No storm birds, more rails and a new yard species

Virginia Rail, Belchertown, MA, July 5, 2014

Virginia Rail, Belchertown, MA, July 5, 2014

I spent a little time early this morning at a cool (mid 50's) and windy Winsor Dam in the faint hope of finding something storm related. Scott S. was there looking too but no luck at all which is not surprising given the track of Arthur but it was worth a look nonetheless. It sounds like a few pelagic birds got pushed in a little closer to shore on the cape but nothing too unusual yet. I have seen a few reports from Nova Scotia of a number of terns, skimmers, gulls, storm petrels and others but still nothing too crazy. Without much to see at the dam we headed over to Lake Wallace and had the usual suspects there. I then headed over to a small marsh elsewhere in Belchertown and had a few cooperative Virginia Rails which allowed a few photos before disappearing again. Probably the best bird of the day was a Black Vulture that flew over the house around 1:30 heading east...I ran back in to get the camera but the bird was gone by the time I got back outside. The vulture became yard species #157!

July 4th birding produces rails and a crossbill...plus an update on Hurricane Arthur

Sora, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, July 4, 2014

Sora, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, July 4, 2014

Sora, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, July 4, 2014

Sora, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, July 4, 2014

Virginia Rail, Land trust trail, Belchertown, MA, July 4, 2014 (I include it as it is the only time I have managed to get photos of two rail species in western mass on the same day)

Hooded Merganser, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, July 4, 2014

Winsor Dam early AM, July 4, 2014

Although my main thoughts today were on finding storm related birds (more a dream really) I instead had some decent non storm related birds including some of my best looks at rails I have ever had in western Massachusetts. I spent well over an hour at Lake Wallace and among the nearly fifty species seen or heard I had a calling Virginia Rail and a calling Sora that I eventually had fantastic looks at. It took a lot of time of waiting around for the Sora to appear but eventually it did and provided me with great views. It actually flew around a bit and eventually crossed from the main marsh to a smaller marsh and walked right across the trail perhaps twenty feet away. It seems like a great spot for the species to breed but no confirmation of that today. My other close encounter with rails occurred when I was out on a walk with Wilson at the land trust trail. I had an adult and at least one juvenile very close tom us moving between two marshes and vocalizing. Wilson was quite interested in the strange little birds but I wouldn't let him investigate too closely. My other bird of interest today occurred as I spent some time at Winsor Dam checking out what might be out and about. A Red Crossbill flew over calling several times. By the time I got the camera out and started trying to capture some audio the bird was too far away to pick up. It sounded different compared to the Type 10 bird I had last week up on Prescott so really wished I was able to get some audio to type the bird but it was just not to be today! The crossbill became species #215 for Hampshire County this year.

 

Hurricane Arthur peaked as a category 2 storm with winds of 100 MPH as it moved through the outer banks and has since lost a little strength but continues to be a hurricane.  Arthur is still forecast to travel northeast and move offshore of the cape and islands. As far as conditions here it will mainly be a rain event with little other impact. There is still a long shot chance of something unusual showing up but the chances are quite low around here. I did see some reports from coastal North Carolina of a frigatebird, a Sooty Tern and Bridled Tern yesterday plus another Sooty Tern in coastal New Jersey but I have not seen anything for today. It will be interesting to see if anything odd turns up from the cape or islands or up in Nova Scotia.  I think the best chance for oddities would be up in Nova Scotia assuming the storm holds together.

Hurricane Arthur nears category 2 status

Hurricane Arthur is now northeastward and is approaching category 2 status with winds at 90 MPH.  The forecast track remains through the outer banks of North Carolina and then south of the cape and islands.  Although not the optimal track or timing for a tropical system to bring unusual birds into western Mass the slight chance is still there for something noteworthy to be displaced by Arthur as it comes up the coast. The most likely potential species (and it is far from truly likely!) would be a frigatebird, which do have a history of being displaced far away from the track of tropical systems. It is at least worth keeping an eye to the sky in the event one happens to take a flight on the southern winds into our neck of the woods.  I know I will be out looking on occasion tomorrow despite the forecast rain. 

Update on Tropical Storm Arthur

Predicted track of TS Arthur as of 8PM July 2, 2014

A quick update on the tropics as of today.  Tropical Storm Arthur formed yesterday and continues to slowly gain strength as it spins off the east coast of Florida.  It is now forecast to strengthen into a category 1 hurricane as it moves northeast possibly hitting the outer banks of North Carolina before heading just south of Cape Cod and then into the Canadian Maritimes.  The track off to our east and off the coast is not likely at all to result in any unusual birds around here.  Perhaps something of interest down on the coast but not really likely there either.  We will possibly get some heavy rain around the 4^th of July but that will probably be the only impact.

Tropical system looks to be developing off the Florida coast

The tropics have finally started stirring this season as a low pressure system moved out from the southern US to the area east of Florida and started to take on some tropical characteristics.  A tropical depression looks likely to form soon with the potential of a tropical storm quite high over the next several days.  The storm is over some warm water but is still likely to be quite slow in forming for a variety of reasons.  Where it goes over the next several days and how strong it gets is still quite up in the air but the chances of it becoming more than a tropical storm are quite low.  It may indeed end up having some impact in the northeast by next weekend.  Given the location and expected strength the chances of any birds getting displaced by the storm to this area are quite small.  Time will tell I guess.  If it does indeed become a tropical storm its name will be Arthur.

Prescott Peninsula...with Type 10 Red Crossbills

American Goldfinch, Prescott Peninsula, June 28, 2014

American Redstart, Prescott Peninsula, June 28, 2014

Cooper's Hawk with prey, Prescott Peninsula, June 28, 2014

Cedar Waxwing, Prescott Peninsula, June 28, 2014

Red winged Blackbird (male), Prescott Peninsula, June 28, 2014

Red winged Blackbird (female), Prescott Peninsula, June 28, 2014

Great Blue Heron, Prescott Peninsula, June 28, 2014

I spent another early morning on Prescott Peninsula conducting grassland bird surveys and managed to find some nice birds.  I once again had a flyover Red Crossbill but this time I managed to get a distant recording that I sent to Cornell to try to find out the specific type of Red Crossbill.  I heard back from Matthew Young at Cornell who analyzed my recording and determined the crossbill(s) to be Type 10 Red Crossbills.  Last year in the same area I got recordings of Type 1 Red Crossbills so always interesting to see what different types (and potentially different species) are around.  A link to an article about the different types is located below:

http://ebird.org/content/ebird/news/recrtype/

Lots of young birds around and still a fair bit of song.  The insects (deer flies, mosquitoes, etc.) were also out in force.  Full list from the morning below:


Wood Duck  1    female
Hooded Merganser  1        female
Great Blue Heron  3     Two recently fledged young
Cooper's Hawk  2     Both carrying fresh kills
Mourning Dove  8
Black-billed Cuckoo  7     Minimum
Ruby-throated Hummingbird  1
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker  11     Minimum
Downy Woodpecker  1
Hairy Woodpecker  2
Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted)  3
Eastern Wood-Pewee  3
Alder Flycatcher  2
Least Flycatcher  13     Minimum
Eastern Phoebe  7
Great Crested Flycatcher  1
Eastern Kingbird  4
Blue-headed Vireo  2
Warbling Vireo  2
Red-eyed Vireo  61
Blue Jay  11
American Crow  4
Tree Swallow  17
Bank Swallow  1
Black-capped Chickadee  12
Tufted Titmouse  3
Red-breasted Nuthatch  1
White-breasted Nuthatch  4
Brown Creeper  1
House Wren  1
Winter Wren  1
Carolina Wren  1     Unusual, at gate
Veery  28     Minimum
Hermit Thrush  5
Wood Thrush  8
American Robin  19
Gray Catbird  27
Cedar Waxwing  29
Ovenbird  26     Minimum
Black-and-white Warbler  6
Common Yellowthroat  39
American Redstart  29     Minimum
Magnolia Warbler  8
Blackburnian Warbler  6
Yellow Warbler  7
Chestnut-sided Warbler  19     Minimum
Black-throated Blue Warbler  7
Pine Warbler  15
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle)  3
Black-throated Green Warbler  5
Canada Warbler  1
Eastern Towhee  21
Chipping Sparrow  16
Song Sparrow  11
Swamp Sparrow  3
Scarlet Tanager  9
Northern Cardinal  3
Rose-breasted Grosbeak  5
Indigo Bunting  5     Carrying food
Red-winged Blackbird  14
Common Grackle  7
Brown-headed Cowbird  2
Baltimore Oriole  3
Purple Finch  1
Red Crossbill  1     Rare but has bred in area before, flyby, different area then heard last week, recorded with camera but may be too distant to id to type.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/54277284@N05/14526932914/
American Goldfinch  8

Brief morning stops at Lake Wallace and south Quabbin

Mourning Dove, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, June 27, 2014

Wood Ducks, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, June 27, 2014

Wood Ducks, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, June 27, 2014

Wood Ducks, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, June 27, 2014

Canada Geese, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, June 27, 2014

Common Loon, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, June 27, 2014

A morning stop at Lake Wallace looking for herons/egrets turned up just a single Great Blue Heron.  Waterfowl was well represented with several family groups of Wood Ducks (with nearly 50 individuals around), ten Mallards, a few Hooded Mergansers and some nearly full size Canada Geese goslings plus an unusual flyby Common Loon.  Nothing else too noteworthy around this morning.

Winsor Dam, June 27, 2014

A brief stop at Winsor Dam and the Route 9 marsh found the three eaglets still in the nest at the dam and about a dozen Wood Ducks at the marsh.