Thursday, October 13, 2011

MA - yard Swamp Sparrows - 10/13

Swamp Sparrow - Gill yard, Franklin Co., MA. October 13th, 2011.

Another day of interest after heavy overnight rain. It brightened up a little in the afternoon, and I ventured out finding three Swamp Sparrows lurking around our compost pile, the first that we've had in the yard this fall. Interestingly, numbers of Swamp Sparrows at the edge of the pumpkin field on River Road in Gill had swollen from five to over thirty birds since my last visit there on October 7th.
There was also White-crowned Sparrow there and at least 50 White-throated Sparrows.

Late afternoon proved to be the most productive time of the day, with a mass of 1300 Canada Geese moving SW over the yard just before 3pm along with a juvenile Bald Eagle.

Canada Geese - part of a movement of 1300 birds over Gill, Franklin Co., MA. October 13th, 2011.

There was also a fast moving feeding flock of about 15 Yellow-rumped Warblers with 1 (Eastern) Palm Warbler, 2 Ruby-crowned Kinglets and a couple of Blue-headed Vireos.

White-throated Sparrow - Gill yard, Franklin Co., MA. October 13th, 2011.

White-crowned Sparrow - immature in song, River Road, Gill, October 13th, 2011.

Earlier, in mid-morning, a brief visit to Barton Cove again produced a nice feeding flock along Riverview Drive. No warblers this time, other than Yellow-rumped, but half a dozen each of Ruby-crowned and Golden-crowned Kinglets, two Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers and about 20 Chipping Sparrows.

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker - Barton Cove, Gill, MA. October 13th, 2011.


JPS

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