MA - Bohemian Waxwing and more over the holidays

The Pink-footed Goose was well searched for in the days after the initial sighting on Nov 25th but I haven't come across any reliable reports since so it's look like it may have moved on. However, the search for it did produced a Greater White-fronted Goose (many obs) and perhaps the return of the family group of four Cackling Geese, first noted on Nov 4th. Both species were present at Unity Park on the 27th, and the Turner's Falls power canal on the 26th.

Greater White-fronted Goose - Unity Park, Turner's Falls, Franklin Co., MA. November 27th, 2015.

Less expected, but still very welcome, were three Black Vultures that Susannah and I spotted from Barton Cove as they drifted south-east over Turner's Falls. Luckily, Brian Kane was at Unity Park with his parents and had them go right overhead......also on the 27th. 

Black Vultures (three) - southbound over Barton Cove, Gill, Franklin Co., MA. November 27th, 2015. 

Also seen over Unity Park by Brian Kane. 

The quiet country roads around Gill have been flush with 'frugivores' with a nice incursion of American Robins (up to 350 together) and Cedar Waxwings (up to 45). A nature walk with Matan on Thanksgiving morning inadvertently discovered a Bohemian Waxwing feeding on multi-flora rose in a private yard . I usually locate Bohemian Waxwings by call, but this bird was silent, nor was associating with Cedar Waxwings making the observation all the more intriguing. This is also the earliest that I've recorded Bohemian Waxing in the Pioneer Valley though a friend of mine had an even earlier bird in Sunderland in late October. Perhaps they'll become more frequent as the winter develops. 

Bohemian Waxwing - Gill, Franklin Co., MA. November 26th, 2015.

Subsequent visits to the same location produced no further sightings after this.

Otherwise, the gull show at Turner's Falls has been very slow to develop with an adult Lesser Black-backed Gull being the only large gull of note this month, and no pale-winged gulls at all. This could be the first November since 2005 that I haven't recorded a Kumlien's Iceland Gull at Turner's Falls pretty remarkable since I usually come across the first ones in early November, my earliest date being the 1st!

 American Robins - Gill, Franklin Co., MA. November 29th, 2015.

MA - Bohemians come to Gill!

During my morning run in Gill I heard the bright, ringing calls of a Bohemian Waxwing on North Cross Road. I returned thirty minutes later armed with bins and camera and was delighted to relocate it loosely associating with a group of about 15 Cedar Waxwings foraging on Oriental Bittersweet. I watched the Bohemian for a little while before it suddenly lifted up and joined a flock of about a dozen passing waxwings (silent) which I assumed to be part of the same group of Cedars seen earlier. As the lone bird joined the flock I mentally noted that there didn't appear to be much of a size difference between the lone bird and the group. When I looked at the photos at home, the whole group showed the diagnostic chestnut undertail coverts of Bohemian Waxwing......fourteen of them in all!!

Once again, North Cross Road proved very birdy this morning with Common Grackle, Hermit Thrush, a dozen Eastern Bluebirds, 45 Pine Siskins and lots of songsters including  Dark-eyed Juncos and American Tree Sparrows.

Bohemian Waxwings - North Cross Road, Gill, Franklin Co., MA. March 17th, 2015.

MA - Gill Bohemian Waxwings - 01/10

Bohemian Waxwing, near entrance to Northfield Mount Hermon School, Main Road, Gill, Franklin Co., MA. January 10th, 2011.

After dropping Matan at nursery school I decided to follow up a Greg Watkevich's report of a Bohemian Waxwing just up the road at the entrance to Northfield Mount Hermon School. My first drive by was unsuccessful but after turning around I noticed a few birds feeding on fruiting bushes by the road. The birds turned out to be starlings, but then I heard some waxwings, and before long I was listening to the bright ringing calls of Bohemian Waxwings, actually three or four birds mixed in with about 45 Cedar Waxwings. Both species moved back and forth across the road (Main Road, Gill) before moving deeper into the school campus, the Bohemians sometimes perching for prolonged spells right by the road.

Yet another avian treat in Gill and only a couple of miles up the road from our house. Closer to home, a Barred Owl was hunting from the fence posts by the sedge meadow at 05:45 in the morning.

Thanks very much to Greg for his report.


Bohemian Waxwing (lower right just above landing Cedar Waxwing) with Cedar Waxwings, near entrance to Northfield Mount Hermon School, Main Road, Gill, Franklin Co., MA. January 10th, 2011.

VT - Bohemian Waxwings - 01/02/11

Bohemian Waxwings - part of a flock of 45 next to I-89 at mile post 35.4, SE of Montpelier, Washington Co., VT.

A nice flock of Bohemian Waxwings landed right by the Interstate (89) on our way North to Montpelier to try for a Northern Hawk Owl reported in Berlin over the New Year. Sadly we dipped on the owl, which apparently wasn't seen at all on January 2nd but the waxwings provided some nice compensation.

JPS

MA - Bohemian Waxwings - 03/06

Bohemian and Cedar Waxwings - Unity Park, Turner's Falls, Franklin Co., MA.

Bohemian Waxwings provided a pleasant diversion from the gulls at Turner's Falls on a mild, spring-like afternoon. They were feeding with a group of about 60 Cedar Waxwings and some American Robins on fruiting trees in Unity Park. I'm not sure of the numbers, but I saw three and heard more calling from across the road in a private yard, probably about half-a-dozen in all. Reports of Bohemian Waxwings have been quite frequent in Western MA over the last couple of weeks and it was rather rewarding to finally catch up with a few. I also heard Bohemian Waxwings flying over Riverview Drive in Gill, presumably birds from this Turner's Falls group.

As for the gulls, it was pretty much a typical evening with a six species and no major rarities; 3 Kumlien's Gulls (all first-cycle), 1 Glaucous Gull (first cycle) and 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull (adult).