This morning, while driving Matan to school in Gill, I noticed a completely white bird fly across Main Road and away over the corn field at Upinngil. First thoughts concerning a white feral pigeon were quickly dismissed - it was too big with longish rounded wings, deep wing beats and black feet projecting well beyond a shortish, squared tail - CATTLE EGRET! It flew south, seemingly gaining height. I really had the impression it was leaving from Upinngil Farm which does have livestock so it could easily have been foraging there. Hopefully it will return and I'll be looking again tomorrow. Attempts at getting an image proved disastrous as the auto-focus on my lens simply refused to lock on a distant white again a flat, light gray sky - frustrating in the extreme because I could see the bird in the viewfinder!
A little later I tried 'Lover's Leap' over look in New Salem, inspired by Mark Lynch's reports of Golden Eagle and Northern Goshawk last week, the same day that he and Sheila found the Gray Jay at Gate 41. On arrival, the site appeared deathly quiet with nothing moving at all. After ten minutes all I had to show for my effort was 4 American Crows moving SW. However, at 10:30hrs, an adult Red-shouldered Hawk lifted out of the forest, hit a warm air thermal, gained height and flew off to the SW. Over the next 45 minutes I was treated to a fabulous display of migrating Red-shouldered Hawk as single after single lifted out of the North Quabbin woods and powered their way SW. By 11:15hrs, I'd tallied eight individuals, including three quite close. I see very few Red-shouldered Hawks locally so to have eight in 45 minutes was a little too good to be true! Oddly enough, that was the most common raptor of the morning. I didn't see a single Red-tail or Bald Eagle from this spot but I did have prolonged views of a distant adult Northern Goshawk, yet another scarce raptor and a species which I only see in the state two or three times per year. At one point a Sharp-shinned Hawk was soaring above the Goshawk offering a really nice size comparison.
Red-shouldered Hawk - adult, New Salem, Franklin Co., MA. November 12th, 2014.
Red-shouldered Hawk - adult, New Salem, Franklin Co., MA. November 12th, 2014.
Red-shouldered Hawk - adult, New Salem, Franklin Co., MA. November 12th, 2014.
Red-shouldered Hawk - juv/first-winter, New Salem, Franklin Co., MA. November 12th, 2014.
Red-shouldered Hawk - juv/first-winter, New Salem, Franklin Co., MA. November 12th, 2014.
Northern Goshawk - adult, New Salem, Franklin Co., MA. November 12th, 2014.
Very heavy crop of bird soaring about one mile distant. Scope views were much better!
Very heavy crop of bird soaring about one mile distant. Scope views were much better!
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