Our First Class Trip -- Quabbin, Saturday 4/3

Mark is teaching a spring migration class at Broadmeadow Brook just for the month of April. Part of the fun is that the class if full and with a great mixture of people from previous classes and some new folks we haven't even met before. It's always better after the first trip, so that people start to connect with each other. Our first trip was last Saturday, April 3rd, and it was a morning trip to Quabbin. We had about 15 birders on the trip. Driving out from Worcester, with Rebecca and Kevin Bourinot we stopped at the marsh along Rt. 9 between the first two Quabbin gates. We had some nice Hooded Mergansers looking like they wanted to set up territory. But we also had great looks at Otter literally jumping out of the water. We arrived at the Administration Building about 20 minutes early, and there were already other people waiting! This is an ambitious class. The morning was beautiful, but there weren't a lot of waterfowl on the reservoir.

As we waited for everyone to arrive, we searched for Bald Eagles (not) and spent time checking out the Song Sparrows, Juncos and Robins working the bushes below the dam.

We moved around to the spillway and everyone was able to get looks at the active Raven's nest that's in the same place as it has been for the last 8-10 years. The water was rushing through and I just can't imagine how damp that nest must be with all the rain we've had plus the mist that gets thrown up from the rushing water. But every year they keep coming back, so something must be working for them.

We had Phoebes starting to build their nest nearby....

as well as the first Chipping Sparrows I've seen for the year.

As we wandered up road to the Tower, we had the same species over and over -- Phoebe, Chipping Sparrow and American Robin.

We had Pine Warblers calling from a number of places, especially around the Administration Building and near the Spillway.

Probably the biggest "surprise" bird of the trip was found at the Tower. We got there at a good time to watch for the first hawks to go up. Within just a few minutes of pulling up we saw a small group of vultures off to the south. Since they were fairly close, Mark was pointing out the field marks of the Turkey Vulture, when we realized that 2 of the 3 birds were actually BLACK Vultures.This is the first time we've ever gotten Black Vulture at Quabbin. In fact Mark & I wondered if it's possible that these two birds could be the same birds we found in Warren last summer when we were doing atlas work. From a distance perspective, the two areas are relatively close "as the crow flies". But I don't think we'll ever know.

We also made a side trip to the Fish Hatchery hoping to find Bald Eagle (not) but we did find this Great Blue Heron looking for an easy meal. And, of course, there were Killdeer in the area as well.....

Oh I forgot to mention that we had a small group of Turkeys back at the Spillway....sorry about the photos being out of order....

This displaying male was a riot to watch. Talk about being full of yourself!

We then spent some time at the Enfield Lookout and actually discovered a new nesting Bald Eagle which could be seen from the parking area. So we didn't go eagle-less for the trip! We also spent time at the Blueberry Patch and managed to get our first Spring Azures, along with Mourning Cloak and Eastern Comma.

We got everyone back to the Administration Building right around noon....so we actually did make it a morning trip. Unfortunately, I forgot to remind people heading back Rt. 9 to Worcester to make a small detour in West Brookfield to stop and visit the miniature horse farm. But we stopped (over Mark's objections) and Rebecca and I jumped out to see a brand new foal. This little horse was obviously less than 12 hours old...24 at the most.

He or she was almost all legs and literally was falling asleep as we watched him. Even the mane looked to be still damp and it was in a special little fenced-in area with it's mother rather than in the bigger field with the other foals....which were more like 2-3 weeks old. No matter what anyone says, how can you just not love this little horse???

Inspired by this newborn, we spent the rest of the trip back to Worcester trying to help Kevin and Rebecca come up with unusual names for their soon-to-be newborn.....but that's a story for another time!

With a trip planned around each of the 5 classes, I will try to do a better job blogging about where we go and what we see for spring migration. Our next trip (Sunday, 4/10) is planned to Westport and Acoaxet....so stay tuned.

Enjoy.....Sheila

Poking Around New Braintree - 4/10/10

Took a quick tool around one of the Breeding Bird Atlas blocks we need to "clean up" this year. We're in the 4th (of 5) years of the BBA and this year the focus will be to make sure that all the blocks that have been done are really, truly done. That means they have at least 70 species recorded and that 60% or more have been noted as Probable or Confirmed breeding.As we moved around New Braintree and then headed out to Quabbin to pick up our permit and key to drive inside some of the gates, we found quite a few Hermit Thrushes this morning. Most of them just fly off into the woods, but this little fellow (I know, sexist comment) just perched up for a few minutes before flying off. He did give me a dirty look before he took off though.

While there were lots of Pine Warblers singing high up in the trees, I didn't really get any good looks. So it was nice to get a group of about 20 Palm Warblers move through the wet woodland in South New Salem near Gate 22.

After seeing these birds in their drab fall plumage, it's wonderful to see that bright yellow again.

We even had several calling as they moved through. And then, of course, they were gone as suddenly as they appeared...... I do love migration!

We also had our first Broad-winged Hawk of the season. I know the hard-core hawk watchers have been reporting them starting to come through, but ours was all alone and just circled up and away.

Just wanted to share my bit of spring from this morning!

Enjoy.....Sheila

Southern Berkshires Jumps Into Spring - 3/20/10

For those of you who were wondering whether we even birded in March since I wasn't blogging very much, we were. It's just that if I did post from my other March trips, you would see lots of cloudy, rainy weather. And, frankly, I'm so sick of rain I couldn't bear to even think about uploading those photos to a blog. So here's the only sunny trip we had ~ and it was a good one. Kevin & Rebecca Bourinot, Mark & I travelled to the southern Berkshires to see if spring was happening. Particularly we were in search of Black Vulture, since this was a state bird for both Rebecca & Kevin.

We were delighted to find a pair of Killdeer on territory in one of the industrial parks, and a beautiful male Ring-necked Pheasant. The question is whether or not the pheasant is a released bird who survived the hunting season or a legitimate wild bird (which is pretty unlikely in the state these days.)

We found several Great Blue Heron nests in full swing when we checked one of the rookeries in Stockbridge.

And while we didn't have any early rails in the marsh, we did have lots of activity in the streams, including these Red-spotted Newts....

many of which were feeding on what appeared to be a die-off of Isopods in the stream.

Some of the concentrations were huge, literally large dark masses on the bottom of the stream, but many were moving around feeding as well. After trying to capture some in a cup for a close-up look, we were soon brought back to birding when we heard a Northern Shrike calling!

Not only calling, but SINGING as well! This is not something I'm terribly familiar with and I was struck by how much it sounded like a mimic. It was more subdued, almost like it was whispering, but it had that definite mimic quality ~ not as blatant as a Mockingbird or Brown Thrasher but like a quiet version. We watched the bird (including in the scope) for about 10 minutes, before he dove in some nearby bushed looking for a quick breakfast.

It acted so much like a territorial bird, it'll be interesting to see if he's anywhere in the area next time we go out west. Most likely he just had spring fever like the rest of us.

After having such an auspicious start to the day, we quickly headed south to Sheffield in search of the target bird of the day ~ Black Vulture. Now a few weeks earlier when we were out here, we had 30+ BV's and not one single Turkey Vulture. So when we got to the pull-off south of Bartholemew's Cobble we saw lots of vultures going up -- but they were predominantly Turkey Vultures. We did spot a group of BV's and decided to head to our usual spot through Ashley Village to the CT border to see if there was any activity near "the gut pile".

Sure enough within seconds of pulling up we spotted several BV's flying in....

and landing with TV's on the old gut pile.

There was lots of jockeying for position on the pile and it was a great chance to study the two species side-by-side. In the perfect morning light you could really see how brown the TV's are compared to the really black on the Black Vultures. And all the other fields marks were evident -- the almost white legs, the wing "spots" versus "linings", head color, etc. I got lots of shots and could bore you to death, but really how many views of a gut pile do you want?

We spent lots of time checking all around the southern Berks, visiting blocks we had done last year for the Breeding Bird Atlas, checking new ones for this year, and overall noting the progress of spring in the southwest corner of our state. We noted other signs of spring as well, including this little posse of Nubian Goats. I thought Rebecca and Mark were going to jump out of the car and try to grab one and take it home. (And I get chastised for my obsession with miniature horses - ha!)

We had lots of great signs of spring, singing Mockingbird (which isn't always easy to come by for us in the Berkshires)

and great looks at Red-shouldered Hawk, Wood Duck, Common Mergansers, Swamp Sparrow. Just lots of song and courtship display going on everywhere.

Probably the best find of the day, however, was to quite unexpectedly come across a pair of Sandhill Cranes. Actually this is probably "the" pair of Sandhill Cranes, since they have now been recorded breeding in this area of the state.

Obviously due to the sensitive nature of this breeding bird, I really can't give out the location, but I did want to share some of the photos. With yearly sightings of these birds in the Brookfields and north Quabbin area, I know it's just a matter of time until we have these birds breeding in Central MA.

As usual for me any trip to the southern Berkshires is always fun. I think if I were to move anywhere in MA it would likely be to this area....although I'm not sure how I'd feel being so far away from the ocean.

All in all Rebecca & Kevin enjoyed their "introduction" to the area and were successful not only with their target bird, but a lot of other great spring sightings. A great day with fun people and good birds....and sunshine. So what more could you ask for?

Enjoy....Sheila

An Unusual Beginning to March -- Parties and Birds

On Saturday, March 6th, we ventured out to Quabbin in the wee morning hours....wanting to take advantage of the beautiful weather predicted and try to get some birding in before Mark got all tied up with his commitments at the Worcester Art Museum's big opening party Saturday night. When we arrived at the Administration Building it was a gorgeous morning, and even though there was still ice on parts of the reservoir, it was clearly moving in the right direction. A young Bald Eagle was at the edge of the ice -- not sure whether he was fishing or just bathing.

With most of the snow gone, we had our first good looks at spring turkeys at Quabbin. We were beginning to think that the fall hunting season had totally depleted the flocks....they are certainly far less obvious this year than in the past 4-5 years. When we got to the Enfield Lookout it was so clear that you could clearly see the snow-capped top of Mt. Monadanock in the distance.

The early skunk cabbage was poking up in some of the wetter areas....

and on the way back to Worcester, we found some Common Mergansers in some of the ponds in The Brookfields that were starting to free up from ice.

We did, however, run into some sort of ice sailing extravaganza on Lake Quabog. It's likely that this is the last weekend this sort of winter activity will take place, since parts of the lake were definitely ice free.

And when we pulled into the driveway we were greeted by the first big flock of Common Grackles coming to our feeders. Definitely a great early spring morning....

By early afternoon we were into the art museum phase of the weekend. Saturday night was the opening of the photography show: Who Shot Rock. Not only was there a big party to attend, but Mark was going to be one of the events....in addition to live band, a book signing by the curator of the show, Mark was DJing in for the whole.

It was great to see the Development Director (Brian Barlow) from the museum decked out for the event and hanging with some of the more important "guests".

Then, of course, there was the Director of Education (Honee Hess) looking totally awesome in her leather jacket and leather pants. It was clear that everyone was looking for a great party!

One of the special highlights for us, was a mini-reunion of the some of the former rock staff of WICN from back in the days when Mark was the rock director and the station had an alternative rock show on from midnight til 6 a.m. Mark totally enjoyed seeing Dick Greene and Bob Olson at the event.

And then we had Val Miller come in from Amherst with Scott Surner and hung out with some auburn-haired woman for purposes of having their picture taken.

More former WICN rockers ~ Judy and Joanne Robichaud came in from Boston with their significant others to hang with Mark. In the background you can see the slide show Mark put together of album covers spanning 5 decades. This proved to be lots of fun as people stopped by and talked about what they were doing when they saw this band or bought that album, etc.

Needless to say everyone reminisced about the says of sex, drugs and rock and roll!

Winning the prize for coming an absurd distance to attend the event (and stay with Mark and me) was our friend Rena from NYC. She took several buses to get here, but had a great time and we spent Sunday morning rehashing the night over breakfast at the Kenmore Diner before taking Rena into Boston for her return trip.

Clearly not used to partying until the wee hours of the morning anymore, we spent most of Sunday morning lazing around after getting back from Boston. However, we did venture out in the afternoon to see what was happening with the local ponds.

At Suasco in Westboro we had a pair of Wood Duck and this pair of Hooded Mergansers, along with a Mute Swan....all seemed interested in setting up their breeding territories.

Unfortunately, the swan appeared to be alone, and we could only wonder whether it's mate was the dead bird far out on the ice. We wondered whether it died of natural causes or if an eagle maybe helped it along.....

Just before sunset we headed up to the Worcester Airport to check on the Snow Bunting and to listen for woodcock.

We had two Snow Buntings still lingering.

We dipped on woodcock; however, we did have calling Great Horned and Saw-whet Owls at various stops.

A return trip to the airport on Monday evening turned up several displaying woodcock, so the fair weather of this first March weekend must have done the trick.

All in all it wasn't your typical Mark & Sheila weekend....but a fun one nonetheless!

Enjoy......Sheila