Lots of Mergansers

I made a trip through Quabbin Park starting before dawn and had a good number of Common Mergansers. The total for the morning made it to 377 with the largest group of 318 together. I also had a nice looking pair of Red Breasted Mergansers and a handful of Hooded Mergansers. Among the other waterfowl were 67 Ring Necked Ducks and a handful of Wood Ducks, Black Ducks, Bufflehead, Green Winged Teal, Mallards and Canada Geese.

At home I had a half dozen Tree Swallows and a few migrant Cooper's Hawks.

Rail Trail and Quabbin Park

Got out a bit today and had some nice birds around. I spent over an hour on the rail trail in Amherst and had a few first of the season birds for me. I had a calling Field Sparrow and Eastern Phoebe as well as a couple Tree Swallows. Other birds of interest included a calling Great Horned Owl at dawn, a displaying American Woodcock and a nice flyby group of Green Winged Teal.

I then took an hour long trip through Quabbin Park. The big highlight here were the large number of Common Mergansers. I had at least 263 individuals and this is conservative. I can only imagine the total number on the whole reservoir this morning. Other waterfowl included Hooded Merganser, Ring Necked Duck, Wood Duck and a pair of Bufflehead.

A big loss

Although I usually only post about my bird sightings here I felt a need to post something a bit different today. I have not had alot of free time lately as I dealt with the declining health of my best buddy and frequent birding companion, my dog Kody. We had to put him down yesterday which was a very tough thing to do. We saw alot of birds together in our journeys around the area. He will be missed greatly.

Snow storm

Not alot in the way of birds to report but I couldn't resist posting a few photos of the latest snowstorm. I did make a brief stop at Winsor Dam at Quabbin this morning to try and relocate the Common Loon that has been there. No luck on the loon but did have three Common Mergansers and a group of 56 Cedar Waxwings. At home I had a very vocal Pileated Woodpecker plus the first Red Winged Blackbird at the house this season.

Cooper's Hawk in the snow

On my way to work during yesterday's snowstorm began with a spectacular site. A Cooper's Hawk was feeding on a fresh kill in the middle of my snow covered driveway. I initially didn't have my camera with me and I took a brief look through binoculars and then decided I needed to get going to work. I attempted to drive past the hawk but it was in no mood at all to move. I drove to within about 15 feet and it didn't seem fazed at all. After looking at the hawk for a few moments I decided I would back up the driveway and get my camera and see if I could get a few photos. I raced back up to the house and came back down to find the hawk still feeding. I drove to within 15 feet and leaned out the window to get some shots. The snow made it difficult to get as many shots as I wanted to get but I managed a few good ones. After several minutes I really needed to get moving so I drove closer. The hawk still would not move. I had no way around it so I inched a little closer. I was finally so close I could not see its full body past the nose of the car. I then leaned out and got a few more photos. It was so close at this point I could not fit the full body of the bird within the frame. As I was very rapidly becoming later and later for work I had to get by it. Only after I opened the door and moved toward it did it fly....about ten feet further down the driveway with the remains of the bird in its talons. It gave me a long look as I tried to inch by and it finally flew off into the woods to finish its meal in piece. A nice way to start a day despite the tough weather.

February birding...

It has been about a month since my last post so I thought I would try and get a post on here today. The avian activity has dwindled down and my free time has done the same. I have a few sightings of interest to report from the last few days. The weather has been seasonable mild with daytime temps near 40 which has greatly reduced the snow cover. I have had a Winter Wren singing a partial song the last couple mornings at home. The wren has been around all fall and winter. This morning I made a stop at Covey WMA and Quabbin Park (Winsor Dam only). Covey had a group of eight Eastern Bluebirds together. Quabbin had a flock of 54 Cedar Waxwings, three Bald Eagles and a continuing Common Loon in one of the only open sections of water on the Quabbin. In addition a couple of Coyotes patrolled the ice out near Gate 5. A fairly nice morning to be out with little wind.

Thrush at Quabbin April 2009

I have occasionally run across some interesting birds over the past several years and have managed to get photos of a few of them. I thought it would be interesting to post some photos and see what other people think of them.

The first bird I will look at will be a catharus type thrush. All of the photos have been cropped but otherwise unchanged. This bird was found early in the morning of April 30, 2009 moving through the woods in the central part of Quabbin. I was with a very experienced local birder at the time working on the Massachusetts Breeding Bird Atlas. I saw the bird initially and first thought of Swainson's Thrush but it did not have the look of a typical Swainsons. The other birder with me immediately thought the bird seemed very interesting and worthy of further study. The bird never allowed an approach closer than 25-30 feet. The bird was all by itself and remained silent throughout our several minutes of viewing. The photos may not truly give the actually view we had in the field so I will supplement them with some additional observations and thoughts. The bird appeared to be similar in size and proportions to a Hermit Thrush. The bird lacked the typical buffy, yellowish face and bold spectacles of a Swainson's Thrush. This leaves us with Gray-cheeked or perhaps Bicknell's. In my mind at the time the face didn't have the plain, grayish face I have seen in Gray-cheeked. The face was basically a similar brown to the rest of the body and a slight grayish type eye ring, not as bold as a Hermit Thrush. Overall the coloration of the bird was a dull brownish with little variation noted at the time. The spotting on the breast was actually darker than what is shown in the photos but otherwise the photos are a fair representation of what was seen in the field. Following our viewing and with much discussion we determined the bird to be a Gray cheeked/Bicknells type. Given the early date of late April, either bird species would be quite unexpected. However this sighting corresponds with a large number of species arriving early due primarily to sustained southerly winds during this time in April. The latest edition of North American Birds goes into some detail concerning the early influx of migrants in the northeast in April of 2009. I still do not know for certain exactly what species the bird is and would love to hear some other opinions of ID of this bird. I have seen many examples of all the expected thrushes in the area (except Bicknells) and none of these species fit this bird exactly. I have additional photos and additional notes on the bird if anyone thinks it will help with an ID. Hope to hear some feedback on this bird.