Thayer's Gull, Gloucester Harbor, MA - 01/05.

Among the many highlights of a day trip to Cape Ann with Brian Kane was this first cycle Thayer's Gull, initially seen at a distance from Jodrey fish pier in Gloucester at around 09:30 am. We drove around the inner harbor to get better looks from Roger Street/Main Street and found the bird on the dock behind "Captain Carlos Seafood Restaurant". This spot was actually just below the grassy hill from which many birders had looked for, and seen, the Slaty-backed gulls in late December! After loosing touch with the bird around 10:15 am we called in at the same spot on the way home and luckily relocated it, sharing our find with Steve Grinley and friends. The bird was still there when we left at around 4:15pm.

Good web images of first cycle Thayer's Gulls can be seen here;
Jeff Poklen's Thayer's Gulls.
Michael G. Shepard's Thayer's Gull page.
Thayer's Gulls on the Japanese Gull-site.
The Provincetown Thayer's Gull from Dec '06.

On the down side, we came away with very few flight images but future photographic opportunities look excellent from this spot and hopefully some of the local photographers will get some good results.

First images taken from Jodrey fish pier. Settled on the roof tops just north-east of the grass hill off Rogers/Main Street in Gloucester.

Nice head and bill shot showing clean, unstreaked 'mask' and long looking lores.


At rest - centers of tertials gray-brown, only slightly darker than rest of upperparts but significantly lighter than dark-brown primaries. Distincive pattern allowing for the to be picked out from smithsonianus at considerable range.

First cycle Thayer's Gull on the left with first-cycle Great Black-backed Gull.

First-cycle Thayer's Gull on the left with first/second-cycle American Herring Gull.

Very Kumlien's like in flight at times......

Whilst at other moments could have easily been glossed over as a first-cycle smithsonianus.

Dark tips and dark outer webs to primaries.

More on this story to come..........

GB,


JPS.

Eastern Screech Owl and Pine Grosbeaks - 01/04

Kumlien's Iceland Gull (center).

Winter Sunset at the Power Canal, Turner's Falls. January '08.

After two very cold days (and nights), today's afternoon high rose to a balmy 25 degrees or so, warm enough for a short but productive spin up to Turner's Falls. Barton Cove was surprisingly devoid of gulls, but again 4 Pine Grosbeaks fed unconcerned on Crab Apples at close range in Unity Park. Down the road, good portions of the open areas on the power canal were frozen and this is where most of the gulls could be found resting. Less that two hundred birds were present but included two Glaucous and one Kumlien's Iceland Gull. All were first-cycle birds.

A female Red-breasted Merganser was bigger surprise, feeding alone the whole time and not willing to join the assembled Common Mergansers. This pictured Screech Owl made an appearance well before the sunset but soon retreated when a flock of mobbing chickadees forced it back into its cavity in a dead White Pine.

Other notable birds today included more Pine Grosbeaks around Amherst with 4 on North Whitney Street and 3 on Strong Street near Wildwood cemetery, along with singles of Carolina Wren and Pine Siskin. This Sharp-shinned Hawk (my first of the New Year) was digiscoped from the apartment today as well.

Sharp-shinned Hawk - juv/first winter.

GB,


JPS.

and still more Pine Grosbeaks, Franklin Co., MA - January 2nd.

Two images of one of the three bright russet birds present.



Male Pine Grosbeaks - blending in beautifully with their surroundings. Two males are visible in this image.





Male Pine Grosbeak - this male, which looked like a full adult, had a number of russet uppertail coverts.


Eight birds (two male, 3 female/first winter, and 3 russet female/first winter) feeding on Crab Apples at close range in Unity Park, Turner's Falls. I must say, it's a very nice feeling to look into a local Crab Apple tree and have a really good chance of finding Pine Grosbeaks! Also in snowbound Unity Park, a Ruby-crowned Kinglet and a Brown Creeper. At home, good numbers of American Robins and Cedar Waxwings on North Whitney Street, plus single Pileated Woodpecker and Pine Siskin. Wonderful winter birding!


GB,


JPS.

Gulling at Turner's Falls, MA - January 2nd.

Glaucous Gull - first cycle, Barton Cove.

Kumlien's Iceland Gull - first cycle, Barton Cove.

Lesser Black-backed Gull - adult (left), with American Herring Gulls.


Barrow's Goldeneye - female (center) with Common Goldeneyes. This bird came in off the CT river well after sunset and I was little surprised to come away with this image. It seemed way too dark at the time.

Once again, the incredibly productive gull flock at Barton Cove yielded six species from only c.400 birds. Initially the birds were very close to Unity Park on the Turner's Falls side of the river but spent much of the time being spooked and ultimately settled on the Gill side. Great Black-backed, American Herring and Ring-billed Gulls formed the main body of the flock, with highlights being 2 first-cycle Kumlien's Iceland, 1 first-cycle Glaucous and 1 adult Lesser Black-backed Gull. A drake Lesser Scaup was also present. On the Turner's Falls power canal - lots of waterfowl coming into roost at dusk including 60 Common and 4 Hooded Merganser, 45 Common and 1 female Barrow's Goldeneye. The Common Loon, present for several weeks, spent a good deal of time circling over the canal and may have headed south at dusk. It will be interesting to see if it returns as the ice increases on the canal.

Very cold this evening with temperatures in the low 20s and a nasty wind-chill on top of that. Tomorrow is forecast to be much colder!

GB,

JPS.

White New Year - January 1st, 2008

(Above - all four images from the apartment today, January 1st, 2008).

Any hopes that I might have had about getting the birding year off to a big start were dashed by the arrival of another cold front dropping another 5 or 6 six inches of fresh snow all over Hampshire County. I'm ashamed to say that I wasn't up early enough to bag a healthy bird list before breakfast and settled instead for watching the impressive gatherings of American Robins (c.250), Cedar Waxwings (c.400), and European Starlings (c.300) feeding on the local crab apple trees along North Whitney Street. Birds were in view from the bedroom windows all day long and I enjoyed checking the waxwings for Bohemians and the robins for the rarer Eurasian thrushes. Naturally, I didn't come up with either, and I couldn't repeat the Common Redpolls (c.40) and the three Pine Grosbeaks that I saw from the apartment yesterday on the last day of 2007. But I logged seventeen species, all on foot around the streets of Amherst to get the year off to a 'steady' start.


GB,


JPS.

More Pine Grosbeaks, Quabbin CBC - December 29th, 2007.

Today, Scott Surner, Val Miller and I took part in the Quabbin Christmas Bird Count with our sector being centered around Hardwick village, to the east of Quabbin resevoir. The morning began foggy but very mild for a Christmas count, the fog burning off by about noon. This year's count was highlighted by Pine Grosbeaks and we recorded twenty individuals around Hardwick. Most impressive was the frequency with which we encountered them, the largest flock size being only eight birds. Many, like the bird featured here, were singles scattered throughout the rural countryside of Hardwick and their calls became common sounds over the rolling hills. A most enjoyable day of birding closed in late afternoon with thanks to Scott Surner featured below photographing the illustrated female Pine Grosbeak. The overall tally for the Quabbin Pine Grosbeaks logged 154 individuals, a new count high.

The beautiful, rambling countryside around Hardwick. Other good species recorded in this area today included a Northern Shrike, Northern Flicker, Hermit Thrush, 4 Evening Grosbeaks and 15 Common Redpolls.

GB,

JPS.

Kumlien's and other Gulls, Cape Ann, MA - December 30th, 2007

Third cycle/adult Kumlien's Iceland Gull - upper three shots. Nice bird, very close off Jodrey fish pier in Gloucester Harbor. Plumage appeared much as adult with mid-gray primaries, but obvious band across bill suggesting third cycle bird.

Second cycle Kumlien's Iceland Gull (preening, center). Nice pinkish bill with well demarcated black tip.

First cycle Kumlien's Iceland Gull - fairly typical bird at close range, Jodrey fish pier. About nine first cycle birds were present here with only very small numbers of other large gulls. A Dovekie was swimming between the pilings in the harbor as well, but diving frequently, and well...impossible to digiscope.

First cycle Glaucous Gull (right) - Niles Pond. One of about five seen at this spot during the day.


Adult Lesser Black-backed Gull (center) - present for much of the afternoon at Niles Pond until all the gulls were flushed by a Red-tailed Hawk. Nice bird, relatively easy to pick out, and enough get the heart beating faster amid reports of Slaty-backed Gull!


Adult Lesser Black-backed Gull (center) - the same bird as above. Confusingly, this bird did not have yellowish or yellowish-green legs. I couldn't make out the leg color properly but didn't see that much difference between this bird's legs and some of the American Herring Gulls present.


Third cycle Lesser Black-backed Gull (center) - came into Niles Pond relatively late in the afternoon, but had been seen earlier by Scott Surner.


All in all, some excellent gull watching at Cape Ann during the day. Although the Slaty-backed Gull never appeared for us at least, we enjoyed sc.20 Kumlien's Iceland, 5+ Glaucous, 2 Lesser Black-backed, 2 Bonaparte's Gulls, and a first cycle Nelson's Gull as well as the possible second-cycle Thayer's Gull posted earlier.


GB,

JPS.