MA - Bobcat, and more winter finches and geese

Bobcat - Montague, Franklin Co., MA. December 9th, 2020.

A Bobcat hunting voles in rough pasture would have to be the highlight of the latter part of this week. Generally, I have about 15 - 20 encounters with Bobcats each year in Franklin County, most of them too brief for photos so to have prolonged views of a big male actively foraging in the middle of the day was a real treat. He looked over in my direction a couple of times but seemed quite unconcerned by my presence and nonchalantly caught three voles as I watched, swallowing them whole and licking his lips afterwards.

Bobcat - Montague, Franklin Co., MA. December 9th, 2020.

Bird-wise, irruptive finches continued to attract attention and just when I thought Evening Grosbeaks were starting to taper there seems to be more than a hint of an ongoing second 'wave' with five in Gill and four over Turner's Falls Dec 11th, another 10 over Main Road, Gill on the 12th and 29 at East Hill Road in Bernardston on the 10th. The latter was the largest single flock that I've seen in Franklin County. 

Five Red Crossbills were at the same location in Bernardston on Dec 10th, with a further five over Barton Cove boat ramp on the 9th. Impressive though these were, the boreal finch that really caught my imagination this week was the Pine Grosbeak. Six birds continued at Meadow Road, Montague on the 9th and on the 10th I stumbled across a flock of 14 near Upinngil Farm, Gill that continued through to the 12th at least. The well watched flock at Wendell State Forest also continued where Scott Surner recorded an impressive18 on the 10th, and Susannah and I tallied a 'whopping' 22 on Dec 12th. All the flocks appeared to be composed of females and russet female/imm males thus far. 

Pine Grosbeaks - Gill, Franklin Co., MA. December 10th, 2020.

Pine Grosbeak - Wendell State Forest, Franklin Co., MA. December 12th, 2020. One of a flock of 22.

Common Redpolls, while certainly present in numbers, remained quite difficult to observe at close range though I did have a little more success of late with 20 on North Cross Road, Gill on the 10th and 65 at the Turner's Falls power canal on Dec 11th. 

Common Redpoll - Turner's Falls power canal, Franklin Co., MA. December 11th, 2020. 

Barnacle Goose (center) - Greenfield, Franklin Co., MA. December 12th, 2020. 

The long staying Barnacle Goose and at least one Cackling Goose continued within the greater Canada Goose 'spectacle' at the Turner's Falls power canal with both birds present through to Dec 12th allowing many birders and photographers to catch up with both species at leisure. 

Barnacle Goose - Turner's Falls power canal, Franklin Co., MA. December 11th, 2020. 

Dropping into the power canal after spending the morning feeding in Greenfield. 

Barnacle Goose - Turner's Falls power canal, Franklin Co., MA. December 10th, 2020. 

Cackling Goose - Turner's Falls power canal, Franklin Co., MA. December 10th, 2020. 

MA - more 'winter finches' and a saw-whet owl

 

Common Redpoll - Pine Meadow Road, Northfield, Franklin Co., MA. November 22nd, 2020.

The march of irruptive finches into Franklin County appears to be raging on, at least for some of the species. Common Redpolls showed up in numbers this weekend though these were generally composed of aloof, fast moving flocks that were difficult to study. Larger flocks included 35 at New Salem Vista on Nov 19th and 50 plus at High Ledges in Shelburne on Nov 21st. Flocks two to seven Common Redpolls also showed up at Montague Sand Plains, Turner's Falls, Northfield and Gill. Of the smaller, closer flocks I've been unable to detect any Hoary Redpolls to date but I think it's only a matter of time before they appear. It's been a cool ten years since I've seen a Hoary Redpoll close to home so the next one is going to be very welcome indeed!

White-winged Crossbills continue to filter through with flyover singles at Gate 22 in the Quabbin on Nov 19th, and North Cross Road, Gill on Nov 20th and 22nd. I'm still hoping and waiting for a photogenic flock that will actually settle for just a few minutes. Pine Grosbeaks too, remain elusive (for me) with just a single over North Cross Road, Gill on Nov 22nd. 

Meanwhile, the Red Crossbill show in the Montague Sand Plains continues unabated and I've personally logged 65-75 birds on every recent visit. It's a true audio and visual spectacle with roaming flocks constantly 'buzzing' in and out of Old Northfield Road dropping down to drink from puddles on the road as well as feeding in the surrounding Pitch Pines. Results from the audio clips, thanks to Tim Spahr, have shown that the vast majority are eastern Type 10 (Sitka Spruce) but also include Types 1 (Appalachian), 2 (Ponderosa Pine) and 3 (Western Hemlock) - not too shabby!

Evening Grosbeaks have been far fewer, in fact the only birds I came across this week were singles over downtown Turner's Falls and over North Cross Road, Gill on Nov 20th. 

Lingering waterbirds at Turner's Falls included a Cackling Goose through to the 21st at least, and 5 American Coots and a Double-crested Cormorant through to the 23rd. 

Northern Saw-whet Owl - Northfield, Franklin Co., MA. November 22nd, 2020.

November 22nd saw a completely windless afternoon and heavily overcast, brooding sky. While family commitments prevented me from making the most of the remaining daylight hours I did sneak out at dusk for my first serious owling attempt of the fall and met with great success! My prize was a fantastically close encounter with a Northern Saw-whet Owl that responded aggressively to my whistled imitations by dive bombing me! After that initial greeting I was treated to a long sequence of vocalizations including drawn out 'whine' or 'wail' calls and a lot of soft, staggered 'tooting'. I'm not really a photographer and struggle with owls at night, and this particular bird never perched in one spot for long, so I ended up with just one record shot to show. But no matter, the experience was wonderful and a powerful reminder that Northern Saw-whet Owl  is probably my favorite North American bird. As if not wanting to be overlooked, a Barred Owl called in the distance while the saw-whet was tooting, and all of this took place within the Hemlock forests not too far from our home in Northfield. 

MA - Boreal Chickadee in Franklin County

 

Boreal Chickadee - New Salem Vista, Franklin Co., MA. November 3rd, 2020. 

November keeps on giving, the month of so much possibility.  Hot on the heels of yesterday's MEGA Common Cuckoo in Rhode Island, a Boreal Chickadee graced a public vista point in New Salem as I carried out a watch for migrating raptors. While it was incredibly thrilling to hear it's wheezy, nasal 'tis-tchay' calls in Franklin County, it wasn't completely unexpected as I'd been following a number of out-of-range Boreal Chickadee reports from nearby South-west New Hampshire since mid-October. Hopefully this bird is the precursor to a greater 'irruption' and we could potentially see multiple reports over the forthcoming weeks. As to my personal experience, well this is an incredibly rare county bird and one that I haven't seen since Dec 2006. Ironically, that bird was present just five miles up the road where it visited a feeder for several days in the town of Orange. The current New Salem bird didn't linger and was (sadly) too quick for the camera but I traded blurry record shots for good views through binoculars and the pencil sketch is a pretty good representation of how I saw the bird in the field.  The raptor migration wasn't too shabby either, totally dominated by Red-shouldered Hawks with a tally of fifteen passing South-west before the Boreal Chickadee appeared. After that, I I left the hawk watching and focused on trying to relocate the chickadee. 

Red-shouldered Hawks - migrating over New Salem, Franklin Co., MA. November 3rd, 2020. 

These are exciting days to be in the field. I've focused most of my effort to within 20-25 minutes of home in Northfield. Irruptives such as Red-breasted Nuthatch, Red Crossbill, Evening Grosbeak, Pine Siskin and Purple Finch are present and passing through seemingly anywhere and there really hasn't been a dull moment. And just today, there's news of Pine Grosbeaks in Hampshire County to add yet another exciting element to the autumn migration. Bring it!

MI - Warblers in Spring Part III

Kentucky Warbler - Tawas Point SP, Michigan. May 18th, 2019.

Originally found by Scott Surner on May 15th and looking somewhat bedraggled by May 18th. 

Despite having fabulous views of Kirtland's Warblers the previous evening, we returned on Sunday morning for a second helping and to enjoy some of the other species that we'd seen all-too-briefly the day before. These included Brown Thrasher, Hermit Thrush and Nashville Warbler. We worked hard for Upland Sandpipers but couldn't find any before moving onto Hartwick Pines State Park for fantastic views of Evening and Rose-breasted Grosbeaks, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker and Winter Wren. And there was even a Barred Owl calling the classic 'who-cooks-for-you' in the middle of the morning. The afternoon was dedicated to Bobolinks around Mio and the early evening to marshland birds where we heard lots of Soras and Virginia Rails but couldn't work-up any magic with Yellow Rail.

Winter Wren - Hartwick Pines SP, near Grayling, Michigan. May 17th, 2019. 

Evening Grosbeaks - Hartwick Pines SP, near Grayling, Michigan. May 17th, 2019. 

Rose-breasted Grosbeak - Oak Openings, Ohio. May 14th, 2019. 

We rounded off a brilliant spring trip with time spent at another migration hotspot, Tawas Point State Park. It was alive with migrant warblers and vireos, not least of which was a lingering Kentucky Warbler found on May 15th be fellow Pioneer Valley birder Scott Surner. We also enjoyed more Golden-winged and Orange-crowned Warblers, and what could only be described as a 'flock' of Philadelphia Vireos on the very last morning of the trip. I dare say that had we been given more time, Tawas Point would have kept on giving to us. John and I rounded up a stunning tour with 31 species of wood-warbler recorded. A big miss this year was Mourning Warbler but then the views that we had of Connecticut Warbler at Magee Marsh seemed like an appropriate trade off and there were no complaints forthcoming from us!

Blackpoll Warbler - Tawas Point SP, Michigan. May 18th, 2019. 

Red-breasted Nuthatch - Tawas Point SP, Michigan. May 19th, 2019.

Philadelphia Vireo - Tawas Point SP, Michigan. May 19th, 2019.

MA - Common Yellowthroats, Lapland Longspur and more

Lapland Longspur - Montague, Franklin Co., MA. December 13th, 2018.

Passerines continued to capture most of my personal interest through to mid-December. To date (Dec 16th), Common Yellowthroats (1 - 2) are still present in the Northfield Meadows, seemingly happily foraging around a completely frozen cattail pond. How these birds will fair during the remainder of the month remains to be seen but for now it certainly looks like an attempt at over-wintering.

Common Yellowthroat (first-winter male) - Northfield Meadows, Franklin Co., MA. December 12th, 2018.

The excellent sequence of Franklin County Lapland Longspurs continued on Dec 13th with another found in a smallish flock of Horned Larks in Montague. Just outside of Franklin County, there was a super Northern Shrike at Whitingham, Vermont on Dec 16th just a few miles north-west of Colrain, Mass.

Lapland Longspur -  with Horned Larks, Montague, Franklin Co., MA. December 13th, 2018.

 Northern Shrike - Whitingham, Windham Co., VT. December 16th, 2018.

Otherwise, a steady series of flyover Common Redpolls ( 1 - 5) and Evening Grosbeaks (1 -3) over several sites in Northfield, Gill and Turner's Falls during Dec 9th - 12th. 

Cackling Goose - Turner's Falls, Franklin Co., MA. December 12th, 2018.

Cackling Goose - Northfield Meadows, Franklin Co., MA. December 10th, 2018.

(Greater) Snow Goose - adult, Turner's Falls, Franklin Co., MA. December 12th, 2018.

Water birding around Turner's Falls has been 'steady' with a Cackling Goose, quite possibly the same individual adult, being recorded at multiple sites from Northfield through to Turner's Falls between Dec 1st - 16th (multiple observers). A Greater Snow Goose spent all day loafing with Canada Geese off Unity Park before suddenly departing at dusk with the very first flock that decided it was time head south. Also of note, a Long-tailed Duck at Turner's Falls Rod and Gun club on Dec 4th, and a very late Double-crested Cormorant on Nov 29th. 

Long-tailed Duck - autumn male, Turner's Falls, Franklin Co., MA. December 4th, 2018.

Double-crested Cormorant - Barton Cove, Gill, Franklin Co., MA. November 29th, 2018.

Gull watching at Turner's Falls was quite promising in early December with up 9 individual Iceland Gulls identified including three adults, and up to four Lesser Black-backed Gulls though numbers of both species had tapered towards the middle of the month.

Barred Owl - Gill, Franklin Co., MA. December 2nd, 2018.

Barred Owl - Montague, Franklin Co., MA. December 12th, 2018.
Image appears courtesy of Brian Kane.

Finally, Barred Owls continue to be heard and seen around much of Franklin County and it seems pretty clear that we have an incursion of birds from further north supplementing our resident population. Sadly, as with other incursion years, this has included a lot of road-killed Barred Owls.

MA - two, maybe three Common Yellowthroats in Northfield!

Common Yellowthroat (first-winter male) - Northfield Meadows, Franklin Co., MA. December 12th, 2018.

Still present in the favored patch of cattails this morning for the sixth straight day and distinctly feisty, 
this male being outwardly aggressive towards Savannah and American Tree Sparrows. Is this an attempt at over-wintering?

Common Yellowthroat (first-winter male) - Northfield Meadows, Franklin Co., MA. December 9th, 2018.

This morning I returned to the scene of the previous day's Common Yellowthroat sighting in Northfield Meadows. My expectations of a repeat performance were not high after another very cold night - it was 11 deg F in Northfield at dawn. It was very nearly birdless for a good twenty minutes or so until a small olive toned warbler caught my eye and I knew I had the Common Yellowthroat once more. As I settled down to try and get some record shots another Common Yellowthroat started calling about 12 feet away and it wasn't long before I was watching two Common Yellowthroats flitting through the cattails together. That just seemed crazy for a bitterly cold morning in December! I tracked them as best I could before eventually losing sight of them towards the back of the cattails. As I watched, a third bird started calling that might also have been a yellowthroat, but for now I'm erring on the side of caution and going with two birds - one (first-winter) male and one female. Update: at least one (first-winter male) still present on Dec 12th, with 2 on Dec 11th and 4 seen and heard on Dec 10th - remarkable!

Common Yellowthroat (female) - Northfield Meadows, Franklin Co., MA. December 9th, 2018.

Common Yellowthroat (first-winter male) - Northfield Meadows, Franklin Co., MA. December 9th, 2018.

Common Yellowthroat (first-winter male) - Northfield Meadows, Franklin Co., MA. December 8th, 2018.

Common Yellowthroat (first-winter male) - Northfield Meadows, Franklin Co., MA. December 8th, 2018.

Earlier, the day had gotten off to a terrific start with 5 Evening Grosbeaks and my first Common Redpoll  of the season flying over North Cross Road, Gill.

MA - more Fox Sparrows and an Evening Grosbeak

Evening Grosbeak (male) - Northfield Meadows, Franklin Co., MA. October 26th, 2018. 

Northfield just keeps on giving! Fox Sparrows at Northfield Meadows increased to five this morning and I went on to find a 'pocket' of seven White-crowned Sparrows until farming activity forced me to try my luck elsewhere. It really worked out when a calling male Evening Grosbeak flew in and landed just two meters in front of me. It certainly seemed odd to see an Evening Grosbeak in the middle of agricultural fields but I'll take it, quite happily. 

Evening Grosbeak (male) - Northfield Meadows, Franklin Co., MA. October 26th, 2018. 

Evening Grobeak (male) - Northfield Meadows, Franklin Co., MA. October 26th, 2018. 

Evening Grosbeak (male) - Northfield Meadows, Franklin Co., MA. October 26th, 2018. 

Evening Grosbeak (male) - Northfield Meadows, Franklin Co., MA. October 26th, 2018. 

Fox Sparrow - Northfield Meadows, Franklin Co., MA. October 26th, 2018. 

One of five in the same hedgerow this morning. 

Northern Harrier (juvenile) - Northfield Meadows, Franklin Co., MA. October 26th, 2018.