End of year wrap up

Roadside Hawk, Rio Magnolia Lodge, Costa Rica

As the end of the year rapidly approaches I will take some time to review the highlights of the year of 2011.  The total number of birds seen this year topped out at 583 with a total of 449 of those seen in the United States and the rest in Costa Rica.  I added 152 life birds with 121 of those coming from Costa Rica.  Overall my most productive year to date.

I took a total of six trips out of the area this year, which was a new high for me.  The trips included the following:  Florida in January, Arizona in April, Ohio in May, California in September, Texas in November and Costa Rica in December.  Each of these trips had their own set of highlights.

Pied-billed Grebe, Green Cay Wetlands, FL

Black-bellied Plover, Sanibel Island, FL

Eastern Screech Owl, J.N. Darling NWR, FL

Florida Scrub Jay, Canaveral National Seashore, FL

The trip to Florida was a nice getaway from the cold winter up north.  We spent a little time on the Atlantic coast near Boynton Beach and then made a trip over to the gulf coast to Sanibel Island and then up to the Orlando area.

Verdin, Saguaro NP, AZ

Pyrrhuloxia, Tucson, AZ

Broad-billed Hummingbird, Madera Canyon, AZ

Hepatic Tanager, Madera Canyon, AZ

The Arizona trip was another nice late winter/early spring getaway that provided many noteworthy birds.  I visited Mount Lemmon, Sweetwater Wetlands, Saguaro NP (both units) as well as spending a few days in Madera Canyon.  The weather was just perfect with only one day with any bad weather and that was the day we arrived in the rain.  Otherwise it was sunny and warm during the day and clear and cool at night.

American Redstart, Magee Marsh, OH

Black-throated Green Warbler, Magee Marsh, OH

Prothonotary Warbler, Magee Marsh, OH

Blackpoll Warbler, Magee Marsh, OH

Blackburnian Warbler, Magee Marsh, OH

I then took a solo trip out to Ohio to visit the area around Magee Marsh along the shoreline of the great lakes where many neotropical migrants stack up during migration before continuing their trip north across the lake.  Many species of warblers, vireos, thrushes, orioles, etc can be seen at nearly arms length as they feed along the boardwalk.  It was once again a dream for photography.  On one rainy day I decided to make the long drive up into Michigan to get to sunnier weather and see Kirtland’s Warblers on their breeding grounds. 

Western Scrub Jay, Point Reyes, CA

Black-footed Albatross, Monterey Bay, CA

Our trip to California added quite a few species to my list for the year as well as several new species to my life list.  We stayed a few days around Point Reyes and then down to Monterey to take an all day pelagic trip and then down to Big Sur.  A truly beautiful area.

Green Jay, Bentsen-Rio Grande Valley SP, TX

Green Kingfisher, Santa Ana NWR, TX

I took a second solo trip for the year when I went down to south Texas along the Rio Grande.  A little warm up to tropical birding before our trip down to Costa Rica.  It was nice to get back down there again and see the varied selection of both birds and butterflies.

Speckled Tanager, Rio Magnolia Lodge, Costa Rica

Rufous-tailed Hummingbird, Hacienda Baru, Costa Rica

Blue Dacnis, Hacienda Baru, Costa Rica

Silver Throated Tanager, Rio Magnolia Lodge, Costa Rica

The final out of area trip was down to Costa Rica which turned out to be the best trip of the year.  We were a bit apprehensive of going down but we were so glad we did.  The birds, the lodging, the food, and the weather were just great.  It was one of the best trips I have ever had with little to no stress and lots of relaxation.  Our only regret is not staying longer!

Sooty Tern (cropped, distant shot), Quabbin Park during Hurricane Irene

As far as in the local area there were several highlights with one of the most memorable birding days being the day Hurricane/Tropical Storm Irene struck the area on August 28^th bringing with it a lot of rain and a lot of storm driven birds.  I will recount a bit of that day.  I made several morning trips over to Winsor Dam at Quabbin and the rain and wind made viewing difficult to downright impossible.  From mid morning on Marshal Iliff arrived and kept a vigil throughout the day as did Scott Surner a little later in the morning.  I finally made another trip over and stayed as the storm made its way to the west of us.   The first  bird of note was a calling Whimbrel that we attempted to locate along the dam without any luck.  We were pulled away from this search by Marshall who spotted a Parasictic Jaeger.  This turned out to be the beginning of a parade of unusual birds.  We spotted a group of Hudsonian Godwits as well as Black bellied and American Golden Plovers as they moved south passing over the dam.  The biggest thrill was when I spotted a white bird coming over the hill at Quabbin Park which banked revealing its ID…White tailed Tropicbird.  I immediately said “I think I have something interesting” and got others on it.  It was amazing to see a tropical pelagic bird normally found hundreds of miles away flying over and then landing on Quabbin.  The birds continued fast and furious with a Sooty Tern feeding just off the dam, another jaeger, Black Terns, Ruddy Turnstones with a Pectoral Sandpiper in tow.  One of my most memorable days of birding ever.  My only regret was not staying a little longer to see the Leach’s Storm Petrel that moved south passing over the dam.  Marshall's eBird checklist for the day is worth a look if you want a true feeling for the spectacular nature of the day: http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S8749439

A few days after Irene I had one of my other great sightings of the year but one that was frustrating as well as I got such a brief look at the bird and was not able to get the camera up quick enough to document what was probably another mega bird.  I was at Covey WMA in the morning and was near a small swamp and noticed a few nighthawks moving south.  With the last nighthawks I noticed a large swift moving with them.  It was much larger than a chimney swift in the same general vicinity.  I got a brief look at it and was unable to refind the bird.  It may very well have been a Black Swift from the caribbean that was displaced by the hurricane as there were several other records along the east coast of either Black Swifts or unidentifed large swift species during and immediately after the storm.  Certainly the bird that got away from me this year.

Song Sparrow collecting nest material, Belchertown, MA

Mallard with ducklings, Quabbin Park, MA

Barn Swallow fledglings, Quabbin Park, MA

Hooded Merganser with ducklings, Quabbin, MA

This year also marked the end of the five year Massachusetts Breeding Bird Atlas.  I will certainly miss going out in the field trying to track down all the various breeding birds in my assigned blocks.  I will especially miss my trips down the restricted Prescott Peninsula which provided me with innumerable great experiences during the five years of the project.  Finding one of the only records of breeding Red Crossbills during the atlas was a major highlight for me.  Besides the atlas, I participated in other bird census research including a breeding bird survey route, Christmas bird counts, bird surveys and many contributions to eBird.  The cornell eBird project is a great way to let your day to day sightings have scientific value as well being a great way to keep track of your own records.  This year alone I submitted over 1900 eBird reports bringing my total to nearly 8000. 

Red Phalarope, Quabbin Park, MA

Wild Turkeys, Quabbin, MA

Common Nighthawk, Belchertown, MA

Mourning Warbler, Quabbin, MA

Snow Buntings, Quabbin Park, MA

Northern Pintails, Quabbin Park, MA

There were many other great birding moments around the local area such as a Red Phalarope at Quabbin Park (a rare occurrence inland in the state), the annual arrival of various neotropical migrants, the August migration of Common Nighthawks, the September movement of raptors as they head south, the fall arrival of waterfowl, the winter arrival of birds from the north and on and on....

Mink

Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Amherst bike path, MA

This year saw the loss of another birder in the area that I had gotten to know over the years.  Deedee Minear lost her long battle with cancer.  She was always a fixture along the rail trail in Amherst and I have many fond memories of running across her on a morning outing there in spring and comparing what we had come across so far.  There were many times we were able to bird together for a bit and enjoy the antics of the resident Mink as it worked its way around the many marshy areas.  I will always treasure the old Quabbin map she gave me several years ago as well as a copy of Donald Kroodsma’s book on bird song with a nice note in it about us meeting once along the bike path and enjoying the first of season sighting of a Rose-breasted Grosbeak.

Wilson helping me recover after surgery

This year also marked the arrival of the newest member of the family, our new dog Wilson.  He has filled a bit of the void left when we lost Kody but he is not looked at as a replacement.  He has his own unique personality and has become a big part of our lives.

Breeding Bird Atlas wrap up

American Redstart feeding young, Prescott Peninsula, Quabbin, MA, June 14, 2010

With the setting in of fall of 2011 the five year Massachusetts breeding bird atlas has now wrapped up and I thought I would take this time to reflect on some of the highlights the five seasons in the field provided me.  This will be a relatively long post for me but hopefully interesting for those reading it.
First a little background of the breeding bird atlas here in Massachusetts.  The first one was conducted during the years of 1974-1979.  The second one began in 2007 and ended this year.  It is a five year state wide project to get a snap shot of the various species of birds that breed throughout the state.  It is a massive undertaking that requires a lot of effort of many volunteer birders to complete.   In this area the many volunteers were coordinated by Mary Alice Wilson who did a fine job of getting the right people into the blocks and making sure we got the info entered into the state database.  The entire state is split into blocks that are approximately 10 square miles.  There are a total of  about 1055 blocks statewide.  Each block has a primary atlaster that is responsible for at least 20 hours of primary observation time (many block get much more time than that).  Each block received a name and number that reflected the area it covered such as Winsor Dam 2 or Belchertown 5.  Additional info can be found at http://www.massaudubon.org/birdatlas/bbaportal/index.php

I had a total of four blocks assigned to me as the primary and another five as secondary with three of these on the restricted access Prescott Peninsula at Quabbin.  Tom Gagnon was the primary on these blocks and I joined him on all his trips in there as well as taking many, many trips on my own.  The total number of hours spent over the five years amounted to probably well over 1000 hours.  The most productive blocks as far as overall species either breeding or suspected of breeding were Winsor Dam 3 and Shutesbury 8 which both had 91 species.  I found a total of 136 species in the blocks I covered and was able to confirm breeding of 108 species.  I had several records of state listed species breeding in the blocks I covered.

Red Crossbill feeding young, Prescott Peninsula, Quabbin, MA, June 3, 2009

Red Crossbills, Prescott Peninsula, Quabbin, MA, April 23, 2010

Red Crossbill, Prescott Peninsula, Quabbin, MA, April 30, 2010

The highlights were many and I will recount a few of the more memorable.  As far as oddities one of the best was finding breeding Red Crossbills on Prescott Peninsula on a few years of the count.  I first found them on the lower third of the peninsula in the only area I also had breeding Cerulean Warblers in a few seasons of the atlas.  I had an adult feeding young there and managed a few photos for ID purposes.  Over the next couple years I found evidence of breeding of Red Crossbills in other blocks on Prescott including males and females mating as well as additional recently fledged juveniles being fed.  As far as what type of Red Crossbills I do not know but I had them feeding on red pines.  Although there are other records of breeding Red Crossbills in the state over the years (Montague Plains WMA and pine barrens in the southeast part of the state) I believe the blocks on Prescott Peninsula were the only ones with breeding confirmed during the five years of the atlas.  Many times I would have just a handful of birds but the best day I had was June 19, 2010 when I had 26 individuals with most in one large group.

distant shot of Canada Goose on nest in tree (old heron nest), Prescott Peninsula, Quabbin, MA, May 6, 2008

Another interesting sight was a Canada Goose that decided to take over a Great Blue Heron nest in a small pond.  The bird was at least 15 feet above the water sitting in this nest.  Certainly one of the strangest nest I have seen.

Barred Owl on nest (head and tail visible), Covey WMA, Belchertown, MA

Northern Saw-whet Owl -juvenile in nest, Prescott Peninsula, Quabbin, MA, May 26, 2008

Another fun group of birds to try and find the nests of were owls.  The best ones I found were a Northern Saw-whet Owl on Prescott Peninsula and a Barred Owl that used the same nest for several years at Covey WMA (the nest tree fell during a storm a few years ago).  I also found a few juvenile Great Horned Owls and had Eastern Screech Owls in appropriate habitat during the breeding season.  Besides the owls I also found some other nocturnal birds that were breeding in our blocks including American Woodcocks and Whip-Poor-Wills.  The Whip-Poor-Wills seemed to have a stronghold in the southern third of the Prescott Peninsula and I would have double digit numbers on some of my evening trips in.  Several times I had spectacular close views as the Whip-Poor-Wills came flying right next to us.  Hearing several of them calling right near you in the pitch blackness of Prescott Peninsula was quite exciting.

Ruffed Grouse young, Prescott Peninsula, Quabbin, June 27, 2009

I had many breeding neotropic migrants during the years of the atlas as well as species such as Bald Eagle, Common Loons, Sharp shinned Hawk, Ruffed Grouse, Cooper's Hawk and others.  It was always a thrill to find a bird gathering nest material or actually building a nest.  I included a few of the many photos I got of this type of activity over the years of the atlas.  It was fun to watch a nest be built, then have the birds sitting on the nest and then see the young develop and finally fledge from the nest.  The time spent watching the various nests paid dividends in other ways as staying put and quiet led to some other wildlife sightings such as when I was viewing the American Redstart nest pictured above and I had the feeling I was being watched.  I dropped my binoculars down, turned around and found a Bobcat thirty feet away looking at me. 

Bobcat, Prescott Peninsula, June 7, 2010

In addition to the Bobcat I ran across a multitude of other wildlife such as Black Bear, Moose, Porcupine, various bat species, Mink, a Southern Bog Lemming (a life mammal for both Tom and myself on Prescott), lots of butterflies, other insects and a multitude of plant life.

Eastern Box Turtle (endangered species), Quabbin Park, May 3,2010

Leather Beetle, Prescott Peninsula, May 13, 2009

Gray Hairstreak, Prescott Peninsula, May 30, 2008

I could go on and on with the different experience I had while conducting this atlas and many photos to go along with the stories but I have to keep the post to a manageable size.  I will say again it was fun and made you take a more critical look at the birds that you would come across from day to day.  It will be unusual next spring to not be out there seeing what new species I can add to the various blocks I covered.

Here are some additional photos of various species either collecting nest material or on nests.  The warblers and vireos were always some of my favorite subjects to find building nests and raising young.  These as well as other neotropic migrants are fascinating in the long, perilous journeys they take from their breeding grounds here to their wintering areas in the Caribbean, central America or down to South America and back again each year.

Gray Catbird with nest material, Quabbin Park, May 23, 2010

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher gathering nest material from fern head, Quabbin Park, May 7, 2008

Chestnut sided Warbler on nest, Quabbin Park, June 13, 2008

Red eyed Vireo on nest, Prescott Peninsula, June 21, 2008

Cedar Waxwing on nest, Prescott Peninsula, July 3, 2009