Cutler hawk commotion

Common Yellowthroat (Cutler), originally uploaded by oehlkers.

My walk in lower Cutler this afternoon started oddly. I heard a steady high-pitched chirp (a baby bird?) and finally spotted the source--a male robin, pinned to its branch, unmoving.

A short walk down the trail--a hawk comes crashing through the trees (and then is scared off when it notices me). Out on the boardwalk, things are also tense, as the hawk flew off in that direction. A gang of goldfinches are protesting, and as I approach, the hawk is scared off again and flies back towards the woods. The common yellowthroat above flies out of the brush after the hawk and perches on the top of a tree, chirping and watching.


I've not known the yellowthroat to have this heroic side.

Ipswich River Wildlife Santuary

Ipswich River Wildlife Santuary, originally uploaded by oehlkers.

Mass Audubon's Ipswich River sanctuary is largely set up for children but has some nice wild areas as well. I recommend staying out of the woods (too many biting flies this time of year) and heading straight for Hassocky Meadow, where it seemed like every step I took I scared something else into flight--a wood duck, a great blue heron, a flock of wood ducks, another great blue heron, a muskrat, a great horned owl (!). [Add the great crested flycatcher I spotted by the stone bridge, and I saw three "greats" in one trip.] Funniest sight--a kingbird chasing a great blue heron (who seemed to be taking it amiably). For your listening pleasure, the melodious (not!) sounds of the great crested flycatcher. Gaze at its yellow belly below.

Broadmoor Wildlife Sanctuary

Broadmoor Wildlife Sanctuary, originally uploaded by oehlkers.

A lovely afternoon traipse through the grounds of Broadmoor. Today a northern water thrush made an appearance by the Glacier Hill. Was enjoying watching a phoebe as it caught bugs off the boardwalk. And then it did this:
(I'd never seen this scary side of phoebes before!) Rest assured the bird was fine and resumed its bug catching as if nothing had happened. I assume it was just drying its wings out. It was just sunbathing.
The best photo of the day is one I missed. By the marsh trail bridge I spotted a large turtle statue. How appropriate, I thought. You can always rely on Broadmoor for turtle sightings. As I approached to take a picture, the "statue" suddenly slid into the water. A giant snapping turtle.

Moose Hill Wildlife Sanctuary

Hobbs Hill (Moose Hill Wildlife Sanctuary), originally uploaded by oehlkers.

Explored the lower soggier parts of Moose Hill this afternoon, including a walk around Hobbs Hill. Caught a full "drink your tea" courtesy of a trailside eastern towhee. And my bonus for getting lost (the online trail map does not reflect the current configuration) was another (more distant) encounter with a hermit thrush.

Wood Thrush redux

Charles River (Cutler), originally uploaded by oehlkers.

They're all wood thrushes at Cutler, no hermit thrushes at all. After my experience with the hermit song a couple of days ago, I went back to Cutler and found quite clearly that what I had taken for hermits were all wood thrushes. And what had been somewhat rare were all over the place, singing loudly all day long. So I got the cleanest recording yet (still lots of traffic noise) and even took a short video of the environment (no actual bird in sight).

Charles River Peninsula

Charles River Peninsula, originally uploaded by oehlkers.

Lovely if windy morning at the the CRP. There are now large Baltimore oriole families brightening up the place and lots of tiny blue-gray gnatcatchers in the brush. The song sparrows were dueting and I'm slowing being convinced of some innate musicality. The recording is really not suitable for listening (too much wind noise) but documents two birds finishing each others' passages.

Wachusett Meadow

Wachusett Meadow, originally uploaded by oehlkers.

Nearly perfect outing to an expansive MassAudubon sanctuary in central Mass. today. Walked nearly all the trails they offered (10 miles or so) and saw and heard some remarkable things. The main attraction was an immense heron rookery, which left me awestruck, as if I'd stumbled upon the sacred birthing grounds of some sort of god bird. I could tell the herons were watching me too.



The trail system at Wachusett Meadow is divided into woody lowlands and the side of a nice thousand-foot hill. Milkweed meadows dot the lower half; a huge overgrown pasture can be found on the upper. I started with the buggy lowlands and found myself, almost immediately, in the company of scarlet tanagers. (I used the superear to record the bird's signature chip-burr call). And then moved on to the "Fern Forest Trail" where I had my second quasi-religious experience of the day. I know that earlier in the week I was extolling the virtues of the veery, but now I must say, the hermit thrush wins hands down. I had never heard them quite like this and squatted for some time, recorder in hand (mosquitoes in nose). As always the recordings don't do the experience justice--the sound fills the air as if the forest were a cathedral--but I got two decent takes. The first is by a babbling brook; the second louder, but dominated by airplane noise.

The path up the mountain wasn't as hard as I thought it might be. Unlike many other summits, the top of Brown Hill is full of vegetation and bird-life. I immediately heard a towhee and pushed record;, but as the recording progressed another voice joined the chorus--with a stunning plink-whistle that I can't (yet) identifythe song sounds a little disjointed [drink your..., without the tea] but I'm pretty sure it was the towhee. (Sorry for all the wind noise).

Nice views of an ovenbird, rose-breasted grosbeak, ruby-crowned kinglet, and a scarlet tanager pair who were messing with a family of titmice, plus zillions of dragonflies, amphibian life, and butterflies (I actually heard a butterfly for the first time, startling it as I walked past its blueberry bush). Didn't see any beavers, but their lodge is most impressive.