Birding Cheshire - Sunday, May 3rd

Needing to log a few more hours in the northern block of our three Berkshire atlas blocks, we decided to head out Rt. 2 and visit the towns of Adams and Cheshire and log 4-5 hours for the early breeding birds. We had a specific target list....having not had Turkey or Ruffed Grouse during the safe dates the previous year. We were delighted to find Cliff Swallow already building their nests! We got to study the birds coming down to gather mud and flying back up to the eaves of the barn. The close looks provided a great study of the all the field marks of the bird from the white forehead to the orange rump. The birds were coming and going so quickly, but in most instances when they landed on the ground there was lots of wing fluttering going on.

Checking Birds of North American online, the following reference explains this wing fluttering: "When gathering mud, both sexes flutter wings above back to prevent being attacked by males seeking EPCs (Extra-Pair Copulations) (Butler 1982b, Brown and Brown in press; see Agonistic Behavior). "

From a distance it all looked rather chaotic, and in some of the shots it was hard to tell just how many birds were on the ground at once. This is a very large colony, with over 150 nests, so there was definitely a lot of activity. I sometimes wonder about the safe dates for the atlas. Here I am in the northern Berkshires watching Cliff Swallow construct their nests at a known nest colony site, yet the safe dates say I shouldn't count "probable" behavior until May 25th or later. I sincerely hope that some of the data that's being submitted from the central and western parts of the state help to shift the "eastern bias" that can be found in a lot of the historical information we've always accepted regarding birds in Massachusetts.

Still dealing with the loss of my best feline friend, Gremlin, didn't stop me from appreciating this absolutely adorable barn cat. Of course, I'm not sure that the Cliff Swallows shared my admiration.

One of the other notable birds back on breeding territory was this very vocal Savannah Sparrow. It seemed that all the rolling farm fields had several territorial singing birds.

You have to click on the photo above to enlarge it and see the bizarre string of Turkey Vultures lining the fence posts. At first I thought all the post just had black tops to them. But when one of the "tops" dropped to the ground, I figured it out pretty quickly. Based on the number of birds there must have been an offal pit nearby. (Webster's online dictionary defines "offal" as the viscera or trimmings of a butchered animal).


Regardless of what you call it or why the birds are hanging around there, can you imagine waking up in the morning and looking out your back window to see a line of 10+ vultures on your back fence?

Smatterings of warblers and Blue-headed Vireos were sprinkled throughout the block we surveyed. Again, we had to note where many of these species were so that when we go back in a few weeks (after many of the safe dates) we'll be able to count the birds for the atlas.

We did stop at a couple of the WMA's in the block. And at one field, I flushed up a lone Turkey Vulture from the ground. He didn't fly far but I didn't approach too closely since there was definitely something dead nearby that had his attention.

I knew I was on the right track when the TV proceeded to rub his face back and forth on the tree branch -- obviously cleaning the bare skin on his face.

We didn't have as much hawk migration as I would have thought, but this Broad-wing was hanging out right above the road. And judging my his lack of movement when I jumped out to take this shot, and the fact that he let me drive right underneath him, I can only assume he was a migrant that was really, really exhausted. Otherwise, this is one bird without good survival instincts.

Things are definitely start to pop, so if you haven't been getting out to see the early migrants, make sure you do so this weekend. After all, there are only so many wonderful spring days we have to enjoy nature!

Enjoy.....Sheila

Quabbin & Whatley - Saturday 5/2

We decided to head out to south Quabbin on Saturday and then, hopefully, head up to Whatley to get the Painted Bunting that was coming to a feeder. We decided that if there was any migration going on, the slopes of south Quabbin could be hot. Also I wanted to start capturing some of the early wildflowers. It seems that every spring I have to start all over re-learning the wildflowers. I remember this is what it used to be like with birding.....especially with birdsong. Every spring I felt like I lost whatever I had learned the previous year. Now I realize I hadn't really learned them, but over time that's changed (for the most part)

Bloodroot (which is a member of the Poppy family) is out early in spring and fades pretty quickly. There's one place near Barre Falls Dam where it's just everywhere. Unfortunately, the gates haven't opened yet, so I can't say it's blooming yet. Unfortunately, the flower comes and go pretty quickly.

The little Bluets were out everywhere along the grassy slopes lining the road in Quabbin....

and the Pussytoes were everywhere as well.

On the lawn in front of the Administration there were tiny, tiny white flowers interspersed with the grasses. These turned out to be Thyme-leave Speedwell (which is a member of the Snapdragon family). Most of the time I overlook these tiny delicate flowers....

but with my macro lens I could get up close and personal with them. They were quite beautiful.

But my heart still belongs to the birds....like this male Red-winged Blackbird who really wanted me gone when we pulled off along that little marsh right on Rt. 9 between the entrance gates to Quabbin. I kept hoping he would go into fully territorial display, but I guess I didn't seem like that big a threat sitting in my car admiring him.

As we worked the slopes of south Quabbin, Robins were in fully song everywhere....

And when we got to the Tower it was clear that the Rufous-sided Towhees had arrived in full force. We also had Field Sparrow and Prairie Warbler on territory already at the Tower.

The picnic area at the old blueberry patch produced a pair of Brown Thrasher setting up their nesting territory.

Of course, the reason for doing south Quabbin in spring is for the warbler waves. And we weren't disappointed. It was fairly good with lots of numbers of a few species. The Ovenbirds and Black & Whites seemed most predominant, along with the Pines that had been there for a few weeks. We also had our first Least and Great-crested Flycatchers and good numbers of Yellow-throated Vireo as well. We thought we might have hooked into an early Cerulian Warbler, but it turned out to be this very photogenic Black-throated Blue.

Now that's one song I have to go back to every spring....the Cerulian vs. the BTBlue. Once I hear a Cerulian I never confuse it with BT Blue, but it doesn't work in the reverse for me.

After finishing up a few hours at south Quabbin we called Bill Benner in Whatley to see if the Bunting was still showing up.....it was so we headed to the other side of the river and wandered our way to Whatley.

All I can say is, great hosts (thank you Bill and Joe)..... a great house...... and an awesome feeder area. All the shots were taken through their large living room windows.

Definitely not bird that you would mistake for anything else if it showed up at your feeder.

Even from the back.....

Most of the time the bird stayed tucked into a forsythia bush, but when he popped out to feed on the ground, you got great looks.

Not much you can say after a feeder bird like that!


Enjoy.....Sheila

The Last Weekend in April Part 2 -- Birds!

Saturday (4/25) we decided to head out to our Berkshire blocks to see if we could get some of the early birds for the atlas. We got up and left at about 3:30, but by the time we hit Moran WMA in Windsor the sun was already starting to rise. We did manage to get both Woodcock and Snipe (both breeders) along with the breeding American Bittern pumping down in the marsh. There was a Kestral hanging around a field where there was a Kestral box.....so here's hoping! We also spent some time in the parking lot just watching for things to fly by and as the morning warmed up we saw some of the early Broadwings taking off.

We also had great looks at Osprey, Sharpies (displaying) and even a wonderful aerial display from a pair of Goshawk.

As we started to poke around the back roads, Mark found a pair of Robins building a nest. As it turns out, this was just the first of several for the weekend.

We had Purple Finch in full song....along with Song Sparrows setting up their nesting territories.

A Sharpie came bombing through the area and all the land birds disappeared deep into the woods. The one exception was this little Hermit Thrust....he just seemed to freeze in place. And he actually let me get quite close before he, too, ducked for cover. It was absolutely wonderful to hear singing Hermit Thrushes again. It's one of the great springtime songs and I never tire of it. That true of Wood Thrush as well, but only the Hermits were in at Windsor.

Nesting seemed to be on everyone's mind and we watched a pair of Chickadees meticulously prepare their nest hole in an old birch tree. At first all you could see was the tail....

Then he/she started to back out of the hole....

and it certainly seemed like a lot of work for just a small mouthful of wood chips.

We also found a nice large patch of Horsetails (I think it's the Scouringrush Horsetail). These plants are very primitive and we've found them in several areas of the Berkshires, both north and south. This was my first chance to use my new macro lens, so I'm still trying to figure it out and plants seem to be a good subject. Although I must admit I can't wait for the butterflies to be out in force.

Since nesting seemed to be in force for a lot of species, we weren't surprise to have a very persistent Flicker drumming at the nest hole.

This bird was so intent on the female nearby, that he practically let me climb the tree he was in!

On Sunday (4/26) we decided to stay local and headed down to our Southbridge atlas blocks to log a few hours there. Things aren't in full swing from an atlasing point of view yet (there are these pesky Safe Dates to follow), but we did spend some time at the Westville Dam and were able to confirm a number of species including Carolina Wren and Rough-winged Swallow.

Southbridge must love forsythia, since we came across huge plantings in numerous places.

The big surprise while at the dam was to find several Red-eared Sliders along with the Painted Turtles out sunning themselves. We even had a smaller Musk Turtle! Not often that you have a 3-turtle day in Central Mass. These are those little green turtles you get in pet stores and people often let them go in ponds once they've gotten over the charm of having a turtle as a pet. As you can see, they can grow quite large.

Driving around we noticed that Bluejays were pretty evident....but we weren't able to confirm any Probable breeding behavior as of yet.

We did, however, come across Robins nest-building again. Much like the ones in the Berkshires the day before, these birds were very intent on getting the nest built and didn't seem to mind my standing there with a camera documenting their efforts.

And similar to the Berks, Flickers definitely were in high display mode. This pair were very noisy and the male was constantly displaying to the female. This is one instance where I would have preferred taking a digital movie rather than stills, since the jerky movements and twisting of the bird is really quite entertaining to watch.

So even though the major time period for breeding bird behavior hasn't technically arrived, we saw quite a bit of it from birds in both the western and central parts of the state. No reason to go east of 495 as far as I'm concerned......


Enjoy......Sheila

The Last Weekend in April Part 1 -- No Birds

Warning.....this is a non-birding post to the blog, so for those of you who DO NOT want to see children and animals please sign off now. (Mark, this warning is especially for you!) Okay, for the past few years I have this guilty springtime ritual -- I LOVE to visit the Sawmill River miniature horse farm in West Brookfield http://www.srfminis.com/ To convince myself that it's not really about me, I usually do it as part of a birding trip when we're in the area....or I take one of my granddaughters. This year was Maggie's turn. But we also visited the Fish Hatchery in Belchertown, and sometimes I think the kids enjoy feeding the fish more than watching the miniature horses. So here's a quick tour of BOTH!

Just like going to the zoo, you have to make sure you have quarters for the "fish food" gumball machine! We brought along a baggie since little hands can't quite seem to keep the food intact while transporting it down the long rows of pools.

The fish definitely swirl around and sometimes splash you. But I think Maggie actually thought they might jump out and grab the food right out of her hand. And now to up the ante on the "Hallmark" cuteness factor....

They definitely fall into the "all kittens and puppies are cute" category.

Twins!

Since this was all about a day for just Maggie (no siblings) she got to pick her favorite picture (above) and that's how I'm ending this blog.

Enjoy.....Sheila