Hermit Thrush

Lots of delight at the CRP this late afternoon. The hermit thrush came out into the light. (Tail's blurry because, well, it's a hermit thrush). Some song sparrows are back; I heard one in the bushes quietly warbling through its whole repertoire in one continuous stream. And I saw the mink, looking like a long black kitten, bounding through the woods toward the river.

Red-winged Blackbirds at Cutler

The red-winged blackbirds are established at Cutler now, sitting atop their perches evenly distributed throughout the marsh, singing all morning, call and response. And not just singing, displaying (as seen above). Every once in a while one of them goes beyond the simple upward buzz and does something slightly more interesting.

More changes at the Charles River Peninsula

This press release from the Trustees of Reservations (reprinted in a recent Hometown Weekly) promises even more attention paid to restoring the meadow at the Charles River Peninsula. They've apparently reseeded the area with native grasses. Maybe this will finally be the year the bobolinks, meadowlarks, and savannah sparrows stick around.

Return of the Dawn Chorus

Up early, left for a walk right after dawn. Greeted by a large group of common mergansers (I count 8). And then the birds started singing: cardinals, red-winged blackbirds,

goldfinches, chickadees, titmice, redpolls (mostly chattering).

It isn't "spring" yet, yet it's spring.

I noticed the titmice and chickadees singing as early as February 2nd. (Forget Groundhog Day, it should be Birdsong Day.) But now that the cardinals and red-wings have joined in, winter is on its way out.

Squantum Point Park

Still hungry for seabirds, I stopped by Squantum Point Park in Quincy. It is across the river from the areas I visited earlier in the week (Victory Road Park, Tenean Beach). It didn't disappoint. Red-breasted mergansers,

eiders,

buffleheads and common goldeneyes were everywhere.

And then there was this guy, hanging with the goldeneyes. A gorgeous black bird--a scoter.

White-wings?

Check. Definitely a white-winged scoter.

Blingee Goldeneye

Myspace Glitter Graphics



A Lily-Daddy collaboration.

Barrow's!

The Great Backyard Bird Count for Massachusetts lists only 5 Barrow's Goldeneyes. I felt a bit sheepish when I saw that because I contributed 3 to that total. (I almost emailed the organizers--don't mind me, I'm just a newbie, making over-enthusiastic IDs from great distances...) And then during my morning walk by the Charles River, what do I see? Amidst the mallards and Canada geese, two little ducks floating by that looked suspiciously like...Barrow's Goldeneyes! I rushed along the river to get ahead of them, though I still had to take the photos through riverbank trees. But these are absolutely positive IDs--the female even has a yellow bill! Confidence restored.


By the way, oddest GBBC result--only 9 golden-crowned kinglets seen in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts (one mine). They are much more common than that, at least in my town.