MA - Mountain Bluebird continues, plus harriers and more......

 Mountain Bluebird - first-winter male, Turner's Falls Airfield, Franklin Co., MA. November 15th, 2016.

Third straight day for this stunning passerine. 

Checked in on the Mountain Bluebird in mid-morning finding it straight away, remarkable the only bluebird present around the airfield at that time. Initially, the airfield seemed pretty quiet but a gray male Northern Harrier, 16 Snow Buntings, Purple Finch and Common Raven had been logged by the end of visit. Heavy rain hastened my departure at 11:00 hrs but just prior to that, the bird flew straight onto the low perimeter fence and began foraging a mere 20 feet in front of myself and Bee Emily - simply breathtaking to have the bird that close.

Northern Harrier - adult male, Turner's Falls Airfield, Franklin Co., MA. November 15th, 2016.

In between errands I passed through River Road in Gill and found it 'loaded' with birds including a female Northern Harrier, 800+ American Robins, 250 Horned Larks, several Snow Buntings, Dark-eyed Juncos and at least a dozen Northern Cardinals.

Northern Cardinal - male, Gill, Franklin Co., MA. November 15th, 2016.  

Northern Harrier - female-type, Gill, Franklin Co., MA. November 15th, 2016.  

White-throated Sparrow - Gill, Franklin Co., MA. November 15th, 2016.