Quabbin Park, Gate 16, 15 and home

I finally made a round trip around Quabbin Park now that the road has been reopened. The damage is extensive in sections. I made my trip around early before the hordes descended on the park. I managed some good birds including the continuing Cerulean and lots of Cedar Waxwings. I got some photos but will have to post after I download them.

I then took a trip up to Gates 16 and 15 on the west side and had some more good stuff. There were five Common Loons in the small cove at 16 with some great looks. I also had an apparent pair of Spotted Sandpipers at the same location I had suspected nesting in the past. The woods were alive with the songs of Hermit Thrushes and various warblers. The non bird highlight was a Bobcat walking away from me down the road. I have seen a few this year already.

At home I had the usual suspects plus a group of three Broad winged Hawks together, calling with one doing a courtship flight. I also had a Red shouldered Hawk and a high flyby Cooper's Hawk. Apparently a good day for raptors here.

Storm damage and yard birds

I attempted to make it back into central Quabbin but was stopped by the extensive tree damage caused by thunderstorms during the middle of the week last week. The damage was quite impressive with many large trees down and all access roads blocked. I managed to hike around for a few hours and then finally gave up trying to weave my way through the damage. Despite the damage there were still some nice birds around. I continued to have good luck finding Evening Grosbeaks here. I have not missed seeing or hearing them every time I have made a trip into central Quabbin (I probably just jinxed myself for the next trip!). I had a nice assortment of warblers and other breeders with quite a bit of nesting activity taking place.

Cerulean Warbler, Quabbin Park, May 30, 2010

Following my attempt to get into my atlas blocks in central Quabbin I made a trip down to Quabbin Park to check on the Cerulean Warbler I found there last week. He appears to have made it through the storms that still have parts of Quabbin Park closed. He continues to sing continuous and with any luck he will attract a mate.

I then went back home to see what surprises were around the house today. I had some good luck including this very cooperative Northern Flicker that was feeding on some type of food in the lawn. The Eastern Phoebe's appear to be about ready to fledge and the local Robins already have. I also had a close encounter with a deer at midday that decided it wanted to walk through the yard and check out the activity.

Evening Atlas work and another Cerulean Warbler

American Woodcock, Central Quabbin, May 21, 2010


I spent another evening checking out central Quabbin for various birds. The main focus of this trip on the 21st was to try and re find a Chuck-Will-Widow seen by James Smith in early May. I had no luck finding the bird so it has either moved on or is staying silent. I also had no luck with Whip-Poor-Will's in this area either. However the more southern areas here do contain a nice group of Whip-Poor-Will's with a total of approximately a dozen see/heard on two previous trips this season.

Prairie Warbler, Quabbin Park, May22,2010

Black-billed Cuckoo, Quabbin Park, May 22,2010

Cerulean Warbler, Quabbin Park, May 22, 2010

After a several year absence I finally found a singing Cerulean Warbler at Quabbin Park. After a long time trying to find the bird I finally got some fairly decent views. They use to breed in the area I found this one this morning. Perhaps this one will be able to attract a mate and reestablish these warblers as breeders back at this location. Sorry for the low quality shot but he just would not come down very low at all. Beyond the Cerulean there were a nice selection of birds around with some showing quite nicely. The Black-billed Cuckoo has been in the same area for almost two weeks now.

Breeding Bird Atlas...again.

Ruffed Grouse, Central Quabbin
Evening Grosbeak gathering nest material, Central Quabbin

Song Sparrow carrying food to nest, Central Quabbin

I spent another morning in Central Quabbin covering two atlas blocks. Some great birds around and alot of confirmations of breeding noted. Again the vast majority of birds seen today were on territory and likely nesting/getting ready to nest. There were a few migrants still around such as Northern Parula and Yellow-bellied Flycatcher. I ran into another group of Red Crossbills with at least one juvenile with the group of four. There were many interesting sightings with many birds building nests and defending territories.

Black Vulture and Lincoln's Sparrow at Quabbin Park

Scarlet Tanager, Quabbin Park

American Redstart

I spent the morning exploring Quabbin Park with my mother who made her annual spring trek down to check out the migration. She yet again brought good luck with the birds with the biggest highlights being a Black Vulture soaring with four Turkey Vultures and a beautiful Lincoln's Sparrow. Unfortunately neither bird was very cooperative for a photograph. In addition to these birds we had other great stuff including great looks at a Black billed Cuckoo, mating Scarlet Tanagers, nest building American Redstarts, Chestnut sided Warblers and Baltimore Orioles, about to fl edge Common Ravens at their nest along the spillway, a large group of Double Crested Cormorants moving north and 19 species of warblers. Another great day at Quabbin.

Breeding Bird Atlas trip

Moose, feeding along edge of pond

Olive sided Flycatcher, one of two seen


Common Yellowthroat

I made a couple trips into my atlas block in New Salem to check on the ongoing status of breeding birds and general migration. The vast majority of birds seen and heard appeared to be on territory with some building nests or already feeding young. The numbers of warblers and vireos are reaching their peak at this point and flycatchers are building in numbers too. I'll include the list from the trip to give a glimpse of the activity in this wild part of Massachusetts.

Canada Goose 4 adults
Ruffed Grouse 6 drumming
Wild Turkey 7
Double-crested Cormorant 4 high flyby
Broad-winged Hawk 1
Solitary Sandpiper 3 together
Mourning Dove 12
Black-billed Cuckoo 1
Ruby-throated Hummingbird 3
Belted Kingfisher 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker 1
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 17 carrying food
Downy Woodpecker 1
Hairy Woodpecker 2
Northern Flicker 3
Olive-sided Flycatcher 2
Eastern Wood-Pewee 1
Least Flycatcher 31
Eastern Phoebe 5 carrying food
Great Crested Flycatcher 1
Eastern Kingbird 4
Blue-headed Vireo 7
Red-eyed Vireo 72
Blue Jay 17
American Crow 3
Tree Swallow 10
Barn Swallow 1
Black-capped Chickadee 30
Tufted Titmouse 2
Red-breasted Nuthatch 9
White-breasted Nuthatch 2 carrying food
Brown Creeper 3
House Wren 2
Winter Wren 1
Golden-crowned Kinglet 2
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 2
Veery 26
Swainson's Thrush 2
Hermit Thrush 2
Wood Thrush 22
American Robin 32
Gray Catbird 34
Blue-winged Warbler 1
Nashville Warbler 1
Northern Parula 2
Yellow Warbler 27
Chestnut-sided Warbler 69 building nests
Magnolia Warbler 21
Black-throated Blue Warbler 37 carrying nest material
Yellow-rumped Warbler 5
Black-throated Green Warbler 23
Blackburnian Warbler 8
Pine Warbler 15
Prairie Warbler 2
Blackpoll Warbler 1
Black-and-white Warbler 20
American Redstart 59 building nests
Ovenbird 76
Northern Waterthrush 1
Common Yellowthroat 99 carrying nest material
Canada Warbler 3
Scarlet Tanager 14
Eastern Towhee 82
Chipping Sparrow 34
Song Sparrow 8
Swamp Sparrow 1
White-throated Sparrow 1
Northern Cardinal 2
Rose-breasted Grosbeak 15
Indigo Bunting 2
Red-winged Blackbird 11
Common Grackle 7
Brown-headed Cowbird 11
Baltimore Oriole 22 building nests
Red Crossbill 2 pair
American Goldfinch 4
Evening Grosbeak 4 two pairs

Back from Ohio

Chestnut sided Warbler, Magee Marsh Boardwalk


I just arrived back after a quick trip out to northwestern Ohio. It was a great trip despite the less than ideal weather conditions. I managed a total of 124 species while covering only a few areas. I ended with 26 species of warblers. It looks like I missed a really big day out there by one day but I'm still happy with my trip. Some really nice photo ops of birds you don't normally get to see so well. I'll post some of my photos from this trip over the next few weeks.