MA - Common and Hoary Redpolls - 12/30

Common Redpoll - Gill, Franklin Co., MA. December 30th, 2010. Image taken using Panasonic Lumix DMC - FZ40.

Finally an opportunity came around to photograph a Common Redpoll in Gill. A nice male was on the feeders at lunch time. It's been a little frustrating in a sense because Redpolls have certainly been present in the area for the the last three days. However, extensive areas of birch (loaded with catkins) in the surrounding hillsides have probably provided more attraction to them than our backyard feeders. Yesterday, just after dawn I saw 15-20 Common Redpolls around Darby Hill though few actually settled, and again today, calls of redpolls were frequently heard all morning with a party of eight birds settling briefly in birches on Clapp Hill.

A second redpoll which briefly joined the Common looks very good for a first-winter Hoary Redpoll. It was clearly larger, longer tailed with a surprisingly deep fork in the tail. The overall ground color of the bird was much lighter than the Common with a lovely rich buff-ocher wash around the throat and face. It was not the clearest example of a Hoary Redpoll that I've seen, but on the other hand, the overall combination of characteristics left me with little doubt. Hopefully it will show up again tomorrow!

Common Redpoll (left) with Hoary Redpoll (right) - Gill, Franklin Co., MA. December 30th, 2010. The Hoary appears short-billed with extensive ocher coloring around the face. Also shows 'baggy pants' with extensive feathering around the legs. Image taken using Panasonic Lumix DMC - FZ40.

Hoary Redpoll (right) - Gill, Franklin Co., MA. December 30th, 2010. Although difficult to see, the rump was virtually pure white. Image taken using Panasonic Lumix DMC - FZ40.


Hoary Redpoll (left) and Pine Siskin (right) - Gill, Franklin Co., MA. December 30th, 2010. Profile shot of head and bill showing short-billed appearance. Image taken using Panasonic Lumix DMC - FZ40.


Hoary Redpoll (left) and Pine Siskin (right) - Gill, Franklin Co., MA. December 30th, 2010. Virtually pure white undertail coverts with very limited streaking. Image taken using Panasonic Lumix DMC - FZ40.


Common Redpoll (left) with Hoary Redpoll (right) - Gill, Franklin Co., MA. December 30th, 2010. The Hoary appears much lighter in overall cast compared to the darker ground color of the Common Redpoll. Also note the relatively longer bill of the Common Redpoll. Another shot showing the 'baggy pants' of the Hoary. Image taken using Panasonic Lumix DMC - FZ40.


Pine Siskin (left) with Hoary Redpoll (right) - Gill, Franklin Co., MA. December 30th, 2010. Short-billed again in this shot. Also notable, pale rear scapulars and relatively long tailed, with an exaggerated fork in the tail. Image taken using Panasonic Lumix DMC - FZ40.


Hoary Redpoll - Gill, Franklin Co., MA. December 30th, 2010. Image taken using Panasonic Lumix DMC - FZ40.


Hoary Redpoll - Gill, Franklin Co., MA. December 30th, 2010. Appears short-billed, with very lightly streaked undertail coverts. Flank streaking is quite strong for a Hoary but I think OK for a first-winter bird. Image taken using Panasonic Lumix DMC - FZ40.


Hoary Redpoll - Gill, Franklin Co., MA. December 30th, 2010. Image taken using Panasonic Lumix DMC - FZ40.


JPS

MA - Kumlien's Iceland Gulls again - 12/27

Kumlien's Iceland Gull - first-cycle, fairly dark-winged bird present in the area since at least November 30th. Turner's Falls, Franklin Co., MA. December 27th, 2010. This evening the bird was on the ice just off Unity Park in Turner's Falls offering better views and photo opportunities.





Kumlien's Iceland Gull - second-cycle, grayish-winged bird present in the area for about a week now. Turner's Falls, Franklin Co., MA. December 27th, 2010.

American Wigeon (3) - with Mallards -Turner's Falls power canal, Franklin Co., MA. December 27th, 2010.

Made a quick run down to Turner's Falls in late afternoon to check for storm-driven birds. Apparently, the storm gripping much of the East Coast produced little in the way of new birds. I found only regulars amongst the gulls (1 Lesser Black-backed and 2 Kumlien's Iceland Gulls) and a couple of the regular Cackling Geese. The only obvious 'new' birds were three American Wigeon on the power canal.

At home on the feeders it was busy all day with over 100 Pine Siskin plus two Brown-headed Cowbirds, only the second time we've had the latter at the feeders.

JPS

MA - PINK-FOOTED GOOSE - 12/25

Pink-footed Goose - Concord, Middlesex Co., MA. December 25th, 2010. Bird appears in the center of all five images above. Third state record if accepted by the Massachusetts Avian Record Committee, but becoming increasingly frequent in autumn/winter in the New England states. Prior to this, we'd already Pink-footed Geese in Connecticut and Rhode Island.

Susannah and I finally had a chance to catch up with the long staying Pink-footed Goose in the Concord/Lincoln area, a bird originally found George Cove in Sudbury on November 17th. Fortunately, we didn't have to scour too many flocks of Canada Geese and found a birder already digi-scoping the Pink-foot at the intersection of Rt 117 and Plainfield Road in Concord. It was pretty much goose watching 'par excellence' with an immature Snow Goose and an immature Greater White-fronted Goose in the same, relatively small, flock of Canada Geese. A super treat for Christmas Day as we drove our way across to Wakefield to join the family for Christmas dinner.


Snow Goose (upper left) and Greater White-fronted Goose (center right) with Canada Geese - Concord, Middlesex Co., MA. December 25th, 2010.

Snow Goose (center) with Canada Geese - Concord, Middlesex Co., MA. December 25th, 2010.

JPS.

MA - Turner's Falls gulls - Dec '10

Lesser Black-backed Gull (center) - adult, Turner's Falls, Franklin Co., MA. December 17th, 2010. A regular bird, roosting daily at either Barton Cove, Gill or the power canal at Turner's Falls.


Kumlien's Iceland Gull (rear) - dark first-cycle, Turner's Falls, Franklin Co., MA. December 2nd, 2010. This attractive, rather dark-winged bird has been present virtually daily since Nov 30th to date (Dec 22nd).

Kumlien's Iceland Gull (center) - second-cycle, Turner's Falls, Franklin Co., MA. December 17th, 2010.

Kumlien's Iceland Gull (right) - second-cycle, Barton Cove, Franklin Co., MA. December 22nd, 2010. First seen on Dec 21st and has a more obviously bi-colored bill than the bird featured above. Both birds have roosted at Barton Cove in recent evenings.

Glaucous Gull - first-cycle, Turner's Falls, Franklin Co., MA. December 13th, 2010. Last seen on December 17th.

A handful of recent images of the some of the gulls regularly found in the evenings at Turner's Falls and Barton Cove in the last couple of weeks.

JPS

MA - Cackling Goose in flight - 12/21

Cackling Goose (center) - form uncertain, Turner's Falls power canal, Franklin Co., MA. December 21st, 2010. Looking quite lean and long-necked when getting ready to take off.







One of the darker, longer staying birds captured in flight during take-off from the power canal. In each of these shots the Cackling Goose is the highest bird in the group.

JPS

MA - Northampton CBC - 12/19

Horned Larks - Hadley Honey Pot, Hampshire Co., MA. December 19th, 2010. We found 67 of these handsome larks on our loop through Hadley. Despite much effort we couldn't find any Snow Buntings or Lapland Longspurs this year.

Once again I joined Scott Surner covering a couple of long established sections of the Northampton CBC. We began at 3am for owling in near perfect conditions - zero wind though a little bright with the moon at about 85% full. Scott's loop for owls is different to that of his daytime area and concentrates on the North-east corner of Amherst including some outlying areas on the Eastern side of the UMass campus. By 6am we'd recorded five species of owl, impressive by local standards, and highlighted by a Long-eared Owl calling spontaneously at about 4am. We also heard or saw 3 Eastern Screech-Owls, 2 Great Horned, 1 Barred and 1 Northern Saw-whet Owl. One of the screech-owls was being actively pursued by a Barred Owl, the second time this year that I've witnessed a Barred Owl hunting a small owl. Early in March, Brian Kane and I watched a Barred Owl stoop at a Northern Saw-whet which headed straight for a dense stand of White Pines!

I was hoping for more saw-whets than we had on the count, though witnessing a Barred Owl in action, combined with the very bright conditions, may have explained why we didn't do better with saw-whets. However, we had no complaints with a haul of five species! We also found a Porcupine at one of our stops.

The daytime count was spent working the floodplain along the Eastern edge of the Connecticut River between Hadley Cove and North Hadley. We had a steady stream of good birds though nothing quite as unusual as in past years. A female Northern Pintail on the CT River at North Hadley surprised me a little, as did a Merlin with prey near Hadley Cove but I think the most impressive thing for me would be the sheer numbers of sparrows still being found in the fields in mid-December. We logged no less than 302 American Tree Saprrows, plus 52 Song, 30 White-throated, 25 Savannah, 4 White-crowned and 2 Swamp Sparrows mostly in fallow Asparagus fields. The conditions looked favorable for the discovery of something good such as this Clay-colored Sparrow found on last year's count, and it would probably be worth a return visit within the next few weeks.


As usual, it was a thoroughly enjoyable day with Scott with special thanks to him for the planning and organization of another successful day. I'm sure I'll be back for more next year!


JPS.

Sunrise over Hadley, MA. December 19th, 2010.

Merlin - female with prey, Hadley Cove, Hampshire Co., MA. December 19th, 2010.

Black-capped Chickadee - Aqua Vitae Road, Hadley, Hampshire Co., MA. December 19th, 2010. We counted 64 of these on our Hadley loop, most found responding to screech-owl imitations.

Northern Cardinal - Aqua Vitae Road, Hadley, Hampshire Co., MA. December 19th, 2010. There's nothing quite like a fine male cardinal on a winter's morning.

Scene from the Aqua Vitae Road, Hadley, Hampshire Co., MA. December 19th, 2010.

MA - Nelson's Gull - 12/13

Nelson's Gull (Glaucous Gull x American Herring Gull hybrid) - first-cycle (front center), Turner's Fall power canal, Franklin Co., MA. December 13th, 2010.

First of the season Nelson's Gull on the power canal. Overall quite Glaucous-like, especially in terms of the shape of the head and bill, and the bright pink bill with sharply demarcated black tip. However, the primary tips are clearly mid-brown and the upperparts seem quite coarsely marked for a typical Glaucous Gull. A Glaucous Gull was also present on the same evening offering a nice comparison. However, the Nelson's turned out to be a one-day bird and hasn't been seen since.






JPS

MA - Barrow's Goldeneye - 12/13

Barrow's Goldeneye - male, with female Common Goldeneyes. Turner's Falls power canal, Franklin Co., MA. Decemeber 13th, 2010. Poor quality record shots taken at dusk.

This fine male Barrow's Goldeneye was pointed out to me by Nori Howe. I'd been too busy watching gulls to notice this cracking bird close to the parking area. With the Connecticut River in flood after yesterday's deluge, over 100 Common Goldeneye were present on the power canal with the Barrow's being relatively easy to overlook.

I'd be waiting for a Barrow's to show up at Turner's this fall but was expecting a female. Despite regular fall and winter visits to the power canal since 2005, this was the first full male Barrow's that I've seen. Thanks very much Nori!


JPS