Kevin Bourinot: May 2011

Friday, May 27, 2011

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

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...

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