MA - Boreal Chickadee in the Berkshires!

Boreal Chickadee - North Hoosac Road, Williamstown, Berkshire Co., MA. January 14th, 2021.

Ever since my chance encounter with a Boreal Chickadee in New Salem last November, I don't mind admitting that I've become a little obsessed with the idea of finding another, partly because I'm genuinely fond of the species but also because I narrowly missed getting documentation photos of the New Salem bird. Throughout the remainder of the fall and winter I've been hopeful that another would come my way and my interest was more than a little piqued when I noticed a report from Lori Van Handel in Williamstown on January 11th. The initial report was followed by multiple successes from local birders and the site (along North Hoosac Road) was subsequently posted as a "stakeout". This morning I decided to take my chances and drove out to Williamstown, just over an hour from Northfield. On arrival I was slightly surprised see no other birders at the scene but on other the hand I was thrilled to open the car door and hear the Boreal Chickadee calling from the closest spruce grove! It made one circuit around the neighborhood evergreens and then moved off to the SW, its call notes being lost amid traffic and construction noise. My twelve minute stay was short but sweet having produced fabulous views and three very satisfactory audio clips of the diagnostic, wheezy calls. Gracious thanks go to the finder, Lori Van Handel.

Boreal Chickadee - North Hoosac Road, Williamstown, Berkshire Co., MA. January 14th, 2021.

Approximate location relative to North Housac Street, Williamstown.

Habitat for a wintering Boreal Chickadee, Williamstown. A quiet neighborhood with plenty of spruce and hemlock. January 14th, 2021. 

As far as I'm aware this is at least the fourth in Massachusetts during the current 2020/21 incursion with two reports from Franklin County in early November, and another that visited a yard in Wellfleet on the Outer Cape in early December. 

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

Sketch of the New Salem bird from last fall, just by way of comparison to the current bird in Williamstown. 

The journey home was swift and neatly punctuated by a light morph Rough-legged Hawk flying alongside Rt 2 at Mile Long Farm in Charlemont, that's just a couple of miles west of last week's close views of a light morph along the same stretch of road and almost certainly the same bird. 

MA - Turner's Falls sector of the Greenfield CBC

Black-capped Chickadee - Turner's Falls, Franklin Co., MA. December 30th, 2018.

One of 61 recorded inside our sector at Turner's Falls.

As well as final holiday celebrations, the end of the year has become synonymous (for me at least) with the Greenfield Christmas Bird Count and this year was no exception. Having still been with family in the UK on December 28th, I felt quite lucky to be back just in time for the count on December 30th and even luckier to be joined for the entire day by Brian Kane and Josh Layfield.

Josh Layfield and Brian Kane - Turner's Falls, Franklin Co., MA. December 30th, 2018.

Checking the scrub for passerines under the power lines at Depot Street. 

This spot produced our only Golden-crowned Kinglet for the day.

Unlike last year's frigid count, the day was seasonably mild and pleasant throughout, so pleasant in fact that we had no real weather event to 'stir' things up for our benefit. That much said, for a rather banal day with seemingly little avian action we did well to find 48 different bird species and tallied some 1927 individual birds, all in the Turner's Falls sector of the count. Notable misses included Northern Flicker, Brown Creeper and Cedar Waxwing all of which can often be found around Turner's Falls in the winter months. And, given the frequency of irruptive finch reports in late fall and early winter, it was a major surprise to find only one 'winter finch' for the day - a single Common Redpoll flying over Unity Park.

Brian Kane trying to track down the only unidentified call of the day, a call which remained a mystery and eluded identification. 
Turner's Falls, Franklin Co., MA. December 30th, 2018.

Red-breasted Nuthatch - Turner's Falls, Franklin Co., MA. December 30th, 2018.

A decent tally of four, all of them at the same spot. 

Bald Eagles (immature and adult) - Turner's Falls, Franklin Co., MA. December 30th, 2018.
A great count with eleven seen, most of them in the afternoon when the sun came out and breeze picked up. 

On the other hand, highlights were many and included some good counts for Bald Eagle (11), Downy Woodpecker (16), White-breasted Nuthatch (18), Red-breasted Nuthatch (4), Black-capped Chickadee (61), Eastern Bluebird (16), and House Finch (82). Alas we didn't find anything truly rare but scarce, noteworthy species included Red-shouldered Hawk (1), Bufflehead (1), Lesser Black-backed Gull (1), and a Glaucous Gull picked out by Brian Kane late in the day. Particularly niggling misses included Cackling Goose and Lesser Scaup, both of which could be seen from Unity Park the previous day.

House Finches (males) - Turner's Falls, Franklin Co., MA. December 30th, 2018.

A bumper crop of these with 82 for the day compared to 23 the previous year!

Cooper's Hawk (male) - Turner's Falls, Franklin Co., MA. December 30th, 2018.

A fairly consistently seen raptor around Turner's Falls, we saw this particular male Cooper's in two different spots near Unity Park.

Brian Kane and Josh Layfield counting waterfowl from the bike path off Depot Street.

Turner's Falls, Franklin Co., MA. December 30th, 2018.

Glaucous Gull (first-winter) - Turner's Falls, Franklin Co., MA. December 30th, 2018.
A nice reward for repeated checks of the gull flock from Unity Park. One of six species of the gull for the day.

Cackling Goose - Barton Cove, Gill, Franklin Co., MA. December 29th, 2018.

We worked hard to pick out this bird on count day but couldn't find it anywhere!

White-breasted Nuthatch - Turner's Falls, Franklin Co., MA. December 30th, 2018.

Surprisingly common around Turner's Falls with 18 recorded on count day.

Brian and Josh worked especially hard on this count and I'm very grateful to them for putting up with me for the day. We had loads of fun and look forward to doing it again!

Brian Kane and Josh Layfield scanning for a calling Red-shouldered Hawk off Depot Street.

Turner's Falls, Franklin Co., MA. December 30th, 2018.

View from the Rod and Gun Club - Turner's Falls, Franklin Co., MA. December 30th, 2018.

Long shadows - scanning for 'the' Red-shouldered Hawk off Depot Street.

Turner's Falls, Franklin Co., MA. December 30th, 2018.

View from the Rod and Gun Club - Turner's Falls, Franklin Co., MA. December 30th, 2018.

Barton Cove at dusk from Unity Park, Turner's Falls, Franklin Co., MA. December 30th, 2018.

Home to a modest gull roost of six species including Glaucous, Iceland and Lesser Black-backed Gulls.