Red Crossbill(s) and the return of the Lesser Scaup today and Prescott field surveys yesterday

Great Blue Herons at nest, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, June 27, 2016

Great Blue Herons at nest, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, June 27, 2016

Red tailed Hawks, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, June 27, 2016

Wood Ducks, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, June 27, 2016

I headed out a bit after dawn over to Lake Wallace and had a great bird not long after I arrived when a Red Crossbill (or maybe several) flew by calling heading west to east....species #208 for the county this year.  I immediately recognized the kip, kip, kip call and tried to get some audio so I could send it off to Matt Young at Cornell to find out the specific type Red Crossbill I had. Unfortunately I think the bird(s) were too far away by the time I started recording but I sent along the clip anyway to see if Matt can somehow tease out the crossbills from all the background noise. I will update if I get any info back on the crossbills. It appears there may be a bit of an invasion of Red Crossbills into New York and mid New England starting to occur...hopefully there will be more to come.  Lots of other good stuff at Lake Wallace including many young ducks and mergansers, at least 17 Great Blue Herons (lots of young birds in nests), a Virginia Rail and a family of Red tailed Hawks plus a half dozen Common Ravens flying past.  Video of the Great Blue Herons being fed can be found below:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/54277284@N05/27328554724/in/dateposted-public/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/54277284@N05/27328692184/in/dateposted-public/
UPDATE on crossbills:  I got an e-mail back from Matt saying the bird(s) were either Type 1 or Type 2 Red Crossbills but the recording was not good enough to figure out which one of the two.  I have had both of these types in the area before in previous years.

Lesser Scaup, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, June 27, 2016

Chimney Swift, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, June 27, 2016

Chimney Swift, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, June 27, 2016

Chimney Swifts, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, June 27, 2016

Raccoon, Quabbin Park, MA, June 27, 2016

I then decided to head to Quabbin Park in the hopes of catching up with more crossbills in areas I have had them there in the past (no luck with them despite much effort). Before hitting the park itself I stopped at Winsor Dam where I rediscovered the male Lesser Scaup back again after a nearly two week absence. I had last seen the bird at the dam on June 14 but it had not been present during several visits over the last several days. I figured it had moved on or been eaten but neither outcome seems to be the case. If will be interesting to see how long it stays...it is pushing toward two months now. The Chimney Swifts at the admin building have grown in number to a dozen and put on quite a show as they flew around catching insects and occasionally dropping into he chimney. My trip to a few spots within the park didn't turn up anything unexpected. I also ran across a Raccoon that looked really ratty and seemed a bit unsteady....perhaps a rabid individual or sick with some other disease.

Barred Owl, Prescott Peninsula, New Salem, MA, June 26, 2016

Ruffed Grouse, Prescott Peninsula, New Salem, MA, June 26, 2016

Black billed Cuckoo, Prescott Peninsula, New Salem, MA, June 26, 2016

Yellow Warbler, Prescott Peninsula, New Salem, MA, June 26, 2016

Black Bear, Prescott Peninsula, New Salem, MA, June 26, 2016

Purple Finch, Prescott Peninsula, New Salem, MA, June 26, 2016

Red eyed Vireo, Prescott Peninsula, New Salem, MA, June 26, 2016

Yellow throated Vireo, Prescott Peninsula, New Salem, MA, June 26, 2016

Yesterday I made the trip up to Prescott Peninsula to complete another series of field surveys and had a banner day of birding. I was also on the lookout for other unusual species up that way that I have seen in the past there including Red Crossbill, Evening Grosbeak and Cerulean Warbler (missed on all three of those once again). Highlights included a couple of vocal Barred Owls at one of my stops, at least seven Ruffed Grouse (a single adult plus another adult with young), a flyby Common Raven, Species of warblers and a couple of House Finches (quite unusual on the peninsula). Ended the morning with a total of 68 species of birds. Notable among the mammals I saw was a Black Bear that was walking through the woods. Full list from the morning attached below:
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S30400605

American Crows, home, Belchertown, MA, June 25, 2016

American Crows, home, Belchertown, MA, June 25, 2016

Another species showed up at the water feature on the 25th...American Crows...lots of photos of them as they checked out the water and moved some stones around.