Pioneer Birding: MA - October: Rusties, scoters and a super tame Horned Lark

Friday, October 9, 2015

MA - October: Rusties, scoters and a super tame Horned Lark

After the best part of a week of lovely but rather uneventful weather, this morning's low cloud base combined with showers and drizzle brought some fresh birds locally and left me wishing I could have stayed out for longer. After bumping into Josh Rose at Riverview Drive in Gill where we shared a juv Ring-necked Duck and a Green-winged Teal, I headed down to the power canal finding it still drained and attracting a few interesting birds. The Depot Road (bike path side) was particularly birdy and after an hour or so I'd found a dozen Rusty Blackbirds, 150 Common Grackles (not mixing with the Rusties), a couple of Semi-palmated Plover, a juvenile Herring Gull, about a dozen yellow (Eastern) Palm Warblers, and a (getting late) House Wren. On the way home, I called in at Unity Park finding a freshly arrived immature Surf Scoter and an exceedingly approachable Horned Lark at the bike path access parking area. In years of birding here, it was the first time that I'd ever seen a grounded Horned Lark anywhere around Barton Cove.

Rusty Blackbirds - Turner's Falls bike path, Franklin Co., MA. October 9th, 2015.

About a dozen hanging around the maple/alder swamp to the east of the bike path but not especially easy to get close to!

Horned Lark - age/sex uncertain, Turner's Falls bike path at Unity Park Franklin Co., MA. October 9th, 2015.

Exceedingly unusual location for this species.

Herring Gull - first-cycle, Turner's Falls power canal, Franklin Co., MA. October 9th, 2015.

Surf Scoter - juv/fem from Turner's Falls bike path at Unity Park Franklin Co., MA. October 9th, 2015.

Snow Geese - flock of five with Canada Geese, Main Road, Gill, Franklin Co., MA. October 9th, 2015.

Attempts to get back home were again interrupted, this time by five adult Snow Geese in with some Canada Geese off Main Road in Gill - they too, were my first of the season. Later in the afternoon, goose numbers had swollen to about c.350 in the same field off Main Road. As it happens, there were actually seven Snow Geese, two of which were juveniles and apparently hidden in the furrows on my first visit this morning. Even better, an adult Greater White-fronted Goose which called a few times when I got out of the car to scope the Snow Geese. Again, my first of the season and possibly the same bird first seen by Eric Huston at Barton Cove on Oct 5th. Things are picking up!