Tuesday, May 5, 2015

MA - Crossbills in the plains

This morning I took an impromptu bike ride around the Montague Sand Plains. I knew I'd find Prairie Warblers there but had a pretty open mind when it came to other species. I'd barely started my ride when I heard the classic 'gyp gyp' calls of Red Crossbills and quickly found a party of four (two male, two female) close to a huge power line cut running through the center of the plains.

I thoroughly enjoyed my ride finding many newly arrived summer migrants and local breeders such as Field Sparrows and Eastern Towhees. On the hand, it was a bit disappointing to find this beautiful and unique habitat used as a dumping ground. I counted 13 dumped sofas and 8 mattresses during a four mile ride and only scratched the surface of the whole area.




Red Crossbills - Montague Plains WMA, Franklin Co., May 5th, 2015.


Prairie Warbler -  male, Montague Plains WMA, Franklin Co., May 5th, 2015.

2 comments:

Nick Bray said...

Great blog James. Really enjoy reading it mate.

James P. Smith said...

Thanks Nick. I should have an update from a recent and very successful trip to Kirtland's Warbler country. Hope all is well.It certainly seems so by the looks of your blog! Nice stuff indeed!!