10/29: Brant in Clinton

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

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

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!

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!

8/14: Parker River NWR

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

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

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.