MA - Henslow's still around - 07/01

Swung by Montague on my way out this morning and was pleased to see and hear the Henslow's Sparrow still singing vigorously in the middle of the same field off Meadow Road. Dull, foggy, almost autumnal conditions meant that my struggle for a decent image of this bird goes on!

Henslow's Sparrow. Singing just off Meadow Road, Montague, Franklin Co., MA. July 1st, 2009.

MA - Henslow's Sparrow - 06/28

The Henslow's Sparrow was again present and singing at Meadow Road, Montague today, much to the delight of many assembled birders. We visited the site around noon and were eventually rewarded with a prolonged view of the bird teed up nicely for several minutes. The bird was vocal throughout much of our short stay though only visible for us on this one occasion. A most exciting bird to have in the Pioneer Valley during the summer months! Let's hope it sticks around.

Earlier today, Matt Garvey captured some video footage of the Henslow's including some excellent audio of the diagnostic song, which is really worth listening to. Click here for Matt's video.




Henslow's Sparrow - Meadow Road, Montague, Franklin Co., MA. June 28th, 2009. These images were taken from the roadside through heat-haze at midday with the bird about 40 meters distant.

MA - Henslow's Sparrow - 06/27

Henslow's Sparrow Ammodramus henslowii. Singing from a Hay Field off Meadow Road in the town of Montague, Franklin County, MA. Although somewhat distant, the bird was visible for long periods during the 75 minutes that I was present with Matan along with two visiting birders (Ida Giriunas and Molly Taylor) from the Boston area. Found and reported by Mark Fairbrother earlier in the day. I can't remember seeing a report of a singing Henlsow's Sparrow on Massbird since I've been living in Massachusetts!

MA - Moose - 06/22

One of the joys of doing fieldwork in the Quabbin Watershed - the ever present chance of an encounter with a large mammal. Digibin shots taken from the car on the Prescott Peninsula.

CO - White-tailed Ptarmigan - May '09

Wonderfully cryptic, ridiculously approachable and absolutely enchanting! A personal highlight of the recent Birdfinders trip to Colorado & Wyoming, this fine male White-tailed Ptarmigan fed unconcerned by the tourist masses within meters of the main road through Rocky Mountain National Park. These images were taken over two days, May 24th and 25th.

WY - Badger! - 06/03

One of the highlights of our recent Colorado and Wyoming tour, this American Badger was spotted from the tour bus by Alan Knight as we sped along at 60 mph! The area was just south of Rock Springs, Wyoming. These are digibin shots taken from the tour bus on June 3rd.

MA - Yellow-bellied Flycatcher - 05/18

Yellow-bellied Flycatcher - Prescott, Quabbin, Franklin Co., MA. May 18th, 2009.

This wonderfully co-operative Yellow-bellied Flycatcher put on a fine show at the southern end of the Prescott Peninsula in the Quabbin. Most of my previous experiences with this species have been frustrating with birds most usually identified by song or call and giving only fleeting views. This bird was rather exceptional though, and gave what must have been my best views of the species.

Mid to late May is a fine time to detect migrants destined for the Boreal forests and Northern woods passing through Massachusetts, and this bird fits right into that pattern. Other birds around today included several Blackpoll Warblers in Amherst, plus Evening Grosbeaks, Cerulean Warbler, Yellow-throated Vireo and Winter Wren all in Central Quabbin.

MA - Amherst migrants - 05/16

This morning was comfortably cool, bright and sunny. Not really the sort of conditions where I'd expect to find a good variety of migrants in the local neighborhood but some of today's species are worthy of note. A Bay-breasted Warbler singing on North Whitney Street was my first of the year, as were a couple of Blackpoll Warblers up near Orchard Hill on the UMass campus. The real highlight though was a singing Acadian Flycatcher in a yard on Chestnut Street north of Amherst town center, my first locally for the year. Other nice species included Magnolia and Blackburnian Warblers and Swainson's Thrush in our yard on North Whitney Street, a Yellow-throated Vireo (first one on April 28th) on the Amherst Bike Path at Snell Street and a Louisiana Waterthrush on Henry Street, North Amherst, the latter present since at least April 24th. All of these were recorded under human power, either by foot or bicycle.

Yesterday, May 14th, I also came across a migrant Lincoln's Sparrow in the Northern part of the Prescott Peninsula, Quabbin.

VT - a possible Boreal x Black-capped Chickadee - 05/10

An interesting chickadee found whilst looking for Boreal Chickadees at Moose Bog, Wenlock WMA in the North East Kingdom, Vermont. This bird's unusual appearance prompted the question of hybridization between Boreal and Black-capped? A request for information on ID Frontiers revealed that there are apparently no fully documented cases of hybrids between this particular species pairing.

This bird was foraging close to two Black-capped Chickadees but responded immediately to sound recordings of Boreal. Although the digiscoped images (taken in dull overcast conditions) are rather poor they do reflect much of what I experienced in the field - a bird somewhat resembling Boreal Chickadee but lacking the brown-cap and gray neck sides of that species, and showing a rather white-cheek similar to Black-capped Chickadee. In the field, the wings appeared near uniform lacking the white edging to the secondaries and greater coverts of Black-capped and more closely resembling Boreal. At all times the bird appeared black-capped, though the images show a subtle brown tone to the top of the crown which I didn't see in the field. Further odd features include a clear contrast between the black cap and the mantle, and rather weakly colored buffy flanks (not rich buff as in typical Boreal).

I left the bird feeling quite puzzled and thought about the hybrid question even before I'd had chance to look over the images. Although I don't expect the images to be in anyway conclusive, they do appear to show a reasonably good candidate for a Boreal x Black-capped Chickadee hybrid.

I'm very grateful to Peter Pyle, David Sibley, Cameron Eckert and Steve Mlodinow for commenting on hybridization in chickadees and for offering to comment on these images.

possible Boreal x Black-capped Chickadee, Wenlock WMA, Essex County, VT. May 10th, 2009.

VT - Black-backed Woopecker 05/10

We had a family trip up to Island Pond, VT over a very wet, and ultimately very cold, weekend. Even snow showers were forecast for parts of NE Vermont on Sunday! We spent much of Sunday morning walking the wet trails around Moose Bog in the Wenlock WMA. Sadly, we couldn't dig up any Spruce Grouse but eventually caught up with a nice male Black-backed Woodpecker. An interesting Boreal Chickadee and a Palm Warbler were other highlights.




Arriving back home in Amherst, MA on Sunday evening, a female Ruby-throated Hummingbird was working the feeders - our first of the season.