MA/VT - Evening Grosbeaks keep coming

Seemingly a big day for Evening Grosbeaks on November 18th, beginning at dawn with 30 (11, 19) leaving a roost in Gill along with 2,500 American Robins! The Robins departed north-east while the grosbeaks headed south-west. Later in the morning, whilst scouting for the Saxtons River CBC with Laura Gaudette and JoAnne Russo in southern Vermont, two more single Evening Grosbeaks and then finally a single over the Turner's Falls power canal towards the end of the day. The previous day, Nov 17th, I stumbled across three Evening Grosbeaks including two males near Gill Center. Without doubt, this's the best autumn that I've had for this species locally since we moved to Franklin County in 2010. 

Evening Grosbeak - fem/imm Rockingham, Windham Co., VT. November 18th, 2016.

Southern Vermont also yielded my first Northern Shrike of the fall, again with Laura Gaudette and JoAnne Russo, this bird being a lovely brown, and very vocal, immature. There was also a smart, unusually marked male American Robin with white wing coverts (creating a white wing panel) which stood out from the rest of the foraging group of 20 or so birds.  

Northern Shrike - first-winter, Rockingham, Windham Co., VT. November 18th, 2016.

American Robin - male, Rockingham, Windham Co., VT. November 18th, 2016.

Predators in Gill this week included several Barred Owls and a nice, late, American Kestrel. 

American Kestrel - Gill, Franklin Co., MA. November 17th, 2016. 

The middle of the week saw the departure of the well watched Mountain Bluebird at Turner's Falls airport. This highly attractive western passerine brought so much pleasure to its admirers and was a 'life bird' for some. 

Mountain Bluebird - first-winter male, Turner's Falls, Franklin Co., MA. November 16th, 2016. 

The first for Franklin County and the Pioneer Valley, and about the tenth state record overall.

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.  

MA - Mountain Bluebird in Turner's Falls

Mountain Bluebird - Turner's Falls Airfield, Franklin Co., MA. November 13th, 2016. 

About the tenth state record for Massachusetts.

Update Nov 14th: The Mountain Bluebird apparently showed well all morning from first light and was clearly finding plenty to eat!

Came across this wonderful Mountain Bluebird at Turner's Falls Airfield this morning (11/13). Initially somewhat distant, I waited for closer views and confirmation before sending out the first alerts to friends and colleagues. Within thirty minutes or so, the first birders started to arrive with the bird being regularly seen by many until sunset. 

Although Veit and Petersen document just one record of Mountain Bluebird in the 'Birds of Massachusetts' (1993), it appears that the species has occurred in the state far more regularly since that time with at least eight more records to date, not including this bird. Quite a few of these have been from interior Massachusetts with dates ranging from late October through to mid-May. Check out the excellent summary in MARCs pages here; http://www.maavianrecords.com/home/about-species-accounts/mountain-bluebird?pli=1

This species has been on my 'radar' as a potential Franklin County bird for several years and I was thrilled to see it come to light today. Other birds of interest at the airfield included around 40 Snow Buntings, 25+ Horned Larks and a couple of Eastern Bluebirds. Elsewhere, more signs of irruptive finches included one flock of 19 Evening Grosbeaks in Gill in the early morning, and Brian Kane reported a Red Crossbill flyover River Road in Montague in mid-morning.

*Turner's Falls Airfield can be viewed from the public parking area near the administration building just off Miller's Falls Road, across the street from the former Country Creemee.