All the Signs of Spring -- April 9th & 10th

While the April showers have opened up many small ponds, we were totally surprised to find this group of what looks like GOLDFISH in a small pond in a cemetery in Rutland. They were literally everywhere..... As we arrived in Westport on Saturday morning, we were concerned with the huge fire out on one of the Elizabeth Islands; hopefully, it was an early spring controlled burn.

And we got our first Great Egrets of the season along the river in Acoaxet.

At the overlook we didn't have much, but this Horseshoe Crab shell up in a hedge row tells a lot about the winds, water and spring weather right along the coast. This was certainly a long-lived guy judging by the size of the shell.

We didn't have a lot of landbird migrants right along the coast, but we did have good numbers of Red-necked Grebes right offshore.

Driving back up to Worcester along Rt. 146 we saw our first hawks of the day -- this pair of Sharp-shins spent about 15 minutes doing a very showy flight right over the road in Sutton. We had to pull of so we could get the full effect.

They were acting more like a mated pair on territory than true migrants. It was fascinating to watch how their flight profile changed in the windy. At times they didn't even look like the same species!

One of the birds actually zipped quite close after a dive and we got some fairly good looks.

On Sunday morning we decided to get up very, very early (even for us) and head out to do some owning inside Quabbin. We were excited since we had found a Screech Owl in the fall in one of our atlas blocks and wanted to see if we could get the species in "safe dates". Alas we were denied. In fact when we got to Quabbin, we found a sign on the gate saying we couldn't drive in. So after checking several gates (same sign) and even trying Rutland State Park (gates closed!) we head back to Worcester and decided to go out again around 6:30 or 7.

Glad we made that choice, since as we pulled in the driveway we saw the "neighborhood" fox trotting through our yard. Now realize, we live right in the city, so seeing a fox in our backyard is always exciting. We've even started to leave little morsels of food for her so she doesn't have to cross too many streets to get food for her young.

We also found that a pair of Red-tailed Hawks had set up their nest in the same tree as last year across the street in our neighbor's backyard. Wow, animals are certainly getting good at adapting to urban environments.

With these two sightings erasing our earlier disappointment with owling, we decided to head out to the Spencer-Brookfield area and see what other signs of early spring we could find.

The Song Sparrows were in full spring song as we left...

At Ceramic Pond in Spencer we found a lovely pair of Wood Duck checking out suitable nesting habitat.

And an incredibly cooperative Pine Warbler singing his little heart out.

We decided to swing down to Sturbridge and check on the Great Blue Heron rookery right along Rt. 20 (which had about 11-12 nest in various stages of occupancy).

And the pair of Osprey were definitely nest-building as well.

Finding Killdeer on the nest already was a wonderful bonus; although I do worry about the nest location in the gravel on an access road to the microwave tower.

Swinging back up through the Brookfields, we found a distant Red-necked Grebe on Wickabog. And, of course, any stop at Wickabog means a drive-by my favorite horse farm to check on the progress of the new foals.

My check on the miniature horses means Mark must check on the pigs down the road. And in the early spring sun, this one certainly seemed contented!

So we headed back to Worcester content ourselves that spring had finally arrived!

Enjoy......Sheila

First April Weekend Part 2 -- Southern Berks

Getting ready to head out to the Berkshires, this is what greeted us at Dunkin Donuts -- a large number of Ring-billed Gulls (and 1 Herring Gull) fighting over pizza at 5:30 a.m.!You can see that having a number tag clearly didn't prevent this guy from getting his fair share. So we picked up our donuts and jumped on the Pike heading west to visit the Tyringham, Monterey, New Marlborough areas.

We stopped at Lake Garfield in Monterey to check on the geese that were in the pond -- some of which was still ice covered. For the next 15 minutes we were treated to the antics of two Otters running along the edge of the ice and causing all sorts of consternation for the geese.

I really got to appreciate just how active these members of the weasel family are. They actually reminded me of our new 10-month old kitten, Molly. Definitely into everything!

The open water was a mixture...some areas were still partially frozen (like Lake Garfield above) while others already had pairs of Wood Duck moving through the brush.

We had Tree Swallows in a few locations; although only the males were back.

It will probably be another few weeks before the first females arrive.

And in New Marlborough we found one of Mark's favorite animals. I really think if we lived somewhere where we could keep farms animals Mark would have a goat and I'd have a miniature horse.

Our major reason for going out to the blocks we did last year, though, was to see if the Sandhill Cranes had returned to their regular nesting spot.

And we weren't disappointed. Both the male and female were in the same marsh where they've bred for the last 4 or 5 years. Although I did hear that they were unsuccessful raising any young last year. Hopefully this year will be a better outcome for them.

On our way back to the Pike, we stopped in Great Barrington at one of my favorite stores. Asia Barong Antiques on Rt. 7 (near the K-Mark shopping plaza).

We often wonder what the neighbors would say if we put a giant Buddha on our front lawn. Oh well we had to settle for another Ganesh.

Enjoy.....Sheila

First April Weekend Part 1 -- Quabbin

When I got up on Friday, April 1st, looking forward to the first weekend of April, you could say I was less than thrilled to look out at the feeders in the back yard and see someone's idea of an April Fool's day prank! WTF....this was supposed to be the month of April showers bringing May flowers and everything.By Saturday morning it was clear this would melt away soon so we took a little trip out to Quabbin hoping there would be even less snow. And as this Robin in front of the Administration Building shows we made a good call.

We had a pair of Cooper's Hawks calling on territory. At first I thought it was a Pileated Woodpecker since that call has fooled me more than once, but this little male stayed perched in the same tree for over 30 minutes....clearly ready to defend his territory.

This was the most frozen I've seen the reservoir this late in the season, and Mark spoke with Dale Monette in the visitor's center and he said they weren't quite sure they were going to be able to open Quabbin on time for fishing boats. There were small soft spots starting to open up enough to let Common Mergansers hopscotch their way up north, but certainly not for boats to move around yet.

We had several Fox Sparrows, including a group of about 10 along a side road near the marsh on Rt. 9.

I love the rich warm reddish brown on these birds compared to the Song Sparrow. And when I'm lucky enough to hear them sing in the spring, it's always an extra bonus.

At the fish hatchery were were lucky enough to have an immature Bald Eagle perched right over one of the concrete sloughs.

I slowly worked my way down to the end so that the sun wouldn't have the bird totally backlit.

And while at one point he looked like he might take off, he actually stayed the entire time I walked down and back. This is definitely the closest I've ever gotten to a Bald Eagle in my life. All I could think of, though, was the previous weekend when we brought Melissa et al to Quabbin to see eagles and I wished this guy had been around then!

On the way home we stopped to check the Brookfield ponds and found our first turtle of the season out sunning itself at the back part of Lake Wickabog.

By the time we returned to Worcester in early afternoon, all the snow has melted away and we knew it really had been an April Fool's joke!

Enjoy......Sheila

Checking South Shore Blocks - Sunday, 3/27

Finishing out the month of March with a pre-breeding bird atlas trip to check areas we could do for block busting in the Wareham / East Marion area. We tried various roads on Indian Neck and the best sighting we had was of this Star Wars Storm Trooper at the top of Bourne Hill Rd. It was a little cold and windy, but the Chickadees were out in force...

and the Downy Woodpeckers were definitely setting up territory.

And it seemed like there were Song Sparrows in every bush and thicket!

A real surprise were a number of adult Gannets at the mouth of the Wareham River from Swifts Beach.

We even had several heading up the river itself!

And from the tip of Sippican Neck we had great views of Bird Island where we saw more Gannets. Wished we had a tern or two to report, but it's way to early for those guys to show up yet.

The Osprey's were back, though, and we had several active nests being worked on.

One of the nicest birds we came across in our morning trip was this Red-Shouldered Hawk sitting at the edge of a Cranberry Bog right off Rt. 6.

At first we thought it might be a Harrier, but as soon as we pulled over and got our bins on the bird, saw the coloration and the black & white "checkerboard" patterning, we knew it was a shoulder.

The bird flew into a dense thicket of trees nearby and we're assuming it's already got a nest underway. So we will definitely have to check back during our block busting trip in early June.

Things are certainly looking up for spring!

Enjoy.....Sheila