MA - a little more on Long-eared Owls

 

Long-eared Owl - Salisbury Beach State Reservation, Essex Co., MA. February 4th, 2021.

Yawning away and looking pretty relaxed!

My recent interest in Long-eared Owls has admittedly been bordering on obsession, primarily spurred on by the degree of difficultly that I've had in finding the species in Franklin County. It's been a real slog finding them but as I hinted in my recent blog post on Franklin County Owls, I did meet with success in a remote spot in Whately on January 22nd but even then I had to be content with scope views and no photos. 

Long-eared Owls - two birds at roost, Salisbury Beach State Reservation, Essex Co., MA. February 4th, 2021.

On February 4th, having already had a brilliant morning with the Redwing at Capisic Pond Park in Maine, my interest in Long-eared Owls then steered me towards Salisbury Beach State Reservation where I knew a couple of roosting owls had been found in the pines sometime around January 25th followed by many subsequent reports to ebird. Other than being aware of a coned off area to protect the birds from over enthusiastic photographers, I wasn't quite sure what to expect and set up my scope anticipating distant views. I needn't have bothered! I was very surprised to see one bird roosting fairly openly in the Pitch Pines drinking in the most of the late afternoon sun. Further searching revealed two more with another in the same stand of Pitch Pines and one buried deep in the Eastern Red Cedars. After a very enjoyable hour I headed for home feeling quite satisfied with the views (and experience) capping off an absolutely brilliant day of coastal birding.

Long-eared Owl - Salisbury Beach State Reservation, Essex Co., MA. February 4th, 2021.

This was the most difficult of three to observe buried deep within this cedar, breast facing left. 

Habitat for roosting Long-eared Owls - Salisbury Beach State Reservation, Essex Co., MA. February 4th, 2021.

Inspired by the views the previous day, I returned to the Whately 'owl site' on Feb 5th with my good friend Brian Kane who's something of a birding ace and a guy with a real penchant for Long-eared Owls. As the darkness closed in we'd almost given up when Brian spotted an owl flying behind a hedgerow in the fading light - it was a Long-eared Owl! Though views were somewhat distant, the snow covered ground gave some illumination and provided enough ambient light to watch it foraging, moth-like, along the woodland fringe for the next ten minutes or so - quite the privilege! There's every chance that this was the same Long-eared Owl that I first noted on January 22nd but with a two week pause in sightings and the fact the Long-eared Owls often roost communally, I'll treat this as a separate record for the time being, only the sixth Franklin County record that I'm aware of. 

Long-eared Owl - Salisbury Beach State Reservation, Essex Co., MA. February 4th, 2021.

While I'm not big on keeping lists, I clearly remember Long-eared Owl becoming my 600th ABA area bird when Eyal Shochat and I watched a single bird hunting in the middle of a bright afternoon at the Riparian Reserve at Gilbert Water Ranch,  deep in the greater suburbs of Phoenix, Arizona. That was way back in December 2000.

ME - a REDWING in Portland!

 

Redwing (1st-winter) - Capisic Pond Park, Portland, Cumberland Co., ME. February 4th, 2021.

Few ABA area birds have haunted me more than two Scandinavian thrushes - Redwing and Fieldfare. Having grown up in the UK both species were familiar winterers, and migrants often occurred in spectacular flights of thousands (literally) during sustained migration watches carried out at my local park in Sheffield. The key period was late autumn but mid-winter flights or 'hard weather movements' would sometimes involve thousands of birds and rival the biggest days of fall migration. Outside of Atlantic Canada, there can be little doubt that the New England states offer slim but realistic opportunities for seeing both species. In fact, I've already narrowly missed chances to see a Fieldfare in Carlisle, Massachusetts (mid-March 2013) and a Redwing in Hollis, New Hampshire (mid-March 2018), both of which directly overlapped with my traditional spring migration tour in Israel. Needless to say, when I learned (last Saturday) of a Redwing being seen incredibly well in a city park in Portland, Maine, I became distinctly 'edgy' and waited patiently for a pause in family commitments before heading out towards the Maine Coast.

February 4th saw me join a modest group of no more than ten birders at Capisic Pond Park, Portland at about 09:45 am. Early reports from birders leaving the site had been favorable offering plenty of room for optimism. The day was warming up nicely with periods of bright sunshine and conditions simply 'felt' good. It wasn't long before the Redwing flicked from ground level up through the undergrowth but stayed faithful to its favored thicket. It put on the most fantastic show devouring Multiflora Rose berries right in front the assembled birders. After 20 minutes or so I was surprised to find myself alone with the Redwing, nothing short a surreal experience given its 'mega' status and not something I'd envisaged on the drive out. But there was the Redwing in plain sight, feeding and soft-singing only feet away with no one in the audience but myself! It seems that my field companions had already seen what they wanted to and moved on to chase the other rarities present within the park. 

While trying to assign Redwings to sub-species in the field isn't recommended and might not be reliably possible, the dark brown upperparts with an olive tint, the dense blurry streaking on the underparts and the brown rear flanks appear to favor coburni, the Icelandic breeding form. 

Breeding, migration and winter range of Redwing Turdus iliacus in the Western Palearctic. 

Courtesy H. Shirihai and L. Svensson from the Handbook of Western Palearctic Birds, Volume 1. (2018)

While I was aware of other rarities being seen in Capisic Pond Park, I hadn't appreciated that they'd be such a compelling draw for visiting birders. But, having already had views of the Redwing that couldn't be bettered, I wandered off to check for the previously reported Dickcissel and a Black-headed Grosbeak, finding the Dickcissel with ease and eventually having satisfactory views of the Black-headed Grosbeak. The latter was perhaps the most tricky of the three rarities present within the park and just happened to be my first in the New England states so was well worth the wait. 

Black-headed Grosbeak - Capisic Pond Park, Portland, Cumberland Co., ME. February 4th, 2021.

Dickcissel - Capisic Pond Park, Portland, Cumberland Co., ME. February 4th, 2021.

Capisic Pond Park, Portland, Cumberland Co., ME. February 4th, 2021.

It's hard to imagine that a  Redwing was lurking the hedgerow to the left when this shot was taken - and nary a birder in sight!

On drive the home I thought about how obliging the Redwing had been, seemingly quite content keeping company with House Finches, Song and White-throated Sparrows. In fact, given the quality and crispness of the New England winter light, I doubt if I've ever had better views of a Redwing anywhere! 

As always, gracious thanks to the finders of these fine rarities. While I was hopeful of simply seeing the Redwing, the close, intimate experience that I had with this bird was way beyond anything that I could have expected. Thank you!