Lots of nesting activity to begin the fourth week of June

Eastern Kingbird at nest with young, Lake Warner, Hadley, MA, Jun 23, 2020

Eastern Kingbird at nest with young, Lake Warner, Hadley, MA, Jun 23, 2020

Eastern Kingbird at nest with young, Lake Warner, Hadley, MA, Jun 23, 2020

Eastern Kingbird, Lake Warner, Hadley, MA, Jun 23, 2020

Eastern Kingbird nest with young, Lake Warner, Hadley, MA, Jun 23, 2020

I spent a couple hours kayaking around Lake Warner in Hadley searching in vain for a Black crowned Night Heron that was seen and photographed there a couple days ago.  The bird may still be somewhere in the area as the area around the lake features lots of great habitat and there are lots of places for the bird to hide.  Despite striking out on the night heron it was still nice to be out on the water enjoying the seclusion and relatively cool morning conditions in the midst of our first heat wave of the season.  I also had some other interesting sightings including a Barred Owl early on and an Eastern Kingbird nest with some freshly hatched nestlings. 

House Wren at nestbox, Home, Belchertown, MA, Jun 23, 2020

House Wrens at nestbox, Home, Belchertown, MA, Jun 23, 2020

House Wren at nest box, Home, Belchertown, MA, Jun 23, 2020

American Robin fledgling, Home, Belchertown, MA, Jun 22, 2020

Lots of breeding activity around the house with both House Wrens and Tree Swallows feeding young in nest boxes and several American Robin fledglings around (plus others). 

Quabbin Park and Lake Wallace

Common Mergansers, Quabbin Park, June 10, 2013

Common Mergansers, Quabbin Park, June 10, 2013

Common Mergansers, Quabbin Park, June 10, 2013

Common Mergansers, Quabbin Park, June 10, 2013

Looking north from Hanks Meadow, Quabbin Park, June 10, 2013

Winsor Dam at dawn, Quabbin Park, June 10, 2013

With rain forecast to arrive by midday I got out early to check out Quabbin Park and nearby Lake Wallace. There was a bit of fog in a few spots at Quabbin near dawn but other areas were fairly clear. I concentrated my time at Hanks Meadow and Gate 52 with brief stops at Winsor Dam and Goodnough Dike. Hanks Meadow featured at least two Black billed Cuckoos (a good year for cuckoos it seems) as well other expected species. The clouds were low here and started getting lower as I was there but it seemed to be clearer toward gate 52 so I headed there next. When I arrived at gate 52 I had an adult Common Merganser across the water on the shore of one of the island with seven small ducklings. Although there may be a few baby birds that are as cute, not many can compete with baby Common Mergansers. I believe they rate at least a nine out of ten on the cute scale but I have not actually done the math. It was fun to watch them all gathered around the mother merganser and then all hit the water when a couple of crows came by. As they swam along they would all try to climb up onto the back of the mom (with some success). At other times they had some luck picking insects off near the water surface as well as diving down and catching some small fish. It was very interesting to watch the ducklings interacting with their surroundings and learning to become successful mergansers. Other birds of note included several Bald Eagles of various ages.

Here is a link to a short video of the mergansers:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/54277284@N05/9007005821/

Great Blue Heron, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, June 10, 2013

Great Blue Heron, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, June 10, 2013

Great Blue Heron, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, June 10, 2013

Great Blue Heron, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, June 10, 2013

Great Blue Heron juvenile, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, June 10, 2013

Great Blue Heron, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, June 10, 2013

Wood Duck with ducklings, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, June 10, 2013

Belted Kingfisher, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, June 10, 2013

At Lake Wallace I ran across a late male Blackpoll Warbler calling along the tree line not long after I  arrived there. Waterfowl on the water included Wood Duck, Hooded Merganser and Canada Geese with some having young birds in tow. The Great Blue Herons were still in attendance at the one nest at the lake plus there were a couple more Great Blue Herons (including a juvenile) fishing in the lake. A couple Green Herons were also seen and at least two Virginia Rails were sounding off.

I then headed home to get Wilson and take a walk along the land trust trail before the arrival of the rain. Not much out of the ordinary here but we did manage to get the walk in before the rain started. The rest of the day featured rain on and off.

A Tri-colored Heron on the 4th of July

Willow Flycatcher, Arcadia Wildlife Sanctuary, Northampton, MA, July 4, 2012

I tried on Tuesday morning to re find the Tricolored Heron seen at Arcadia by Steve Sauter on Monday.  I checked the oxbow and the marsh and river at Arcadia but come up empty.  The bird may have been around but I was unable to find it.  This sighting would be only the third record in the valley and the fifth in all of western Massachusetts.  I reviewed another sighting of this species earlier this year.

http://quabbinbirdingandbeyond.blogspot.com/2012/02/review-of-rare-connecticut-valley_17.html

Great Blue Heron, Arcadia Wildlife Sanctuary, Northampton, MA, July 4, 2012

Great Blue Herons on nests, Arcadia Wildlife Sanctuary, Northampton, MA, July 4, 2012

Gray Catbird carrying caterpillar and dragonfly to nest, Arcadia Wildlife Sanctuary, Northampton, MA, July 4, 2012

Eastern Bluebird, Arcadia Wildlife Sanctuary, Northampton, MA, July 4, 2012

Muskrat, Arcadia Wildlife Sanctuary, Northampton, MA, July 4, 2012

On the 4th of July I got up and saw a posting that the Tri-colored Heron was seen yesterday by Dave McLain in Ned's Ditch at Arcadia.  Ned's Ditch is a section of the sanctuary that has a large Great Blue Heron rookery in it and is quite inaccessible and tough to get views of through the thick vegetation.  I decided I would try once again to find this bird.  I arrived there around 6:30am and walked all over Arcadia getting quite wet in the process.  I checked Ned's Ditch and the old trolley line and then over to the marsh at Hurlburts Pond and then a few other marshy areas but had no luck.  I had talked to Tom Gagnon earlier and I ran into him down there so we tried once again to check Ned's Ditch with no luck once again.  There are so many great feeding areas that you just cannot get a good look at we figured the bird was in one of those.  As we were walking the edge of the field back to our cars I noticed a heron flying low and got my binoculars on it for a brief second before it disappeared behind the trees.  Low and behold it was the Tri-colored Heron!  Tom also got a brief look but was not able to get his binoculars on it.  It was a fleeting glimpse and I was unable to get a photo of the bird.  This sighting occurred right around 10am.  We tried to find the bird again but had no luck.  It seems the bird moves around a bit to feed so perhaps just waiting it out in the fields between Ned's Ditch and the Mill River/Hurlburts Pond would be the most productive way of getting a glimpse of the bird.  It seems the bird is finding good places to feed and has been present for a few days so perhaps others will have luck with it too.  This was a county and state bird for me bringing my county count for the year to 187.

During my several hours down I had some other nice birds including many Northern Flickers, American Robins and Eastern Bluebirds, 45+ Great Blue Herons with many very large young still in the nest plus a nice selection of other expected birds in the area including a number of Bobolinks, Savannah Sparrows and Song Sparrows.  There was also a fair amount of mammals around including Muskrats, White-tailed Deer and Eastern Cottontail.

A futile search for terns...but other birds found

Barn Swallow, Quabbin Park, MA, June 23, 2012

Northern Rough-winged Swallow, Quabbin Park, MA, June 23, 2012

After a few reports over the last several days of terns around the area I decided to try my luck in finding some on the southern part of Quabbin.   The terns that have been seen around include Caspian Terns at north Quabbin and the Oxbow in Northampton and Common Terns (or perhaps Arctic?) in Berkshire county plus a few other Caspian's a bit further afield.  It was a long shot and I came up empty for the morning.  Despite not finding any terns there were still some good birds around but nothing unexpected.  As I watched for terns from Winsor Dam I got some great looks at various swallows as they worked the area in front of the headquarters building.  Great looks at Northern Rough-winged, Barn and Tree Swallows.

Belted Kingfishers, Quabbin Park, MA, June 23, 2012

Quabbin Park also had a family of Belted Kingfishers working the route 9 marsh.  I also found four species of vireo, twelve species of warbler, five species of flycatcher and four species of thrush plus many other birds.  There was a lone Bald Eagle near the nest at Winsor Dam but the nest was empty.

Tree Swallows (two nestlings visible), Belchertown, MA, June 23, 2012

Tree Swallow, Belchertown, MA, June 23, 2012

Tree Swallow (adult with fecal sac), Belchertown, MA, June 23, 2012

At home the Tree Swallows look to be getting close to fledge time with the adults in and out all day with food.  The young are now quite vocal and spend a lot of time at the nest hole waiting for the next arrival of food.  The end of the day brought some thunderstorms and a break from the heat and humidity of the last several days.

possible tracks of Debby as of Saturday evening

In addition another tropical storm has developed today, making four for the season so far.  This is the earliest ever there has been four named storms this early in the season.  The early start doesn't necessarily translate to a busy season throughout but it certainly bears watching.  the big determining factor will be El Nino and how it develops as the summer goes on.  The newest storm, Debby, is in the Gulf of Mexico and the exact track it will take is very much an unknown at this point as the various potential model routes above show.

House Wrens fledge

I just watched one of my nesting families of House Wrens fledge out of the nest box.  They have gotten big enough the last few days the adults rarely entered the box and instead fed them at the nest hole.  There are at least two more wrens still a bit reluctant to leave but the others have fledged.  The adult was able to coax one by flying up to the box with food which one of the young ate quickly and then coming right back with more food but instead flying away with it instead of feeding the young wren at the nest home.  The young wren immediately flew out and followed the adult into the blackberry bushes.  Neat to see.

Last day of April...and nest box update

Yellow Warbler, Quabbin Park, MA, April 30, 2012

Yellow Warbler, Quabbin Park, MA, April 30, 2012

Pine Warbler, Quabbin Park, MA, April 30, 2012

Yellow-rumped Warbler, Quabbin Park, MA, April 30, 2012

Common Loons, Quabbin Park, MA, April 30, 2012

The last day of April dawned cold and clear with a temperature in the 20's.  Thankfully the wind backed off today so it did not feel nearly as cold.  Eventually the temperatures made it into the 60's.  Although the winds last night were not great for a big push there were still more birds that did show up.  I had three first of year birds today including Chimney Swift, Merlin (way overdue for me) and the most surprising- a Yellow-throated Vireo.  The date of the vireo is the earliest I have ever had one here.  The bird was with a mixed species flock along the shoreline near Goodnough Dike.  It was feeding in the tops of some oak trees.  I got great looks in good light but before I could get a photo the bird flew further down the shore.  I followed it for a few hundred feet and then lost it before I could get close again.  I didn't add any new warbler species today but did manage to find all the species I had previously seen so far this year including the Blackburnian.  Lots of other good stuff around today too.  I spent over an hour at Winsor Dam late AM trying for some raptors.  The only obvious migrants were Ospreys flying quite high heading northeast.  The Merlin I saw was actually fairly low and heading west.  During my vigil at the dam I also had the only Chimney Swift of the day as one lone bird moved through heading northeast.  Tomorrow should bring in a real good push of birds if the winds stay south and the rain doesn't shut down migration too early.

Hooded Merganser chicks in nest box, April 30, 2012

The Hooded Merganser eggs have hatched and the birds are probably only a few days away from fledging out of the new nest box.  This was the only one of the three boxes used this season so far but the birds appear to have been successful.

Info on tagged goose and eggs in a nest box

Canada Goose (E878), Rt 9 marsh, Quabbin, March 12, 2012

I found a tagged Canada Goose at the Route 9 marsh on February 28 and March 12  and forwarded the information to the USGS bird banding site www.reportband.gov .   The bird had a yellow neck collar with the ID of "E878" written in black letters.  I just got some info back about the bird.  The female was banded in Berlin, Connecticut by the CT Dept. of Environmental Protection on 6/29/2004 and was an adult at that time (born in 2003 or earlier).  It was interesting to see the journey the bird has made so far.

My weekly check of my nest boxes here at home turned up two eggs in one of the wood duck boxes.  I suspect the eggs are Wood Duck eggs as there was a female nearby when I went down to check the boxes.  She should lay several more eggs over the next few days.  I'll check it next week and see what progress she has made.  Very happy to see the boxes being productive.  No other activity in the other boxes yet but stay tuned.  I'll try to get a few photos when I check them next week.

Quabbin...more breeding bird atlas stuff

I spent the morning into the early afternoon (5:50am-1:00pm) atlasing three blocks on Prescott Peninsula. Another great day in this section of Quabbin. Lots of juvenile birds around and other just nesting. Finally confirmed Cerulean Warbler in an area they have been for a few years. I found a male carrying food. I lost him high in the trees before I found a nest or a juvenile. I also had an Evening Grosbeak feeding a juvenile. Lots of other activity with some good numbers of birds. Also watched a Cedar Waxwing put the finishing touches on its nest and got some photos of the construction. The totals for the day are below. Another fine day in a wonderful area.

Mallard 1 female

Ruffed Grouse 4 two adults, two juvenile

Turkey Vulture 1

Red-tailed Hawk 2 pair

American Woodcock 1

Ruby-throated Hummingbird 2

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 17

Downy Woodpecker 9

Hairy Woodpecker 4

Northern Flicker 4 one juvenile

Pileated Woodpecker 1

Eastern Wood-Pewee 5

Alder Flycatcher 1

Least Flycatcher 22 carrying food

Eastern Phoebe 2

Great Crested Flycatcher 5

Eastern Kingbird 6 on nest

Yellow-throated Vireo 6 a few juveniles

Blue-headed Vireo 9 carrying food

Warbling Vireo 2

Red-eyed Vireo 113 carrying food

Blue Jay 7

Tree Swallow 44 many juveniles

Black-capped Chickadee 27 several juveniles

Tufted Titmouse 1

Red-breasted Nuthatch 6 one juvenile

White-breasted Nuthatch 3

Brown Creeper 1

Winter Wren 4

Golden-crowned Kinglet 12 a few juveniles

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 1

Veery 63 carrying food

Hermit Thrush 3

Wood Thrush 23

American Robin 29

Gray Catbird 59 several juveniles

Cedar Waxwing 68 pair building nest

Blue-winged Warbler 1

Chestnut-sided Warbler 77 many juveniles

Magnolia Warbler 8

Black-throated Blue Warbler 26 a few juveniles

Yellow-rumped Warbler 14

Black-throated Green Warbler 26

Blackburnian Warbler 13

Pine Warbler 34 carrying food

Prairie Warbler 2

Cerulean Warbler 1 carrying food...unable to find nest. In same area as seen previously

Black-and-white Warbler 7

American Redstart 63 several juveniles

Ovenbird 31

Common Yellowthroat 131 many juveniles

Canada Warbler 2 carrying food to nest

Scarlet Tanager 14 carrying food

Chipping Sparrow 46 a few juveniles

Field Sparrow 2

Song Sparrow 7

Swamp Sparrow 3

Rose-breasted Grosbeak 4

Indigo Bunting 5

Red-winged Blackbird 15

Common Grackle 11

Brown-headed Cowbird 7

Baltimore Oriole 3 all juveniles

American Goldfinch 21

Evening Grosbeak 3 adult feeding juvenile

White tailed Deer-2
Little Brown Bat-5
Gray Squirrel-1
Red Squirrel-4
Chipmunk-31