TX - Varied Bunting and Hutton's Vireo - April 16th.

An afternoon visit to the always productive Lost Maples State Park on the Edwards Plateau gave us two rather unexpected species with, firstly, an adult male Varied Bunting right outside the Visitor Center. Despite its gaudy colors it was often extremely difficult to see remaining high in an oak for much of the observation. We later had a fabulous walk up the East Trail finding a pair of Hutton's Vireos nest building quite literally above the trail!

Varied Bunting. Adult male, Lost Maples SP, Bandera County, TX. April 16th. Described in the 'Handbook of Texas Birds' as an uncommon to rare summer resident of the SW Edward's Plateau.

Hutton's Vireo. Adult at nest, Lost Maples SP, Bandera County, TX. April 16th. Described in the 'Handbook of Texas Birds' as a 'possible' very low density resident on the Edward's Plateau.

TX - Townsend's Warbler - High Island April 20th

Another nice surprise for our Birdfinders group. This fine male Townsend's Warbler was found during a frenzy of warbler activity in Smith Oaks Sanctuary, High Island during late afternoon, April 20th.

Townsend's Warbler. Male, Smith Oaks Sanctuary, High Island, Galveston County, TX. April 20th, 2009.

TX - Cassin's Sparrow near Winnie - April 22nd

Cassin's Sparrow - North of Winnie, Jefferson County, TX. April 22nd.

This bird popped up along a fence on League Road (East of Rt 1406) road just North-west of Winnie on the last morning of our Birdfinders trip. We'd driven out there to follow-up a report of some good shorebird fields which turned out to be slightly less productive than hoped. However, whilst strolling along the road, this Cassin's Sparrow perched up on the fence long enough for me to take a few digibin images. Having seen quite a few of these during our trip in Southern and Central parts of the state I didn't get too 'excited' but referencing the 'Handbook of Texas Birds' by Lockwood & Freeman would suggest that a record this far East in Texas (Jefferson County) is worthy of note.

TX - Golden-cheeked Warbler - April 18th

Golden-cheeked Warbler - Always stunning and always a highlight of any spring trip to Texas. This obliging male was singing on one of the trails at Neil's Lodges, Uvalde County, TX.

TX - Masked Ducks - April 10th.

Seen on the recent and excellent Birdfinders spring tour of Texas, two Masked Ducks on Alligator Pond, Laguna Atascosa NWR. We showed up in late afternoon hoping to see a single Masked Duck that had been reported on periodic basis from tiny Alligator Pond. It was certainly a sweet moment two birds swam in to view and began consorting with each other with audible gasps and 'wows' from our assembled group. The birds also showed rather marked plumage differences, one being smaller, darker and more densely patterned than the larger paler breasted bird. I haven't been able to find out much information on the ages of Masked Ducks but it seems plausible that the smaller darker bird was an adult female and the larger, paler bird a first-year male. These birds put on a fine show contrary to their ultra-skulking reputation, and instantly became a strong candidate for bird of the trip.

Masked Ducks, Laguna Atascosa, Cameron Co., Texas. April 10th, 2009.

MA - Bohemian Waxwings - 03/06

Bohemian and Cedar Waxwings - Unity Park, Turner's Falls, Franklin Co., MA.

Bohemian Waxwings provided a pleasant diversion from the gulls at Turner's Falls on a mild, spring-like afternoon. They were feeding with a group of about 60 Cedar Waxwings and some American Robins on fruiting trees in Unity Park. I'm not sure of the numbers, but I saw three and heard more calling from across the road in a private yard, probably about half-a-dozen in all. Reports of Bohemian Waxwings have been quite frequent in Western MA over the last couple of weeks and it was rather rewarding to finally catch up with a few. I also heard Bohemian Waxwings flying over Riverview Drive in Gill, presumably birds from this Turner's Falls group.

As for the gulls, it was pretty much a typical evening with a six species and no major rarities; 3 Kumlien's Gulls (all first-cycle), 1 Glaucous Gull (first cycle) and 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull (adult).

CT - Nelson's Gull adult - 03/04

Nelson's Gull (Glaucous x American Herring hybrid) - Windsor/Bloomfield Landfill, Hartord County. March 4th, 2009. Still present after a week affording better views and images. Larger than most American Herring Gulls with paler gray upperparts, dark slate gray (rather than black) primaries, and pale-lemon staring eye.

CT - Graylag Goose - 03/04

Graylag Goose - origin uncertain, Whirlwind Hill Road, East Wallingford, CT. Found and reported by Greg Hanisek on Feb 22nd.

After spending four not so productive hours at Windsor Landfill, I decided to head further south after a timely call from Nick Bonomo who'd just seen the Graylag Goose at MacKenzie Reservoir, Wallingford. Reaching the site took longer than I'd hoped with traffic problems on I-91 and the bird was no longer present on the reservoir when I arrived. However, I soon located it feeding with Canada Geese on Whirlwind Hill road and enjoyed good views at comfortable range.

This bird is pristine plumage, hind toes intact and shows no signs of any form of captivity. It was quite skittish on the ground, calling frequently and tending to hide amongst its companions for most of the observation. The bird is gathering interest after Greg Hanisek's initial find on Feb 22nd, and has received an upbeat appraisal from the ABA's news page (PEEPS). Graylag Goose was added to the ABA list in 2008 after a spring migrant spent some days on a drill ship some 200kms off St.John's in Newfoundland. Observations of Graylags with wild Canada Geese are bound gather interest in the future, especially in the New England states. The bird is a nice orange-billed example of the nominate form anser which breeds in Europe, including Iceland which has seen a huge population increase in recent years.

I'm grateful to Nick Bonomo for the heads-up, and kudos to Greg Hanisek for the having the presence of mind to put the bird into the public forum!

MA - Thayer's-like Gull, latest images - 02/26

This may well be the last batch of images that I can feature on this interesting bird. It has more than a passing resemblance to a first-cycle Thayer's but I and several other observers have found the overall size (about the same as average American Herring Gull) and the rather ragged look to the scapulars a little off putting. Also, there's been a constant question mark over the pattern of the outer primaries on the spread wing which have always appeared less strikingly 'two-toned' than most first-cycle Thayer's that I've seen. Unfortunately, I don't have any shots that show the spread wings well.

This bird may well elude identification and appears to have moved on. It wasn't in the gull roost this evening (03/02/09) and may have been last recorded by Tom Pirro on Feb 27th which also happened to be the last evening that the Slaty-backed Gull was recorded! Here's a link to Tom's blog entry.

MA - presumed hybrid Great Black-backed x Glaucous Gull - 03/01

presumed Great Black-backed x Glaucous Gull hybrid - first-cycle. Barton Cove, Gill, Franklin Co., MA. March 1st, 2009.

This interesting first-cycle gull, glossed over by me for some time as a Nelson's, was identified by Jeremiah Trimble and Marshall Iliff as a hybrid between Great Black-backed and Glaucous Gulls on Feb 28th. The bird itself has been present in the Barton Cove roost for well over a month, possibly even longer than that. I'll be checking my photos for the first documentation that I have of this bird.

The bird has an overall frosty cast with mid-brown primaries quite broadly fringed with pale edges. With wings raised or in flight, there's a hint of a Thayer's like pattern with dark outer webs and pale inner webs creating the 'two-toned effect', plus this bird shows quite a neat dark trailing edge to the primaries. I must confess, I'd always been a little put off by the pale brown but rather broad tail band to consider anything other than American Herring Gull as one of the parents.

However, it's a really nice bird, possibly the first documented record of this hybrid combination in Massachusetts. Here's a link to Marshall's comments on Massbird.