no! And I was determined to spish up at least one land bird. That's all I wanted. Do you know what I mean? Give me a house sparrow or something. I came upon the World War II defense towers and began to realize that I could be in a much worse situation; like when the Nazis fought to take Westport in 1944. I was going to the point.

I saw some water birds along the way.

Common Loon

White-winged Scoters.

If you've never seen a scoter you're a pinhead and need to look closer. They're cool birds. You'll like them.

Surf Scoters

White-winged Scoter (female) and Common Eider (female)

Common Goldeneye (female) and Horned Grebe

Common Eider (male)

Bufflehead (male)

Finally, after a grueling 15 minutes of walking I found my first land bird on the point. Song Sparrow. Then a Black-capped Chickadee. Then a Downy Woodpecker (which raised an eBird flag the first time I entered one back in 2008, BTW).

American Tree Sparrow

Then, I started hearing Yellow-rumped Warbler chip note. I was pretty excited about that. They are pretty scarce this time of year although much more present along the coast. I hadn't seen one in awhile. I ended up having 8 Yellow-rumps on my walk.

Yellow-rumped Warbler

Check out the rump on this.

Then, I stumbled on this "Ipswich" Savannah Sparrow. Again, it's been a few months since my last Savannah so I was excited. The Ipswich sparrow was formerly considered a distinct species. They breed almost exclusively on Sable Island.

There was a connection we both felt since both of our ancestors bred on Nova Scotia.

That was it for Gooseberry. On the way towards Allen's Pond Audubon sanctuary, I spotted some shorebirds on a rock. They ended up being Dunlin with one Sanderling in the group.

When I got home I decided to check out a Red-breasted Merganser that Alan Marble spotted on Wachusett Reservoir. This is not a common bird inland. They're common on the coast. I just realized that I spent the day on the coast and had no RB Mergs!

There was also a Hooded Merganser nearby. Here she is in flight. Check out that wing pattern.

Finally, on my way home I got some turkeys. I dipped on turkeys on every one of my christmas counts!

Good day afield, aye?

Kevin

Uxbridge CBC - 01/01/2011

2011-01-02T11:28:00.000-08:00

I agreed to take over a sector for the Uxbridge CBC because the leader was "retiring" after many years. Unfortunately, the Quabbin CBC was on the same day and Beck and I usually help out Mark and Sheila with their area, which is inside gate 40 (the old town Dana). It's a wicked fun count and I was bummed we couldn't do it this year. Hopefully they won't be on the same day next year.

My area is in the towns of Blackstone and Millville, which are directly on the Rhode Island border. A good chunk of the Blackstone River runs through this block and open water this time of year is a magnet for wintering waterfowl. There are good tracts of power lines and a few areas with conifers.

This was my last count of the CBC season so I would need to give it my all; that means no bathrooms, no eating, not talking, no breaks, no phone calls. Just count. I ended up breaking a few of these rules as the day went on.

Walking to my car at about 3:30AM I was glad to hear my yard Great Horned Owls dueting again. I'm not sure where they'll nest, but there is good habitat all over. I got to the sector at about 4:30AM to perfect weather for owling. I ended up getting two Eastern screech and five Great Horned owls. When the sun came up I immediately drove to the Blackstone river to get some ducks, but my first non-owl ended up being this Cooper's Hawk, which likely lives off the group of pigeons in its view.

I made it to the river while ticking away common landbirds on the way like this Dark-eyed Junco.

Pair of Northern Cardinals

Mourning Dove

White-throated Sparrow

Song Sparrow

Northern Mockingbird

There was a good variety of waterfowl on the river.

Wood Ducks

American Black Ducks

Hooded Merganser (male)

This Belted Kingfisher was fishing the area as well

There is a mill building, which was converted into apartments. Check out how the residents let their cats out!

While driving around I noticed a flock of European Starlings with one different bird in the flock. I had no idea what it was until about 20 minutes later when I spotted this leucistic starling sitting on a wire.

I was pretty excited to find 2 Winter Wrens since I completely dipped on my other counts.

I had quite a few Red-tailed hawks throughout the day.

Northern Flicker

I turned up a Field Sparrow.

I had a nice flock of Greylag Geese on the banks of the Blackstone River.

I saw a Turkey Vulture soaring around and I eventually found the roost with 11 more vultures, but it was outside the count circle in Woonsocket.

Overall, it was a pretty decent count with unbelievable weather and some late species lingering around.

Here's the list:

Canada Goose (11)
Wood Duck (12)
American Black Duck (10)
Mallard (168)
Hooded Merganser (17)
Common Merganser (18)
Great Blue Heron (1)
Turkey Vulture (1)
Cooper's Hawk (4)
Red-tailed Hawk (6)
Ring-billed Gull (39)
Herring Gull (1)
Great Black-backed Gull (3)
Rock Pigeon (102)
Mourning Dove (37)
Eastern Screech-Owl (2)
Great Horned Owl (5)
Belted Kingfisher (2)
Red-bellied Woodpecker (7)
Downy Woodpecker (18)
Hairy Woodpecker (1)
Northern Flicker (3)
Blue Jay (144)
American Crow (156)
Black-capped Chickadee (171)
Tufted Titmouse (133)
White-breasted Nuthatch (34)
Brown Creeper (1)
Carolina Wren (18)
Winter Wren (2)
Golden-crowned Kinglet (19)
American Robin (66)
Northern Mockingbird (5)
European Starling (184)
Cedar Waxwing (34)
Field Sparrow (1)
Song Sparrow (43)
White-throated Sparrow (44)
Dark-eyed Junco (282)
Northern Cardinal (51)
House Finch (34)
American Goldfinch (99)
House Sparrow (401)

Kevin

In Memoriam

2010-12-30T15:11:00.000-08:00

I've been keeping track of bird deaths at work. The construction of this colossal building was completed about a year and a half ago, and since that time many of us have been seeing a huge number of window strikes around the buildings and starvation deaths in the parking garage stairwell. Devens has some great habitat including tracts of early succession forest, ponds and large fields. The Nashua river runs nearby and much of the land surrounding the building is actually in Oxbow National Wildlife Refuge as well as the Nashua River Watershed IBA (Important Bird Area). All I can do is document the photos I've taken. There are at least 3 birds that don't currently have photographic documentation; 2 European Starlings (1 window, 1 garage starvation) and 1 Eastern Bluebird (window).

Yellow Warbler #1 (spring migration) - Garage

Chipping Sparrow #1 - Garage

Tufted Titmouse #1 - Window Strike

Brown-headed Cowbird (immature) #1 - Window Strike

Blackpoll Warbler #1 - Window Strike (this bird eventually flew off to continue its grueling fall migration)

Chipping Sparrow #2 - Window Strike

White-breasted Nuthatch #1 - Window Strike

Chipping Sparrow #3- Window Strike

Tufted Titmouse #2 - Garage Starvation

Barn Swallow - Window Strike

Central Mass Barrow's Goldeneye Identification

2010-12-26T13:56:00.000-08:00

We found 3 female BARROW'S GOLDENEYE on Lake Quinsigamond during the Worcester Christmas Bird Count on December 18th. Two of these birds were classic Barrow's, but one looked a little off. It's bill was overall orange with some small dark blotches. Its bill was much duller than the others and seemed a bit larger. Its head shape seemed consistent with Barrow's as compared to the many Common Goldeneye that were present. I "phone-scoped" a bunch of photos of these birds (phone-scoping is taking photos with a cell phone through a spotting scope).

Female BARROW'S GOLDENEYE #1

Female BARROW's GOLDENEYE #2

Questionable Female BARROW'S GOLDENEYE

On the same day Mark Lynch and Sheila Carroll had an adult male Barrow's at South Bay of Wachusett Reservoir. This makes an astounding 4 Barrow's in Worcester county. They checked again a few days later and found a female had joined the male. I checked these birds out last Thursday and found that it was a classic female Barrow's. This morning, December 26, I checked out the extreme Northern end of Wachusett reservoir (gate 40) in Clinton and found a group of Common Goldeneye. This was a different group than the one in South Bay. In this group was a female with an orange, but dull bill with some black blotching. It looks a lot like the questionable bird on December 18th at lake Quinsigamond. I haven't checked Quinsigamond since the count, but those birds may be moving to Wachusett as the lake freezes over. A poor quality, phone-scoped photo is below.

The Wachusett Bird seen today

Here's an example of 2 female COMMON GOLDENEYEs taken last February at Wachusett for comparison.

David Sibley's blog (updated 02Mar10) has a great entry on distinguishing between female Barrow's and Common goldeneyes. Check it out here: David Sibley's Blog on Common Vs. Barrow's Goldeneye Identification

Kevin

Old Photo Policy

2010-12-26T08:56:00.000-08:00

I'll sporadically post old photos from my archives. Here's a Garter Snake at Oxbow NWR on 10/2/2010.

Reasons for this Blog

2010-12-26T07:36:00.000-08:00

I decided to start a blog to share my birding adventures. I normally post my photos and rants on facebook and pbase.com, but there are so many great birding blogs out there I thought I'd give it a try. The problem with this idea is I'm not the most consistent person when it comes keeping journals. Most likely I'll post entries for about a month and then it will taper off to once a year. I'll try my best to stick to it.