The first
week of December was generally mild, calm and often foggy. Owls continue
to feature with Barred Owls being relatively easy to find.
Unfortunately, several have succumbed to vehicles and I've seen no less than
seven road-killed Barred Owls over the last two weeks including five
in the Greenfield area alone.
With fall
migration pretty much behind us, it’s perhaps surprising that Northern
Saw-whet Owls continue to
feature in the local woods in relatively large numbers with many birds
seemingly settling down to winter territories. For example, owling with friends
in Putney, Vermont, we found a minimum of six individuals at four sites on Dec
6th, and a minimum of five birds in three sites in Franklin County on Dec 7th. Contact
calls included a full range of vocals, the familiar 'tooting' song being among
the least frequent of the vocalizations heard.
At
Turner's Falls, an adult Lesser
Black-backed Gull continues
to be seen most afternoons. A second-year Iceland
Gull on Dec 2nd was my first
of the current winter season, hopefully the forerunner of more to come later in
the month. Waterfowl numbers continue to impress at the power canal with a show
of up 165 Common Mergansers and up to 35 Common Goldeneye at dusk. A Cackling Goose continued in the area to Dec 1st at
least and a pair of Gadwall showed up at Barton Cove, Gill on Dec
7th. Also in Gill, another Northern
Shrike, again a brown-immature on Dec 7th.
Barred Owl - Greenfield, Franklin Co., MA. December 5th, 2016.
Barred Owl - Gill, Franklin Co., MA. December 8th, 2016.
Northern Saw-whet Owl - Putney, Windham Co., VT. December 6th, 2016.
Gadwall - Barton Cove, Gill, Franklin Co., MA. December 7th, 2016.
Lesser Black-backed Gull - adult, Turner's Falls, Franklin Co., MA. December 3rd, 2016.
Kumlien's Iceland Gull - second-cycle, Turner's Falls, Franklin Co., MA. December 2nd, 2016.
Cedar Waxwings - Turner's Falls, Franklin Co., MA. December 4th, 2016.
Common Goldeneyes - Turner's Falls, Franklin Co., MA. December 3rd, 2016.
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