Wednesday, November 4, 2020

MA - Boreal Chickadee in Franklin County

 


Boreal Chickadee - New Salem Vista, Franklin Co., MA. November 3rd, 2020. 

November keeps on giving, the month of so much possibility.  Hot on the heels of yesterday's MEGA Common Cuckoo in Rhode Island, a Boreal Chickadee graced a public vista point in New Salem as I carried out a watch for migrating raptors. While it was incredibly thrilling to hear it's wheezy, nasal 'tis-tchay' calls in Franklin County, it wasn't completely unexpected as I'd been following a number of out-of-range Boreal Chickadee reports from nearby South-west New Hampshire since mid-October. Hopefully this bird is the precursor to a greater 'irruption' and we could potentially see multiple reports over the forthcoming weeks. As to my personal experience, well this is an incredibly rare county bird and one that I haven't seen since Dec 2006. Ironically, that bird was present just five miles up the road where it visited a feeder for several days in the town of Orange. The current New Salem bird didn't linger and was (sadly) too quick for the camera but I traded blurry record shots for good views through binoculars and the pencil sketch is a pretty good representation of how I saw the bird in the field.  The raptor migration wasn't too shabby either, totally dominated by Red-shouldered Hawks with a tally of fifteen passing South-west before the Boreal Chickadee appeared. After that, I I left the hawk watching and focused on trying to relocate the chickadee. 




Red-shouldered Hawks - migrating over New Salem, Franklin Co., MA. November 3rd, 2020. 

These are exciting days to be in the field. I've focused most of my effort to within 20-25 minutes of home in Northfield. Irruptives such as Red-breasted Nuthatch, Red Crossbill, Evening Grosbeak, Pine Siskin and Purple Finch are present and passing through seemingly anywhere and there really hasn't been a dull moment. And just today, there's news of Pine Grosbeaks in Hampshire County to add yet another exciting element to the autumn migration. Bring it!



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